Action Recommendations Based on the Survey Results

Action Recommendations for Potential Research

1. Repeat the technology and digitization survey in 2004.

IMLS plans to repeat the Status of Technology and Digitization in the Nation's Museums and Libraries survey in 2004, in order to measure the changes and developments that occur. In developing the next survey, attention should be paid to these issues:

• The museum universe used for the next survey should support sampling by museum type. This will permit more in-depth data gathering.
• The next survey should look at the hindrances libraries and museums face in implementing technologies. More specific questions could clarify the use of technologies for internal work and those used to provide service to the public. It would also be helpful to ask about the usefulness of technologies that support services to the public.
• The survey asked about hindrances to digitization, but it did not ask for more specific information from libraries and museums that indicated no role or usefulness of digitization in their institutions. The next survey should try to identify possible reasons, such as 'We have no collections that are worth digitizing.' This would help clarify the breadth of potential digitization activities and what might be needed to overcome hindrances.
• The next survey should gather information about the technologies that emerge in the intervening years. 'Other' technologies respondents listed in this survey included e-books, image databases, and wireless networks.

2. Investigate programming activities in museums and libraries, with special attention to how technology is used in them.

Programming activities, their purposes, and the ways they are handled-including the use of technology-differ among museums and the various kinds of libraries. Programs represent an important form of service to the public. It would be useful to investigate what kinds of programming activities museums and libraries are doing, with particular emphasis on how technology is involved. Best practices and exemplary programs should be identified and highlighted.

3. Study how museums and libraries can collaborate on the systematic digitization of America's collections of materials and objects.

With the solid base of digitization activities now taking place across the U.S., it is perhaps time to consider how museums and libraries can collaborate on the systematic digitization of America's collections of materials and objects. IMLS should undertake a study that:

• works with states, regional groups and institutions, and other federal agencies to inventory how they identify and make decisions about which resources are appropriate for digitization;
• explores how organizations identify current and potential audiences and their needs for digital resources;
• considers how organizations can develop appropriate business models to support digitization initiatives.

Exemplary Project: Delving into the Wilds of Florida Both libraries and museums have collections critical for the study of the natural world. An IMLS LSTA-funded National Leadership Grant at work in Florida is supporting a new Web site that, for the first time, allows simultaneous searching across diverse museum and library databases of Florida Ecology. http://www.imls.gov/closer/archive/hlt_c0600.htm

Action Recommendations for Museums, Libraries, and SLAAs

1. Learn about the importance of having policies to ensure the long-term availability and usefulness of digital content.

Libraries and museums that are engaged in or considering digitization projects should understand the importance of having policies to ensure the long-term availability and usefulness of the digital content that is created. Of particular importance are policies on metadata, standards for imaging, preservation of digital images, selection of materials to be digitized, and access policies.

IMLS' draft Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections (http://www.imls.gov/pubs/forumframework.htm) can provide helpful information to museums and libraries as they develop their digitization projects.

2. Explore the usefulness of registering digital products in centralized digital registries. ³

One of the challenges created by digitization is the difficulty of knowing what digital resources exist and where they are located. To address this problem for projects supported through its LSTA-funded National Leadership Grants program, IMLS is considering a grant award in 2002 to pilot the use of a new tool known as the Open Archives Initiative metadata harvesting protocol. If successful, the pilot would provide access to the more than 100 digital collections created with the IMLS LSTA-funded National Leadership Grant program since 1998. It would also help IMLS identify emerging best practices for the creation, management, and interoperability of digital resources.

3. Explore opportunities to coordinate digitization initiatives statewide and regionally.

The State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) are in a particularly advantageous position to coordinate digitization initiatives within their states and regionally. They may want to consider the opportunities in their area to promote and coordinate collaboration among libraries and museums. Exemplars of SLAA coordination are:

• Washington State Digital Library Resources: http://digitalwa.statelib.wa.gov/
• Library of Virginia Digital Library program: http://www.lva.lib.va.us/dlp/index.htm
• Colorado Digitization Project: http://www.coloradodigital.coalliance.org

Action Recommendations for IMLS

1. Make libraries and museums aware of the funding that is currently available through IMLS' grant programs. Emphasize how the programs can support technology implementation and digitization activities. A number of IMLS programs can be used to fund technology use and digitization activities:

• National Leadership Grants for Museums:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/museum/mus_nlgm.asp
• National Leadership Grants for Libraries:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/library/lib_nlgl.asp
• National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Museums:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/l-m/index.htm
• Museum Services programs, including Learning Opportunities Grants that will become available in FY 2003:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/museum/index.htm
• Grants to States:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/library/lib_gsla.asp
• Native American Library Services:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/library/lib_nat.asp
• Native Hawaiian Library Services:
  http://www.imls.gov/grants/library/lib_nhls.asp

2. Identify strategies to increase funding for technology in museums.

While libraries have benefited from several funding initiatives that support the use of technology, support for technology in museums is limited. IMLS is addressing the need for more dedicated funding for technology in museums through two core funding programs. Learning Opportunity Grants, available in 2003, include a priority of building technology capacity in museums of all types and sizes. Museums Online, a National Leadership Grant, funds technology innovations in providing museum services.

Additional strategies should be identified to increase funding for technology use in museums.

3. Identify strategies to increase funding for technology in small public libraries.

Public libraries are eligible for IMLS' LSTA-funded Grants to States program, E-Rate discounts, and equipment and training from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There is still a substantial gap between small public libraries and the medium and large ones in terms of technologies currently implemented. IMLS will continue to promote its LSTA-funded Grants to States program as a way to address the need to implement technology in libraries.

4. Educate and promote awareness among libraries and museums about the role of digital cultural heritage resources in education, research, and learning.

IMLS will emphasize the potential museums and libraries can realize to deliver their educational resources in digital formats. As the Connecticut History Online project (http://www.lib.uconn.edu/cho/) and other IMLS-funded projects have demonstrated, digitized collections of cultural heritage materials offer rich and varied resources to students of all ages.

• IMLS' monthly e-newsletter Primary Source will continue to highlight excellent digitization projects. (http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/pscurrent.htm)
• IMLS' annual WebWise Conference focuses on successful digitization projects. (http://www.imls.gov/pubs/conferences.htm)
• IMLS staff will make presentations about digitization initiatives, models and best practices at meetings within the museum and library communities.

5. Educate museum and library staff about the need to adopt standards, policies, and practices to enhance the usefulness and persistence of digital resources.

IMLS will provide leadership to the field by advocating the use of standards and best practices in digitization initiatives.

IMLS:

• requires applicants for LSTA-funded National Leadership Grant digitization projects to identify the policies and standards they are using.
• initiated the Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections (http://www.imls.gov/pubs/forumframework.htm). IMLS will periodically review the document and make it widely available to museums and libraries. In addition, IMLS will:
• explore ways to provide enhanced access to the digital resources created with IMLS funding;
• fund research on problems such as preservation of digital resources and the interoperability of library, archival, and museum information;
• support identification and promotion of best practices, standards, and model projects;
• support analyses, tools and services, such as user needs studies, model business plans, and rights management services, to enhance the accessibility of digital resources.

6. IMLS will encourage collaboration among museums and libraries to develop digitized virtual collections of cultural heritage collections.

The Colorado Digitization Project (http://coloradodigital.coalliance.org/) and other IMLS-funded collaborative projects demonstrate how unique, dispersed primary source collections can be digitized and linked to create online databases accessible to anyone using the World Wide Web. IMLS will encourage partnerships and collaborative efforts through its grant programs.