Developing and managing a digital collection is a complex and circular process and I chose to demonstrate it using the lifecycle of the student newspaper collection. Thanks to Sara Ring and the planning committee for another conference of useful information and for the time to connect with fellow digital travelers.

Particularly useful is the clarification of output measures unique to the social sector and how to assess these outcomes through fulfillment of mission either in qualitative or quantitative terms.  On page 5, Collins says,

The confusion between inputs and outputs stems from one of the primary differences between business and the social sectors. In business, money is both an input (a resource for achieving greatness) and an output (a measure of greatness). In the social sectors, money is only an output, and not a measure of greatness.

Since money is not valuable as an output metric something else must take its place. He uses the Cleveland Orchestra as an example of what to focus on when assessing things that are hard to measure.  The three foci mentioned on page 6 concern finding evidence of superior performance, distinctive impact, and lasting endurance.

How could a digital library collect this type of evidence?  Using metrics from the Web is one way but that is still too close to a traditional input.  Getting testimonials from members of the university, other schools copying the digital library program, wider use in the classroom, and good brand reputation are several ways of determining outcomes of valued use and mission fulfillment.

One action to take from reading this book is to develop a “Hedgehog Concept” by deeply examining and defining your three circles from page 19:

1. What you are deeply passionate about -

organization’s core values and mission

2. What you can be best in the world at

unique contributions

3. What drives your resource engine (as opposed to economic in business)

3 parts – time, money and brand

Digitization efforts have a vast potential and the temptation is to try and pursue all of them.  However, success and greatness take disciplined planning and action.  Current examples at the CONTENTdm Upper Midwest User Group meeting demonstrated that this is true.  Those who are presenting successful programs had a good core focus and collected things that were unique to their institutions.  One factor that remains to be determined is the longevity of those programs as most have been around less than 5 years.

This book is very helpful for anyone who is planning a digital library program or wants to improve one that already exists. It helps to refocus effort and to take a step back to see if that effort is producing excellent results.

• North Carolina Digital Collections Collaboratory » User-friendly CONTENTdm interface design?

  Code created by UNLV to improve CONTENTdm’s interface and enabling Web 2.0 features.

  tags: contentdm, digital collections, usability, web design

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

This is a great opportunity to educate the public about the need for Open Access promoted by advocates like Peter Suber in the United States and Steven Harnad in the UK.  The story begins with a direct connection between the doctor who did the research that would help many people and the lack of access by most people because of commercial publication costs.

Maybe us librarians could hit the comment section with a dose of open access education?  This way more people will understand that the disproportionately rising costs of journals compared to library budgets is a danger to them as well as the “ivory tower”. That’s the ticket.

Current state of IR’s is poor writes Andrew Richard Albanese. Begins with Harvard’s open access mandate and details what went wrong overall with repositories. Mentions some things that IR’s need to do to be successful such as enticing faculty to contribute by providing services.

Some interesting quotes from the article followed by my comments:

“IRs have failed to catch on for a multitude of reasons, Salo explains, not the least of which is that the first generation was hopelessly passive about their collection activities.”

• Librarians must better understand faculty motivations, including tenure and reputation, and build services around that desire. – post by kgerber

“In his opening keynote at the 2008 SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting in Baltimore, John Wilbanks, director of Science Commons, spoke about what would move IRs forward: incentives. ‘My experience is that faculty don’t like to be hit with sticks,’ Wilbanks said. ‘They prefer carrots.’”

• What carrots can we provide? Some ideas:

• Offer assistance in submitting to discipline-specific repositories or organizations
• Provide personal Web space
• Repository submissions recognized in tenure process – post by kgerber

It is an excellent example of what a digital library can do by providing access to items that some would never be able to see.  This site will not substitute for a visit to the actual holders of the items but is a wonderful opportunity for those who can’t.

