Education for Digital Libraries: Challenges, Developments and Cooperation Tatjana Aparac Jelušić University of Zadar, Croatia

Content Introduction Challenges Developments Cooperation Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Introduction since the advent of DLs in the early 1990s –a consistently strong theme in DL research and development has been HOW DLs may be used in education much research has been done how to teach WITH DLs, but only recently has research been conducted on how to teach ABOUT/FOR DLs Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Introduction one goal of this presentation –to discuss the issue of the reform application in LIS, Archival, Museum and IS schools between a traditional approach and an innovative one, based on European trends in harmonization of courses and recognition of qualifications other goal –to present Croatian efforts in DL education, including cooperative projects Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Challenges the potential of DLs as tools for large-scale social and scientific change unites many emerging specialties: –digital humanities, –digital cultural heritage, –e-government, –e-commerce, –e-science, –e-learning, and the list goes on … Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Introduction – Questions –What are the basic concerns in developing new curricula for those who are working in digital information sector? –How do the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary issues influence curricula design in wider IS? –What are the future steps, particularly in regard to European and/or SEE cooperation? Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Introduction – cont… interesting topics for future professionals in ALM (memory institution) community are in general provided by: –guidelines for professional education of librarians, archivists, museum workers and information professionals Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Key elements from those guidelines information environment, information policy and ethics, generation, mediation and usage of written information, information needs and creation of appropriate services process of information transition, organisation, retrieval, preservation and protection of information, scientific and research work, analysis and interpretation of digital information, application of ICT in memory institutions management, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of (digital) information and cultural services usage impact Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Developments DL education in the EU has evolved from a tradition – in humanities computing, LIS and museum informatics the European Commission has intensely promoted from the beginning (mid1990s) many DL projects the financing of digitization projects with different European partners from the academic and private sector has resulted in rich networks amongst European LIS researchers and departments Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Developments – cont… Current state of DL education: – in US: DL certificates in many LIS/IS and some CS schools – in Europe: Certificates, Bologna Process Hot topics in DL development: – in US: Education, Cyberinfrastructure – in Europe: Cultural heritage Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

EU Digital Library Curriculum Project European curriculum reflections Project initiated and performed by Euclid (coordinated by Royal School of LIS, Copenhagen) DL education workshop Fiesole, Italy, 2005 Zadar Workshop University of Zadar, Croatia, 2006 Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

EU DL curriculum results published guidelines – European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education report (Kajberg & Lørring, 2005) new programs – focus on cultural heritage institutions, and access to and safeguarding of cultural heritage Opportunities to discuss and analyse different approaches to DL: – IT approach (DELOS) – Cultural Heritage approach (Humanties scholars, Learning and Teaching) – Library approach (Minerva Project, Europeana) Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Cooperation – examples Joint and Twin Master Programmes –Joint graduate (master) programs in DL Digital Libraries and Learning (DILL – Oslo, Tallinn, Parma) Written Heritage in the Digital Environment (WHIDE – Zadar, Osijek, Parma) Regional programs –Graduate program in LIS – innitiated by IZUM, Maribor and offered by Universities of Zadar and Ljubljana Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

WHDE – aims the development of a wide recognised graduate program for information professionals who intend to work in the complex area of memory institutions collections and services in a digital environment Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

Intended learning objectives for students: to understand challenges of a digital environment and to become skilled to practice best models of organization and delivery of digital services in memory institutions to get opportunity for and experience of independent, yet supervised, research projects within the digital environment, through the application of relevant methodological and analytical approaches to understand the impact of digital environment on the role of the information professional for the Knowledge Society Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009

conclusions based upon 12 years experience in ALM seminars and LIDA conferences Croatian National digitization project of cultural heritage some experience in collaborative projects such as Europeana (but, only NUL) need for educated staff to work with heritage in general, and digititation projects in particular need for academic staff – regional PhD programs Bled Forum, 7 March, 2009