IMLS Public Report |
Status of Technology and Digitization |
Table of Contents |
Action Recommendations Based on the Survey Results Action Recommendations for Potential Research
1. Repeat the technology and digitization survey in 2004.
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:
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:
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:
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.
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:
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.
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