Welcome! This interactive tutorial will guide you through creating a digital collection website using CollectionBuilder—a framework that transforms metadata into beautiful, searchable websites with maps, timelines, and visualizations.

No software installation required! You'll work entirely in GitHub Codespaces (a cloud-based development environment).

In this tutorial, you will:

• ✅ Set up a development environment in GitHub Codespaces
• ✅ Work with collection metadata in CSV format
• ✅ Configure a Jekyll static site using CollectionBuilder
• ✅ Preview your collection locally
• ✅ Customize pages and content
• ✅ Publish your collection to the web with GitHub Pages

Duration: 60-90 minutes Level: Beginner Prerequisites: GitHub account

Click this button to start the tutorial:

This will:

1. Create your own copy of this repository
2. Name it my-psychiana-collection (you can change this)
3. Set it as Public (required for free GitHub Pages hosting)

After creating your repository:

1. Wait about 20 seconds and refresh the page
2. Go to the Issues tab (second tab at the top, next to "Code")
3. Click on the issue titled "Build Your Digital Collection with CollectionBuilder"
4. Follow the step-by-step instructions!

The tutorial uses GitHub Codespaces, so everything happens in your browser. As you complete each step and push commits, an automated bot will check your work and reveal the next step - just like official GitHub Skills tutorials!

This tutorial uses demo data from the Psychiana Digital Collection at the University of Idaho Library. Psychiana was a popular 20th-century mail-order "New Thought" religion founded by Frank B. Robinson in Moscow, Idaho. Operating from 1928-1948, it was one of the world's largest mail-order religions, reaching hundreds of thousands of subscribers worldwide through magazine advertisements (like the famous "I TALKED WITH GOD" campaign) and lessons sent by mail.

The demo collection includes:

• 📸 Photographs of Frank B. Robinson, his staff, and Psychiana headquarters
• 📻 Radio program recordings from the "Good News" series
• 📄 Advertisements, flyers, and business documents
• 📍 Geospatial data showing Psychiana's reach across the United States

Explore the full collection: Psychiana Digital Collection

CollectionBuilder-CSV is a robust and flexible template for creating digital collection and exhibit websites using Jekyll and a metadata CSV. Driven by your collection metadata, the template generates engaging visualizations to browse and explore your objects.

• CollectionBuilder Docs
• CollectionBuilder Discussion Forum

https://collectionbuilder.github.io/

CollectionBuilder is a project of University of Idaho Library's Digital Initiatives and the Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL) following the Lib-Static methodology. Powered by the open source static site generator Jekyll and a modern static web stack, it puts collection metadata to work building beautiful sites.

The basic theme is created using Bootstrap. Metadata visualizations are built using open source libraries such as DataTables, Leafletjs, Spotlight gallery, lazysizes, and Lunr.js. Object metadata is exposed using Schema.org and Open Graph protocol standards.

Questions can be directed to collectionbuilder.team@gmail.com

CollectionBuilder documentation and general web content is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. This license does NOT include any objects or images used in digital collections, which may have individually applied licenses described by a "rights" field. CollectionBuilder code is licensed MIT. This license does not include external dependencies included in the assets/lib directory, which are covered by their individual licenses.