Campus Art Museums in the 21st Century: A Conversation

In the summer of 2012, the authors of this study brought together a group of campus art museum directors and outside experts to 'think out loud' about the changes already occurring at campus museums and where new opportunities and roles may be emerging. We hope the resulting paper will further the field's larger, continuing exploration of its roles and potentials through dialogue, research, and experimentation -- an exploration that contributes to the continued healthy evolution of campus art museum practice

The importance of digital literacy in the knowledge era

 Digital literacy is an essential skill in the knowledge era. This research found that occupational therapists recognise the importance of digital literacy and are willing to use digital technologies yet barriers exist. Improving digital literacy is a shared concern, to be addressed at the individual, institutional, professional and societal levels

Building information modeling – A game changer for interoperability and a chance for digital preservation of architectural data?

Digital data associated with the architectural design-andconstruction process is an essential resource alongside -and even past- the lifecycle of the construction object it describes. Despite this, digital architectural data remains to be largely neglected in digital preservation research – and vice versa, digital preservation is so far neglected in the design-and-construction process. In the last 5 years, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has seen a growing adoption in the architecture and construction domains, marking a large step towards much needed interoperability. The open standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is one way in which data is exchanged in BIM processes. This paper presents a first digital preservation based look at BIM processes, highlighting the history and adoption of the methods as well as the open file format standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) as one way to store and preserve BIM data

Educating cultural heritage information professionals for Australia's galleries, libraries, archives and museums

This research explored the skills, knowledge and qualities, and professional education needs, of information professionals in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) in Australia.  These cultural heritage institutions have always had a role in allowing us to experience, explore and interpret our world by enabling people to engage with information in multiple forms through their mutual core functions of acquiring, organising, storing, providing access to and preserving information.   With the advent of the digital environment, the role of the information professional has grown, but so too have the opportunities for making the collections of Australia’s cultural heritage institutions available, including the increased ability for collaboration and convergence between institutions.  The need to educate information professionals who can operate across these blurred cultural heritage boundaries is becoming paramount if we are to maximize the use of our rich collections of cultural heritage information.   This research identified similarities in skills, knowledge and qualities using the Grounded Delphi method, a relatively new methodological extension of the Delphi method.  It integrates aspects of Grounded Theory – particularly with respect to the data analysis - with the Delphi method, a group communication tool and a means to achieve consensus.  The process consisted of three rounds of data collection: this first was exploratory focus groups, followed by two rounds of online questionnaires. In keeping with Delphi procedures, an ‘a priori’ consensus level was set at 75%.  Of the 74 questions that participants had to answer, 57 reached consensus.   The findings revealed that although full convergence of galleries, libraries, archives and museums is unlikely, many of the skills, knowledge and qualities would be required across all four GLAM sectors.  However, some skills may require a ‘change of focus’ in the digital environment.  Key findings included the need to ‘understand why we do what we do’; ‘understand the broad purpose of our role’; ‘the need to better articulate the profession’s existence and its role in social capacity building’; and the need for broader, more generalist skills, but without losing any specialist capacity.  The findings provide the first empirically based guidelines around what needs to be included in an educational framework for information professionals who will work in the emerging GLAM environment.  A further recommendation is to consider establishing an undergraduate degree where the broader, cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge are taught in an Information Management/ Informatics focussed program.   As the first study of GLAM education requirements in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region to take a holistic approach by engaging information professionals across all four types of cultural heritage institutions, this thesis makes a significant contribution to the GLAM research field and to information education generally

NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition

What is on the five-year horizon for academic and research libraries? Which trends and technology developments will drive transformation? What are the critical challenges and how can we strategize solutions? These questions regarding technology adoption and educational change steered the discussions of 77 experts to produce the NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition, in partnership with the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur, Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), ETH Library, and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six developments in technology profiled in this report are poised to impact library strategies, operations, and services with regards to learning, creative inquiry, research, and information management. The three sections of this report constitute a reference and technology planning guide for librarians, library leaders, library staff, policymakers, and technologists

A diffusion of innovation analysis of the acceptance of digital activities, products, and services as scholarship in a Boyer model of academic scholarship

