Digital Library Development: Springboard to State-Wide Access Barbara I. Dewey Dean of Libraries University of Tennessee

Goals of Presentation Provide a brief history of state-wide digital library efforts Review UT digital initiatives and other projects in the state Discuss issues related to state-wide approaches for accessing digital resources Consider best practices in terms of architecture for access Examine opportunities and barriers to achieve an integrative digital library in Tennessee

A Vision for a Tennessee Digital Library Provide access to the rich and varied information resources about the state and region Develop a Tennessee Digital Library as a robust part of the TEL Phase II vision Build a truly integrated digital library for Tennessee that is useful for a wide variety of audiences Preserve the history and culture of our great state and region for current and future generations

Tennessee Electronic Library – Phase II “Goals: To digitize and provide access to pertinent, valuable, and unique local collections of materials from all areas of Tennessee”

The State of Digital Libraries Emerging quickly Project based and still largely grant funded Focused primarily on library resources Not yet fully integrated into online catalogs Staffing under development Campus collaboration more prominent Some state collaboration a reality Federation of multiple digital libraries desirable

Digital Libraries: Working Definition of Content Re-formatted digital content originating from the library or elsewhere Commercially available digital resources Born digital content (e-journal, e-book, database) Digital services -- connecting resources with users

Current State of Digital Content in Tennessee Good News: Selected digital content related to Tennessee history and culture is available now Recognized standards are being applied to a least some of these collections Work in Progress News: Comprehensive inventory of digitized collections does not yet exist State-wide plan for the TEL – II goal does not yet exist Funding has not been identified

The Promise of Digital Libraries in Other States Colorado Virtual Library : Kentucky Virtual Library : Kentuckiana Digital Library GALILEO – Georgia Library Learning Online: Digital Library of Georgia

Tennessee Electronic Library – Phase II “Goals: To digitize and provide access to pertinent, valuable, and unique local collections of materials from all areas of Tennessee”

Integrated Approaches Dspace – “Create and establish an electronic system that captures, preserves and communicates the intellectual output of MIT’s faculty and researchers Scholarly Portal Concept Vendor involvement Consortial efforts

University of Tennessee Integrating Digital Library Initiatives Focus initially on pilot projects Received funding in a campus-wide competition for digital library initiatives Call for partners (campus and beyond) Interdisciplinary digital library committee Emphasis on joint services (DMS)

UT Challenges Lack effective and robust search capability crossing between online catalog, web, digital products, campus resources Have difficulty identifying digital content from across the campus though “call” has opened up a number of possibilities Need to determining best ways to link beyond the UT to other digital scholarly resources – other state collections, DLF database, ARL scholarly portal concept, other?, international content?

UT Call for Collaboration Type Specimens in the Tennessee Fungal Herbarium (Botany) David Van Vactor Collection (Music Library) History of Women at the Univ. of Tennessee (English and Women’s Studies faculty) History of Architecture/Landscape (Architecture) Images of the Flora of Tennessee (Herbarium) Radiological Veterinary Medicine Teaching Collection (Veterinary Medicine)

UT Digital Library Center Call for Proposals Criteria High priority will be given to projects with one or more of the following characteristics: *Material has intellectual quality and research value *Material has long-term usefulness to scholars *Material comprises a set with sufficient size and depth to have coherence *Material can be openly available to the community of scholars *Material is unique or rare *Project has the potential for external funding *Project involves innovative approaches to access

Other Criteria Identify/capitalize on collection strengths, expertise of faculty and library staff Applicability to teaching and research activities Internal grant program – consulting service for those working with digital resources Preservation status; availability of metadata Capacity to move through in a normal operational workflow PR value and estimated popularity of collections along with research potential and rarity Copyright status Technical feasibility Personal initiative by librarian, opportunistic Funding availability

Digital Library Integration Challenges Lack of a truly effective and robust search engine institution or state-based Difficulty identifying digital content from across the campus not to mention across the state Difficulty identifying and implementing the best ways to link beyond the library resources, beyond the campus resources, beyond multi-type library resources to other digital scholarly resources – Use of standards

Integrating Digital Library Structure – Next Steps Generally Realize promise of vendor systems such as Metalib, SFX and others Greater cooperation among institutions Further development of scholarly portal work including user management tools Broader use of standards and applications Further harnessing of expertise external to libraries and integration within the libraries of digital initiatives with the proper training and transition for staff More user involvement

A Tennessee Digital Library: Some Steps to Reality Inventory current collections including from libraries, museums, historical societies Develop link or links from the TEL web page to these collections Seek funding for further development of content and architecture

Summary Tennessee citizens need a robust digital library highlighting the state’s rich culture and history Work has already begun but needs to be expanded A Tennessee Digital Library should be part of the Tennessee Electronic Library – Phase II