A Survey of Digital Library Education Tefko Saracevic & Marija Dalbello Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA saracevic@scils.rutgers.edu dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko www.scils.rutgers.edu/~dalbello

Introduction Education is dependent activity (linking of education to digital library research, practice, organization, and commerce? ) Survey to examine the rationale and current orientation for digital library education Identify emerging models Suggest model for digital library education

Outline Why teach digital libraries? rationale What to teach about digital libraries? What is a “digital library”? content What is taught about digital libraries? current applications How were digital libraries taught? context Where does that leave us now? conclusions

Why teach Digital Libraries? Rationale new form of managing the knowledge record of post-industrial society infrastructure in place (digital technology and networks) new approaches to sustaining scholarly communication DL research and development funded Combination of social trends and technology is a push for educational efforts

What to teach about digital libraries? Content What are digital libraries? Lesk (1997) Arms (2000) Borgman (1999, 2000) DLF (Digital Libraries Federation, 1996+)

What are Digital Libraries? collections with "associated services" (Arms 2000) persistent collections of digital works "readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities" (definition of Digital Libraries Federation (DLF)) collections "constructed, collected and organized, by (and for) a community of users," and functional capabilities of digital libraries to "support the information needs and uses of that community" (Borgman 1999, 2000)

What to teach about digital libraries? Content What to teach about digital libraries? Content choices systems, networks, and technology; collection and resources in various media; representation, organization, and operability; storage and searching; functionality, access and use; institutions and services; and user communities and related applications

What to teach about digital libraries? Content What to teach about digital libraries? Educational choices technology, resources, organization, access, institutions, and use, or a mix thereof

What is taught about digital libraries? A survey of applications Web survey website analysis of 56 ALA-accredited programs Email survey questionnaire (listserves: ASIS member list, JESSE, ACM SIGIR, Humanist Discussion Group)

What is taught about digital libraries? A survey of applications Web survey: inclusion / integration Inclusion: (47 - 89%) Independent DL courses (15 - 32 %) Combination of Independent DL course and DL content integrated in other courses (8 - 15%) Content integrated in other courses (no independent DL course) (23 - 49 %) Other (content integrated with continuing education) (1 - 2%)

How were digital libraries taught? Context (connecting areas) Areas of application (for 34 programs): tools (13) environment (4) objects (3) combined (14)

How were digital libraries taught? Context (connecting areas) Areas of application (for 34 programs): tools (technologies and technology based processes) environments (the contexts in which digital libraries operate) objects (representation, structure and life cycle of documents in various formats) combined (several areas of applications present without any one being distinctive)

How were digital libraries taught? Context (connecting areas) Existing models for digital library education UBC Pittsburgh Illinois U North Texas Montreal Rhode Island Michigan California (LA) Rutgers California (Berkeley) KSU Florida

How were digital libraries taught? Context (connecting areas) Suggested model for digital library education to integrate Concepts Content Creation Organization Technology Access Preservation Management Context

Conclusions tunnel vision problem integrationist solution “the current digital library agenda has largely been set by computer science community and clearly bears the imprint of this community’s interests and vision” (Levy 2000) integrationist solution

Digital libraries and a question of purpose digital libraries need to be seen in the communications’ circuit of creation, organization, distribution, preservation, and use of knowledge records and knowledge itself integrate this perspective in educational efforts

Directions for Future Research Expand study to examine contexts of integration of digital library education in LIS curricula (topical) nationally and internationally to identify contexts of integration and gaps in current offerings to identify boundary areas and disciplines (areas of growth) Examine other homes of digital library education beyond LIS (computer science, medical informatics, digital humanities)