SPEC Kit 330: Library Contribution to Accreditation · 133
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Institutional Self-Study Prepared for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Chapter 7:
Library and Other Information Resources
http://web.mit.edu/accreditation/report/pdfs/2009_MIT_Accreditation_Report_Final.pdf
Chapter 7: Library and Other Information Resources
Chapter 7 Page 87
Libraries’ locally hosted digitized collections, where they will be shared with the Open Content Alliance,
an international collaboration to build an open archive of digital texts and multimedia material.
Archival materials deposited with the Institute archivist are increasingly in digital formats that require
specialized handling and attention, as do the video and sound recordings of important institutional events.
MIT faculty are similarly interested in the capacity of MIT’s Archives to appropriately manage
prestigious faculty papers in the digital age. OpenCourseWare courses, MIT World videos, and various
teaching courses that produce and use video content for educational purposes must be archived in digital
form. Policies and practices are being revisited to ensure a coherent strategy for managing this growing
corpus of important multimedia materials.
The Libraries must also accommodate ordinary faculty research output and teaching materials, such as
visual images and data sets, that are increasingly produced in electronic and multimedia formats.
Participation in national solutions for preserving these resources, along with peer-reviewed digital serials
and journals, is essential to MIT’s future.
Support for improved scholarly communication
Under MIT policy, certain aspects of copyright education, advice, and management fall to the MIT
Libraries. As this legal and regulatory environment has increased in complexity, the Libraries have added
capacity and partnered with the Office of the General Counsel to better inform, advise, and support
faculty and researchers on the issues associated with copyright management and scholarly
communication. With assistance from the Office of Sponsored Programs and the vice president for
research, mechanisms have been developed to facilitate compliance with regulations regarding
publication of certain sponsored-research results.
In March 2009, the MIT faculty voted unanimously to make their scholarly articles openly available. The
implementation of the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy is the responsibility of the Faculty Committee on
the Library System, with support provided by the Libraries.
III. OTHER INFORMATION RESOURCES
Information technology (IT) at MIT actively supports the Institute’s academic mission. Our goal is for
information technology to be fully integrated into living and learning environments, whether in the
classroom, in the residence halls, or in communal spaces. For prospective students today, campus
technology is a key factor in selecting a school therefore, upgrading technology and integrating it into
the educational experience are priorities for MIT. For example, the School of Humanities, Arts, and
Social Sciences is exploring the potential of new media technologies to enhance education and research in
the humanities. Through Hyperstudio, the school’s Laboratory for Digital Humanities, the Global
Shakespeare subject allows students to explore cultural differences in Shakespeare texts and performances
from around the world. For Hamlet alone, there are more than 1,000 works of art, illustration, and films
from which students can learn.
Managing the technological platforms and providing support for MIT’s information resources takes place
at both at the school level and centrally. The faculty-led MIT Council on Educational Technology
(MITCET), reviews programs and sets high-level strategy for technology in this arena. MITCET’s
mission is to enhance the quality of MIT education by encouraging the appropriate application of
technology, both on and off campus.
Many IT services are provided by our central IT organization, Information Services and Technology
(IS&T). A number of more specialized systems and services are provided by IT groups in the Libraries,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Institutional Self-Study Prepared for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Chapter 7:
Library and Other Information Resources
http://web.mit.edu/accreditation/report/pdfs/2009_MIT_Accreditation_Report_Final.pdf
Chapter 7: Library and Other Information Resources
Chapter 7 Page 87
Libraries’ locally hosted digitized collections, where they will be shared with the Open Content Alliance,
an international collaboration to build an open archive of digital texts and multimedia material.
Archival materials deposited with the Institute archivist are increasingly in digital formats that require
specialized handling and attention, as do the video and sound recordings of important institutional events.
MIT faculty are similarly interested in the capacity of MIT’s Archives to appropriately manage
prestigious faculty papers in the digital age. OpenCourseWare courses, MIT World videos, and various
teaching courses that produce and use video content for educational purposes must be archived in digital
form. Policies and practices are being revisited to ensure a coherent strategy for managing this growing
corpus of important multimedia materials.
The Libraries must also accommodate ordinary faculty research output and teaching materials, such as
visual images and data sets, that are increasingly produced in electronic and multimedia formats.
Participation in national solutions for preserving these resources, along with peer-reviewed digital serials
and journals, is essential to MIT’s future.
Support for improved scholarly communication
Under MIT policy, certain aspects of copyright education, advice, and management fall to the MIT
Libraries. As this legal and regulatory environment has increased in complexity, the Libraries have added
capacity and partnered with the Office of the General Counsel to better inform, advise, and support
faculty and researchers on the issues associated with copyright management and scholarly
communication. With assistance from the Office of Sponsored Programs and the vice president for
research, mechanisms have been developed to facilitate compliance with regulations regarding
publication of certain sponsored-research results.
In March 2009, the MIT faculty voted unanimously to make their scholarly articles openly available. The
implementation of the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy is the responsibility of the Faculty Committee on
the Library System, with support provided by the Libraries.
III. OTHER INFORMATION RESOURCES
Information technology (IT) at MIT actively supports the Institute’s academic mission. Our goal is for
information technology to be fully integrated into living and learning environments, whether in the
classroom, in the residence halls, or in communal spaces. For prospective students today, campus
technology is a key factor in selecting a school therefore, upgrading technology and integrating it into
the educational experience are priorities for MIT. For example, the School of Humanities, Arts, and
Social Sciences is exploring the potential of new media technologies to enhance education and research in
the humanities. Through Hyperstudio, the school’s Laboratory for Digital Humanities, the Global
Shakespeare subject allows students to explore cultural differences in Shakespeare texts and performances
from around the world. For Hamlet alone, there are more than 1,000 works of art, illustration, and films
from which students can learn.
Managing the technological platforms and providing support for MIT’s information resources takes place
at both at the school level and centrally. The faculty-led MIT Council on Educational Technology
(MITCET), reviews programs and sets high-level strategy for technology in this arena. MITCET’s
mission is to enhance the quality of MIT education by encouraging the appropriate application of
technology, both on and off campus.
Many IT services are provided by our central IT organization, Information Services and Technology
(IS&T). A number of more specialized systems and services are provided by IT groups in the Libraries,
