I hope you will forgive my forwarding this interesting summary of some
remarks by Cliff Lynch on digitisation projects, originally on the DIGLIB
list. Several of the remarks match conclusions we have reached in CEI
and the eLib Programme.
> Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:28:57 -0500
> From: Jeff Bridgers <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Cliff Lynch talk on digital library issues
>
> Cliff Lynch talk to the Federal Funders Group
> On Wednesday, October 22, Cliff Lynch in his new position as director of
> the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) addressed the Federal
> Funders Group regarding his perceptions and concerns regarding what is
> going on with the development of digital libraries. As always his
> comments were insightful and I think worth sharing with all of us. I'll
> attempt to summarize. Apologies to Cliff for resulting inaccuracies
> filtering through me and I hope others in attendance will correct or
> amend any points made or overlooked.
>
> Digitization Issues
> 1) Investment in Conversion Infrastructure: There is too much
> investment in local digital conversion efforts going on. Too many
> institutions embarking on digitization projects are purchasing equipment
> in order to do the work on site. This is an inefficient use of scarce
> resources and funds could be better used by pooling resources into
> either consortia or contracting out conversion to vendors.
> 2) Preservation of Digital Resources: Too many digital resources
> have been created by individuals without strong institutional
> committment to maintain and preserve the resource beyond the life of the
> original creator. Too many resources wither or die when the faculty
> member who created them moves to another institution or retires.
> 3) Opportunistic Digitization: Too much digitization seems to
> happen opportunistically and from the bottom up. Too often digitization
> selections seem to be the pet project of a professor or curator with a
> strong interest without institutional review or regard for priorities
> for use of limited resources. There is a lack of top level planning to
> determine digitization priorities. We haven't seen experts within
> disciplines determine the core resources that would be most valuable for
> the teaching of that discipline.
> 4) The "Scalability" Issue: We have been moderately successful at
> creating sites on a small scale but we don't know what will happen as
> these libraries grow ever larger. How will we manage/maintain large
> sites?
> 5) The "Transferability" and "Interoperablity" Issues: Because of
> the rapid rate of software development, we face a challenge of assuring
> that currently produced resources will be transferable to the software
> of tomorrow. How can we assure that resources produced at one site can
> be repackaged at another. How can an institution determine intellectual
> access record structures and formats that will be usable in the future
> and usable by other institutions. Hope lies in non-proprietary
> standards.
>
>
> Access Issues/Metadata/Bibliographic Control
> 1) Access More Costly Than Conversion: Conversion costs are going
> down making it seemingly more affordable for smaller institutions yet
> the costs of providing intellectual access and description remain high.
> 2) Appropriate Level of Description: What is the appropriate level
> of intellectual description necessary to enable access to resources by
> differing audiences? When are item level records necessary? When are
> aggregate descriptions adequate? There is precious little in terms of
> usage studies to inform decisions.
> 3) Primary Content Within Secondary Context: Many digital libraries
> don't include mechanisms to make it possible to refer to the content.
> It is difficult for those preparing secondary sources to refer to
> primary sources. This situation is made worse by the problem of URLs
> that go bad if resources are moved on the server.
>
>
> --Jeff Bridgers
> National Digital Library Visitors' Center
> Library of Congress
>
>
> Ted Winter e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> William Smith Morton Library phone: 1-804-278-4346
> Union Theological Seminary in Virginia fax: 1-804-278-4375
>
--
Chris Rusbridge
Programme Director, Electronic Libraries Programme
The Library, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Phone 01203 524979 Fax 01203 524981
Email [log in to unmask]
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