The Webinar inspired this post and I am highlighting  some important points in the presentation while including my own comments and examples. The five main sections are:

1. Definition of Open Source
2. Examples
3. Reliability and Quality
4. Cost
5. Assessment
6. Question and Answer session

Definition

The definition of open source software is set by the Open Source Initiative and is paraphrased below:

Software that allows its users to access and modify the computer code it was created with and includes licensing that allows it to be freely shared and modified without restriction.

A similar concept exists in the GNU Operating system and the Free Software Foundation who originally developed the concept of free software distribution. The major difference with their license and philosophy is that they choose to emphasize the word “free” and do not accept some license restrictions that open source does.

Examples

• Some familiar examples:
  • Firefox browser, WordPress blog software
• For libraries:
  • Integrated Library Systems (ILS) – Evergreen, Koha, OLE (in development)
  • Digital Repositories – DSpace, Fedora, Greenstone, ePrints
• For programmers and Web developers:
  • Databases – PostgreSQL, MySQL
  • Scripting code – PHP, Perl
  • Web Server – Apache
  • Operating System – Linux

• For more examples fast forward to (33:30) for a list of open source software in libraries – The audio mentions moreOther lists
  • Jessamyn West wrote a post about open source in libraries on Feb. 2007
  • Library Success Wiki (not all items are open source)
  • Open Source Systems for Libraries (choose the type of application)

Reliability and Quality

(15:20) It is reliable enough that over half of commercial vendors use open source such as the Linux operating system

• Many Websites are run on a whole suite of these software called the LAMP stack:
  • L – Linux operating system, A – Apache Web server, M – MySQL database, P – PHP or Perl scripting language
  • Karen informed me that Evergreen runs a variation called LAPP because they use PostgreSQL instead of MySQL because it is more powerful. DSpace, the repository software, also uses this database language.

(19:00) How is quality maintained in these projects?  Description of the meritocracy helps to answer this question.

• (22:20) In Evergreen, some major problems are fixed within hours because of the amount of people collaborating with access to the code

Cost

A common statement about open source is that it is as “free as a free kitten”. (28:00) Karen provides a cost comparison with proprietary or commercial software that takes this comment a step further:

• Traditional – pay for use of proprietary code
• Open source – pay for support and development

Assessment

(36:00) Three open source coding terms that are important to know for assessment

• Commit – “process where code change becomes permanent”,
• Trunk – “base of a product on which development progresses”, and
• Fork – “starting another software program using code from an existing project”

(38:42) Questions to ask

1. How open is it? – based on these principles Foundations of Openness
2. (40:45) How has it grown and how is growth managed?
3. (42:20) Is there a development plan and is it documented?
4. (43:00) How engaged is the community?
5. (44:35) What support models are there?
   1. Self-service
   2. Commercial
   3. Hosted

Questions

(52:40) How do you make a conversion from proprietary software?

• Examine what is currently available – know what you want
• Blog post from Equinox, Migration Nation, assumes you have chosen a product
• Issue an RFP

(53:45) Programming Languages used in Koha and Evergreen

• Evergreen – C, SQL, Javascript  Koha – Perl, some SQL
• also learn Python

Libraries are not the only groups that are struggling to understand the effect of Web 2.0.  The structure of Learning 2.0 provides the space for people to learn at their own pace and join a community of learners.  Why not open this opportunity to a larger community?  Librarians could lead the way in educating their communities about these tools.  For academic libraries, workshops centered around Learning 2.0 could be a valuable service for faculty or students.  Public libraries could extend this to the general public or specific communities like small businesses.

Has any library used Learning 2.0 as an outreach tool?  I would love to know.

For example, The RSS filtering tools were also very helpful in narrowing a feed so that it is most relevant to the reader.  I used FilterMyRSS to restrict a feed from general science to biology and inserted it into a Netvibes box for the Biology Department. 

The RSS to email applications are very helpful as well.  The Net Generation may not use email much anymore but everyone else does.  This is a way to help everyone benefit from the convenience and flexibility of RSS even if they do not want to use a reader like Google Reader or Bloglines.  I used FeedMyInbox to send an email to myself about any items that were tagged Web2.0 in delicious.

My delicious link roll should be visible to the right under the title New Web Finds.