| Abstrakt: |
This article presents information on the Web portal North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO). The ECHO, a collaborative undertaking of the state's cultural heritage agencies, is the statewide access to special collections and digitization program sponsored by the State Library of North Carolina. Since its founding in late 1999, the program has created a Web portal to the state's cultural heritage repositories, identified standards and best practices for digitization, established a two-tiered continuing education program, and, as a needs assessment, launched one of the most comprehensive surveys of cultural collecting agencies ever attempted by a state. North Carolina can claim museums of cut glass, taxidermy, and several that are NASCAR-related, among many others. It has libraries filled with rare books, literary manuscripts, and genealogical files. It holds archives bulging with diaries, old photographs, and sound recordings. The ECHO has identified and promotes a number of interrelated metadata standards. |
