Maryland Deaf Culture Digital Library

The Maryland Deaf Culture Digital Library is supported by the state of Maryland (see more on the DCDL history here) and the State contracted Eyeth Studios to support them with their website build.  This was a very large project spanning over a year.

We supported DCDL in the following ways:

• advised on selection of their domain name
• registered and set up their email with Google Apps
• surveyed the community as well as other library systems in the state for their needs and preferences
• attended the state librarian conference and surveyed the librarians there
• performed extensive research into other digital library concepts and presented many ideas to the DCDL team for their consideration
• guided the DCDL team through high level conceptual visualization of how to build the site in ways that would be useful to many different personas
• helped the DCDL team understand and navigate the digital tools that were available
• provided recommendations regarding the best resources for their specific needs
• developed two areas of taxonomies to sort and search the site resources (Useful For and Type of Resource)
• developed custom forms for the library staff to easily and quickly feed in new resources to the site
• created templates that allowed the new resources to quickly populate in various areas, as well as integrated in search results in consistent ways.
• integrated an event calendar including custom taxonomies and a custom form to add new events.
• advised and guided the DCDL team through the design process keeping a heavy focus on accessibility and minimal design.
• managed the project and brought in other subcontractors to provide videography and graphic design services
• advised the DCDL team on a frequent basis regarding technological solutions.

We continue to support the DCDL on an ongoing basis,  and are excited to see the positive impact that it is making as a credible, reliable resource for all consumers.