Digital Library Task force
Digital Library Task Force Report and Recommendations
Introduction
The University Libraries Collections Report, 2006, prepared by the Libraries Collections Committee (Austin Booth, chair) notes:
Research libraries are increasing access to information resources by digitizing library materials and managing digitized and born-digital collections of “non-library” material. Libraries are building new electronic collections by digitizing their own special collections of rare books and manuscripts; organizing and providing access to faculty and institutional digital collections; digitizing institutional analog collections; collaborating with other institutions to develop virtual collections based on geographically dispersed analog or digital material; providing access to new materials such as digital images, new media, geospatial data, and numeric data; and providing the technological infrastructure for faculty-created electronic publishing efforts and web-based teaching and research tools.
The UB Libraries tested these waters with UBdigit, using CONTENTdm software to build a digital library environment comprising a mix of library collections and faculty-owned content. The Digital Library Task Force was charged to “establish a vision, outline an operational structure and governing policies, and recommend a projected budget by which the UB Libraries’ local digital library environment can grow” and we were asked to address a number of specific questions about models, goals, content, administration and staffing, accessibility, cooperation, and assessment. We approached this task by organizing the questions into three areas: what has been done elsewhere, what are the goals for a local initiative, and what recommendations should be made to fulfill those goals. We found many examples of robust digital library programs, well-documented standards, and best practices. It seems that every digital library initiative has grown out of a specific set of circumstances, with organizational structures that reflect the local situation. Despite this diversity of approach a number of common characteristics and concerns are evident.
The charge of the Task Force is contained in Appendix 1. The context and the process by which the Task Force determined its recommendations are documented in the working outline provided in Appendices 2-3.
The reader is urged to review the Resource Assessment Guide prepared by the University of Tennessee University Libraries Exchange for its Digital Library Initiatives Project, 2003-2005. This guide provides a very useful summary of the personnel, skills, and equipment needed for a digital library project. It is included as Appendix 4 and is available online.
View the Summary of Recommendations
Download Digital Library Task
Force Report [54 pages] 