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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.
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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%) • Contentintegrated 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 “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)