SPEC Kit 341: Digital Collections Assessment and Outreach · 65
purposes) 2) provide much more context and indication of relationships with other collections, whether at our
institution or at other institutions 3) perhaps veer a bit from the practice of digitizing a collection and think instead
of digital projects to support—which may, or may not, involve digitization but definitely center on sets of research
questions, perhaps, that faculty and students are seeking to explore via digital projects.
We have an opportunity, with digital, to better understand how collections are used through the analysis of all types
of usage data and subsequent, informed, consultation of users. We have hardly tapped this potential. At the same
time, we receive a constant, heavy, stream of direct feedback when problems occur or a need is not met. We are more
reactive than proactive in this regard. Additionally, there is a major gap between library repositories and learning
management systems.
We have been encouraged by our library director to look for ways to allow our digital collections to be used in the digital
humanities, we have established a digital publishing presence for the library, and we are exploring what the library’s role
should be in terms of data curation.
We have hired two digital humanities librarians to facilitate the digitization of library collections and partner with
teaching faculty in the creation of digital collections based on their scholarship and the scholarship of their students.
We have recently established a Centre for Digital Scholarship within the library, which we hope, in part, will both draw
on and spur the creation of digital collections. The library has also invested in the creation of a digital preservation
repository, together with the establishment of a Digital Repository Librarian position, to ensure the ongoing preservation
of our digital collections.
We have worked with a graduate seminar on digital history and continue to further support new digital humanities
faculty and seminars.
We recently began a Research Data Services program, the primary goal of which is curation of research data. There is
a big outreach component to this and currently we are using a variety of techniques including targeted mail campaigns
using MailChimp, one-on-one consultations with faculty and other researchers, and discussions with policy makers on
campus. This will serve in growing our digital collection profile. We are also currently developing a business plan for a
digital publishing program and outreach and assessment will be a component of that.
We try to fully integrate these services as much as possible. One limitation is that often the content for digital
humanities/digital scholarship projects is held by other institutions.
When promoting the services of the digital collections (the idea of digitization) we stress the fact that our group works
to maintain objects (audio files, images, text pages) in a format that facilitates ease of use in the digital humanities and
we stress our long term commitment to preserving the objects so they can be used long into the future.
Working with Design and Merchandizing department on digital humanities project data curation for natural science
dataset.
26. What new resources and technologies are in use or are needed to support outreach, assessment,
and next steps based on assessment? N=37
A stronger framework for preservation and access with a flexible and extensible metadata model would make more
agile development possible and enable us to update current curated digital collections as well as increase the number
and diversity of online collections and create more opportunities for outreach. This framework would take advantage of
best practices and allow for assessment and interoperability and exchange with other archives and institutions.
Additional staffing such as a data management specialist and web developer would be useful.
purposes) 2) provide much more context and indication of relationships with other collections, whether at our
institution or at other institutions 3) perhaps veer a bit from the practice of digitizing a collection and think instead
of digital projects to support—which may, or may not, involve digitization but definitely center on sets of research
questions, perhaps, that faculty and students are seeking to explore via digital projects.
We have an opportunity, with digital, to better understand how collections are used through the analysis of all types
of usage data and subsequent, informed, consultation of users. We have hardly tapped this potential. At the same
time, we receive a constant, heavy, stream of direct feedback when problems occur or a need is not met. We are more
reactive than proactive in this regard. Additionally, there is a major gap between library repositories and learning
management systems.
We have been encouraged by our library director to look for ways to allow our digital collections to be used in the digital
humanities, we have established a digital publishing presence for the library, and we are exploring what the library’s role
should be in terms of data curation.
We have hired two digital humanities librarians to facilitate the digitization of library collections and partner with
teaching faculty in the creation of digital collections based on their scholarship and the scholarship of their students.
We have recently established a Centre for Digital Scholarship within the library, which we hope, in part, will both draw
on and spur the creation of digital collections. The library has also invested in the creation of a digital preservation
repository, together with the establishment of a Digital Repository Librarian position, to ensure the ongoing preservation
of our digital collections.
We have worked with a graduate seminar on digital history and continue to further support new digital humanities
faculty and seminars.
We recently began a Research Data Services program, the primary goal of which is curation of research data. There is
a big outreach component to this and currently we are using a variety of techniques including targeted mail campaigns
using MailChimp, one-on-one consultations with faculty and other researchers, and discussions with policy makers on
campus. This will serve in growing our digital collection profile. We are also currently developing a business plan for a
digital publishing program and outreach and assessment will be a component of that.
We try to fully integrate these services as much as possible. One limitation is that often the content for digital
humanities/digital scholarship projects is held by other institutions.
When promoting the services of the digital collections (the idea of digitization) we stress the fact that our group works
to maintain objects (audio files, images, text pages) in a format that facilitates ease of use in the digital humanities and
we stress our long term commitment to preserving the objects so they can be used long into the future.
Working with Design and Merchandizing department on digital humanities project data curation for natural science
dataset.
26. What new resources and technologies are in use or are needed to support outreach, assessment,
and next steps based on assessment? N=37
A stronger framework for preservation and access with a flexible and extensible metadata model would make more
agile development possible and enable us to update current curated digital collections as well as increase the number
and diversity of online collections and create more opportunities for outreach. This framework would take advantage of
best practices and allow for assessment and interoperability and exchange with other archives and institutions.
Additional staffing such as a data management specialist and web developer would be useful.