This Delphi study explores the opinions of experts on their interactions with the adoption of digital products, services, and activities. Although there are a wide assortment of digital products and digital spaces that have the ability to make significant contributions to scholarship, still traditional monographs and textual publications dominate how research and opinions are shared. Even though scholars have widespread adoption of social spaces and digital technologies including self-publishing, many of their institutions and peer review platforms are still hesitated to recognize their contributions to scholarship (Gruzd, Staves, & Wilk, 2011). The conceptual framework of this study is built upon Ernest L. Boyer\u27s (1990) four principles of scholarship: the scholarship of discovery; the scholarship of integration; the scholarship of application; and the scholarship of teaching. In addition, the theory of diffusion of innovation by Rogers will guide the analysis component of the research

Selection of digital material for preservation in libraries, archives and museums

Digital material has different preservation requirements than non-digital and is at greater risk of loss unless deliberate preservation activities are undertaken. Digital preservation is an on-going managed process designed to enable continued use of digital material for as long as necessary. Much of the digital preservation research to date has focused on understanding technical steps in preserving digital objects and there has been less attention paid to assumptions about selection and the conceptual underpinnings of practice. Selection is done, not conceptualised. Therefore the aim of this research was to investigate the theory and practice of selection for digital preservation in UK memory institutions. The objectives employed to achieve this aim were firstly to examine the underlying theory relating to selection in libraries, archives and museums of non-digital material. The research then went on to investigate who the stakeholders are in selection, how selection of digital material is performed and identifying the key influential factors in selection. An intensive, qualitative approach was used to complete these objectives. A thorough review of the literature provided a theoretical background to selection in libraries, archives and museums. Then preliminary data were gathered through a set of exploratory interviews with eight digital preservation experts in order to provide an overview of selection for digital preservation. The findings from these interviews then formed the basis for the second set of interviews with twenty five practitioners working in libraries, archives and museums. The views of practitioners were under-explored in the literature although it is they that perform selection. In addition to these interviews, twenty two current digital preservation policies were examined. This research has found that there is on the whole little change required for selecting digital material, in comparison to selecting non-digital material, although technical criteria relating to the ability of the institution to manage and preserve the material are of high importance. There is a clear assumption in institutions of selection leading only to permanent collecting, which should be questioned. This research has uncovered drivers to selection, including external funders, and barriers, which include a lack of confidence and knowledge on the part of practitioners in how to select and manage digital material. Concepts identified through this research provide a deeper understanding of selection for digital preservation in different contexts and encapsulate key factors underpinning selection. The concept of professionalism is a key factor; the need to be professional and ethical guide s practitioners through specific professional skills and knowledge. The practitioners become engaged with digital material and the level of engagement mirrors the way digital material is conceptualised by practitioners. Many stakeholders were identified, including managers, senior managers, users, creators and donors, funders, other organisations and IT staff. Relationships with stakeholders and the possible roles they play in selection were found to be key factors in selection. These findings contributed to the achievement of the final objective, which was to develop a conceptual model of key factors underpinning selection for of digital material for preservation. The conceptual model consists of five main concepts and their relationships: professionalism; relationships; organisational capabilities; material properties; and boundaries. There is a clear need for greater availability and access to training and networking opportunities for practitioners in order to increase engagement with digital material. Through this research, factors relating to selection have been identified and conceptualised. It has uncovered issues not previously addressed, in particular relating to the social aspect of selection. This research provides an understanding of the complexities of selection and the influences upon it

Technology responsiveness for digital preservation: a model

Digital preservation may be defined as the cumulative actions undertaken by an organisation or individual to ensure that digital content is usable across generations of information technology. As technological change occurs, the digital preservation community must detect relevant technology developments, determine their implications for preserving digital content, and develop timely and appropriate responses to take full advantage of progress and minimize obsolescence. This thesis discusses the results of an investigation of technology responsiveness for digital preservation. The research produced a technology response model that defines the roles, functions, and content component for technology responsiveness. The model built on the results of an exploration of the nature and meaning of technological change and an evaluation of existing technology responses that might be adapted for digital preservation. The development of the model followed the six-step process defined by constructive research methodology, an approach that is most commonly used in information technology research and that is extensible to digital preservation research. This thesis defines the term technology responsiveness as the ability to develop continually effective responses to ongoing technological change through iterative monitoring, assessment, and response using the technology response model for digital preservation