Libraries recognize the importance of digitizing archival material to improve access to and preservation of their special collections. This book provides a step-by-step guide for creating digital collections, including examples and practical tips that have never been published before. - Illustrates concepts with an on-going case study at the end of each chapter - Provides detailed technical information and practical experience Discusses practitioners' insight in digitization - Can be used as a guide for creating digital collections

Digital information and networks challenge the core practices of libraries, archives, and all organizations with intensive information management needs in many respectsâ€"not only in terms of accommodating digital information and technology, but also through the need to develop new economic and organizational models for managing information. LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress discusses these challenges and provides recommendations for moving forward at the Library of Congress, the world's largest library. Topics covered in LC21 include digital collections, digital preservation, digital cataloging (metadata), strategic planning, human resources, and general management and budgetary issues. The book identifies and elaborates upon a clear theme for the Library of Congress that is applicable more generally: the digital age calls for much more collaboration and cooperation than in the past. LC21 demonstrates that information-intensive organizations will have to change in fundamental ways to survive and prosper in the digital age.

In April 2000, the Digital Library Federation commissioned three reports to address broader concerns about digital collections in research libraries. This report synthesizes the nearly 10 years' experience that libraries have had digitizing items from their rare, special, and general collections, and making them available online. The report demonstrates that digitization programs work best where their role within a library's collection development strategy is clearly understood, and identifies several roles that such programs can play. The author muses about the extent to which digitally reformatted special and rare collections can actually support scholarly research, and looks at whether leading research libraries in particular might more usefully focus on digitizing general as opposed to special and rare collections. The report opens with points to consider in developing a sustainable strategy. The second section addresses identification, evaluation and selection, discussing polices, guidelines and best practices, and rationales for digitization. The third section focuses on institutional impacts and discusses treatment and disposition of source materials, scalability, intellectual control and data management, coordinated collection development, funding, preservation, and support of users. A final section addresses challenges in evaluating costs and benefits, and offers recommendations. (Contains 47 references.) (AEF)

The United States Congress in December 2000 appropriated funds to the Library of Congress (LC) to spearhead an effort to develop a national strategy for the preservation of digital information. LC staff scheduled a series of conversations with representatives from the technology, business, entertainment, academic, legal, archival, and library communities, and asked the Council on Library and Information Resources to commission background papers for these sessions and to summarize the meetings. The resulting papers, along with an integrative essay by Amy Friedlander, are presented in this document. Contents include: "Summary of Findings" (Amy Friedlander); "Preserving Digital Periodicals" (Dale Flecker); "E-Books and the Challenge of Preservation" (Frank Romano); "Archiving the World Wide Web" (Peter Lyman); "Preservation of Digitally Recorded Sound" (Samuel Brylawski); "Understanding the Preservation Challenge of Digital Television" (Mary Ide, Dave MacCarn, Thom Shepard, and Leah Weisse); and "Digital Video Archives: Managing through Metadata" (Howard D. Wactlar and Michael G. Christel). (AEF).

Planning and managing a self-contained digitization project is one thing, but how do you transition to a digital library program? Or better yet, how do you start a program from scratch? In this book Purcell, a well-respected expert in both archives and digital libraries, combines theory and best practices with practical application, showing how to approach digital projects as an ongoing effort. He not only guides librarians and archivists in transitioning from project-level initiatives to a sustainable program but also provides clear step-by-step instructions for building a digital library program from the bottom up, even for organizations with limited staff. Approachable and easy to follow, this book traces the historical growth of digital libraries and the importance of those digital foundations; summarizes current technological challenges that affect the planning of digital libraries, and how librarians and archivists are adapting to the changing information landscape; uses examples to lay out the core priorities of leading successful digital programs; covers the essentials of getting started, from vision and mission building to identifying resources and partnerships; emphasizes the importance of digitizing original unique materials found in library and archives collections, and suggests approaches to the selection process; addresses metadata and key technical standards; discusses management and daily operations, including assessment, enhancement, sustainability, and long-term preservation planning; provides guidance for marketing, promotion, and outreach, plus how to take into account such considerations as access points, intended audiences, and educational and instructional components; and includes exercises designed to help readers define their own digital projects and create a real-world digital program plan. Equally valuable for LIS students just learning about the digital landscape, information professionals taking their first steps to create digital content, and organizations who already have well-established digital credentials, Purcell's book outlines methods applicable and scalable to many different types and sizes of libraries and archives.

Whether you are just starting to create a digital repository or your institution already has a fully-developed program, this book provides strategies for building and maintaining a high-use, cohesive, and fiscally-responsible repository with collections that showcase your institution. The book explains how to strategically select projects tied to your institution's goals, create processes and workflows designed to support a fully-functioning program, and creatively utilize existing resources. The benefits of taking a holistic approach to creating a digital repository program rather than focusing only on individual collections are discussed. Case studies and best practices from various institutions round out the author's practical suggestions.