Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present a perspective on the development of digital curation education and practice in museums in the USA.

Methods used include: a historical overview of the development of digital curation, originally as a field of practice – primarily in the sciences – and then as a field of study; a case study of the adaptation of a digital curation curriculum (DigCCurr) framework developed in schools of library and information science (LIS) to a museum studies program; and a discussion of trends in digital curation practices in museums.

The case study (the digital curation certificate program of Johns Hopkins University’s museum studies program) describes a successful adaptation of the LIS DigCCurr framework in a museum studies program.

Findings could help to advance the museum field through the integration of digital curation education, practice and research.

By adopting and supporting digital curation practices, education and research, museums can reach and engage more online users seeking information about museum collections. More online users may also become onsite visitors.

There is little existing literature on digital curation education in museum studies programs.

As a federally‐funded independent granting agency, The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) became involved in digitization in the late 1990s when Congress gave it statutory authority to fund digitization of library and museum collections. Since that time, IMLS has funded more than 100 exemplary digitization projects through its National Leadership Grant program. Collectively, these projects have helped to identify best practices for the creation, management, preservation and use of digital content. Most importantly, they demonstrate the important role that museums and libraries can play in supporting both formal education and lifelong learning. Ultimately, this work will help libraries and museums to fulfill their roles as educational institutions. IMLS grants support the spectrum of learning from independent inquiry through formal education to the development of “learning communities.”

The terms “digital curation” and “cyberinfrastructure” have been coined in the last decade to describe distinct but related concepts of how data can be managed, preserved, manipulated and made available for long‐term use. This paper aims to examine these.

The paper considers the origins of both terms and the communities that have been engaged with each of them, traces the development of the present digital environment in the USA and considers what this may mean for the future.

The paper reveals that each term has important attributes that contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the digital knowledge universe.

The paper reveals information about the development of digital preservation.

The US Federal government is a potential source of support for advancing Library and Information Science (LIS) through funding experimentation, innovation, and demonstration. Most agencies are not as much interested in advancing the research front in LIS as they are in LIS contributions that advance other fields. The full potential of federal funding to impact LIS is far from realized. LIS researchers should be aware of each agency's mission as well as the types of research that each one supports. Many people contribute to research agendas but the most influential are researchers themselves. Becoming more successful in winning grants will require researchers to become better grant writers and to collaborate with people outside LIS.

To provide a selective bibliography of literature which explores issues and provides guidelines on library digitization projects.

Literature published from 2000‐2005 on library digitization projects was examined. Issues involving digitization projects are presented, as well as case studies and resources for digitization projects. The paper has the following sections: project management, funding digital projects, selection of materials, legal issues, metadata creation, interoperability, and preservation issues.

Libraries are undertaking digitization projects to provide wider access to and to preserve materials. The literature survey presents an overview of digitization activities and discussions of issues concerning library digital projects. The authors of the case studies detail how libraries dealt with various components of the projects, such as planning, cataloging, and handling copyright issues. Many aspects of digitization projects will be changing over time, with further research and advances in technology, and the literature on the subject bears watching in coming years.

The articles and resource guides in the literature survey can assist librarians in carrying out digitization projects in their institutions.

It explains how important issues in library digitization projects are being encountered and resolved and provides many practical guidelines and resources for librarians undertaking such projects.

This issue of Library Hi Tech aims to offer a retrospective over the last 30 years of information technology as used in libraries and other memory institutions, particularly archives and museums. This Editorial will add the Editor's reflections.

The method uses historical documentation and relies heavily on personal recollection.

Thirty years ago information technology in libraries largely had to do with ways in which libraries could make their ordinary operations more efficient. Today the information science frontier has broken out of the comfortable institutional paradigm of the past and made libraries aware that they need to redefine themselves in a world where their buildings no longer represent a storehouse of knowledge unavailable elsewhere.

This paper reveals that information technology advances have not made libraries obsolete, but they have made it imperative that libraries redefine their role to be digital information managers and service providers for their readers.

Its National Leadership Grant (NLG) program is one of the many ways in which the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) supports the development of innovative new projects and services by the museum, library, and archival community in the USA. Over the course of the NLG program, collaboration has emerged as one of the several strategic approaches that engender success. Digital projects, which can be complex in execution and which often require a diverse range of skills and resources, benefit especially from collaborative approaches. The IMLS NLG program has encouraged a wide range of collaborations, across a diversity of organization types and at a diversity of levels.