home-grown help: digital library education for staff
TRANSCRIPT
In-House Training for Digital Projects
Abby ClobridgeBucknell University
2006 ASIS&TDL – ED Panel: Education for Digital Librarianship – Employers’ Needs
Bucknell University
• Approx. 4,000 students
• Information Services & Resources – a merged library/IT organization
• ISR: 90 FTE
• Digital collection building activities– Help needed: metadata production, metadata
clean-up, long-term sustainability for program
Metadata Training Workshop
Metadata Training for Technical Services Staff
Why?
• Increase in pre-cataloged materials
• Long-term plan to transition catalogers’ job responsibilities
• Digital library production needed help
Metadata Training for Technical Services Staff
Barriers for Training:
• Money
• Timing
• Geography
• Focus on how-to rather than theory
Introduction to Metadata Workshop Series
• In-house program specifically designed to teach technical services staff about metadata
• Semester-long program
• Reading assignments
• Focus on practical knowledge needed to create metadata for digital collections
Strategy for Workshop Series
• Changes in information retrieval over past 20+ years
• User search behavior
• Digital objects
• Introduction to major metadata schemes – Dublin Core, VRA Core 3.0
Strategy for Workshop Series
• Using non-LC authority files
• Working with locally-created vocabularies, thesauri, rules for description
• Developing controlled vocabularies for specific collections
Strategy for Workshop Series
“Advanced” Tract: Metadata Librarians
• Cataloging– MARC, AACR2– FRBR, RDA
• More technical information: – Relational databases– The big picture: project phases for building
digital collections
Overarching Questions
• Why is this different from traditional cataloging?
• Why can’t we use MARC and AACR2?
• Why don’t we use Library of Congress Subject Headings?
• No authority files? No definitive source?
Hands-On Exercises
• Creating metadata for digital objects from our collections: – Step 1: in MARC using AACR2– Step 2: in Dublin Core– Step 3: in VRA Core 3.0– Step 4: locally-created hybrid schemes.
Hands-On Exercises
• Creating metadata for digital objects from our collections: – Images of art– Materials from Special Collections– Materials from the University Archives– Three-dimensional objects
Hands-On Exercises
• Some issues to consider: – user needs – part vs. whole– Digital surrogates vs. objects– cataloging without authority data
Quantity, Usefulness, & Necessity
• Not necessary to be exhaustive.
• Balance between what information is useful or necessary and what is excessive.
Traditional Cataloging vs. Metadata for Digital Objects
• Heavier reliance on judgment when cataloging digital objects.
• Fear of “not enough.”
• Progress over perfection.
Digital Projects Internship
Digital Projects Internship
• Anticipated need for further help.
• Formal internship program.
• Offered for credit or small stipend.
Job Posting: Digital Libraries Internship
Bucknell University’s Information Services & Resources, a merged library and IT organization, is offering a paid summer internship for a library/information science student interested in learning more about digital libraries. This position is designed to provide experience in all aspects of an academic digital library/technology environment. Responsibilities will include (but not be limited to) assisting with digital image processing, metadata work, and other tasks associated with building a digital collection. During the summer of 2005, ISR will be building a large digital image collection to be used for teaching art history and related courses during the fall semester, so there will be opportunities for hands-on experience in a wide variety of areas.
Learning Objectives – Fall 2005:
• Understand different rationales for embarking on digitization projects – preservation of originals, increased access, storing born-digital materials.
• Understand metadata standards, why they are used, and limitations within the pedagogical realm.
Learning Objectives Continued
• Understand end-user behavior for searching digital collections in an academic environment; understand metadata and its relationship to database searching; understand how the purpose of the project effects how the collection is built.
Learning Objectives Continued
• Understand preservation methods used in digital asset management; understand issues involved in long-term storage of digital assets.
• Understand copyright issues involved in providing access to art images.
Internship – Work Accomplished
• Produced metadata for over 600 art images. Researched artists, artwork, locations in various databases and thesauri.
• Oversaw process for student assistants who were scanning 500 images from University Archives. Prepared images to be scanned. Quality control for scanned images.
• Created metadata for 500 scanned images from University Archives.
Second Intern – Summer 2006
• Past experience working as a student assistant in the technical services unit of a small academic library. No formal training in metadata or digital libraries.
• Preparing to start library/information science graduate program.
• No real experience, but an aptitude and interest in cataloging and metadata.
Work Accomplished
• Under the supervision of the Metadata Librarian, worked to clean up metadata for 2000 records in one collection.
• Assisted with the creation of an in-depth thesaurus tracing the changing names of campus buildings over the past 150 years.
• Created original cataloging for additional images for the collection.
Benefits of Interns
• Free/cheap labor, high level of dedication, high level of interest.
• Able to teach hands-on side of metadata.
• General familiarity with organization of information, why data needs to be consistent.
Considerations
• Significant time on part of manager for mentoring, teaching, training.
• Work can be monotonous – plan accordingly.
• Level of commitment.
• Be careful hiring – “I want to help, but I don’t want to do anything boring.”
Final Thoughts
• Building an in-house education program can be successful – although quite time-consuming.
• Vastly different experience educating technical services staff, public services staff, and interns.
• Further help from the LIS community would be appreciated…