Proposal for an IMLS Collection Registry and Metadata Repository

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposes to design, implement, and research a collection-level registry and item-level metadata repository service that will aggregate information about digital collections and items of digital content created using funds from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants. This work will be a collaboration by the University Library and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. All extant digital collections initiated or augmented under IMLS aegis from 1998 through September 30, 2005 will be included in the proposed collection registry. Item-level metadata will be harvested from collections making such content available using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI PMH). As part of this work, project personnel, in cooperation with IMLS staff and grantees, will define and document appropriate metadata schemas, help create and maintain collection-level metadata records, assist in implementing OAI compliant metadata provider services for dissemination of item-level metadata records, and research potential benefits and issues associated with these activities. The immediate outcomes of this work will be the practical demonstration of technologies that have the potential to enhance the visibility of IMLS funded online exhibits and digital library collections and improve discoverability of items contained in these resources. Experience gained and research conducted during this project will make clearer both the costs and the potential benefits associated with such services. Metadata provider and harvesting service implementations will be appropriately instrumented (e.g., customized anonymous transaction logs, online questionnaires for targeted user groups, performance monitors). At the conclusion of this project we will submit a final report that discusses tasks performed and lessons learned, presents business plans for sustaining registry and repository services, enumerates and summarizes potential benefits of these services, and makes recommendations regarding future implementations of these and related intermediary and end user interoperability services by IMLS projects.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Triumphs and Travails: The Challenges of Institutional Collaborations

Based on short paper presented at the 43rd Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Preconference June 11-14, 2002 Atlanta, Georgia Association of College and Research Libraries American Library AssociationThis article describes a collaboration funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant, awarded to a Lawrence, Kansas Jr. High School, partnered a university research library, a group of Jr. High School teachers, a local community museum and a city newspaper. The object of the grant was to produce a local-history web site, developed by teachers, and used as an educational tool by secondary school students. The author details the history of the partnership and explains how an understanding of institutional cultures and a clarification of roles brought the project to fruition

Information Needs of Art Museum Visitors: Real and Virtual

Museums and libraries are considered large repositories of human knowledge and human culture. They have similar missions and goals in distributing accumulated knowledge to society. Current digitization projects allow both, museums and libraries to reach a broader audience, share their resources with a variety of users. While studies of information seeking behavior, retrieval systems and metadata in library science have a long history; such research studies in museum environments are at their early experimental stage. There are few studies concerning information seeking behavior and needs of virtual museum visitors, especially with the use of images in the museums' collections available on the Web. The current study identifies preferences of a variety of user groups about the information specifics on current exhibits, museum collections metadata information, and the use of multimedia. The study of information seeking behavior of users groups of museum digital collections or cultural collections allows examination and analysis of users' information needs, and the organization of cultural information, including descriptive metadata and the quantity of information that may be required. In addition, the study delineates information needs that different categories of users may have in common: teachers in high schools, students in colleges and universities, museum professionals, art historians and researchers, and the general public. This research also compares informational and educational needs of real visitors with the needs of virtual visitors. Educational needs of real visitors are based on various studies conducted and summarized by Falk and Dierking (2000), and an evaluation of the art museum websites previously conducted to support the current study

La enseñanza del patrimonio y de la ciudadanía en las clases de ciencias sociales : un estudio de caso en ESO

Esta tesis doctoral investiga el pensamiento y la praxis de docentes innovadores en relación con la educación patrimonial y la educación para la ciudadanía en la materia de Ciencias Sociales. Partimos del supuesto de que el profesorado como profesional reflexivo, es uno de los protagonistas indiscutibles del proceso de enseñanza- aprendizaje y si, además, responde a un modelo docente alejado del modelo tradicional, indagar en sus pensamientos, teorías y prácticas en relación con la enseñanza de estos contenidos, es una oportunidad para ofrecer un catálogo de buenas prácticas y proponer un modelo de referencia. En el capítulo I, justificamos la necesidad de indagar en este ámbito de la realidad educativa, advirtiendo los retos y problemas asociados tanto a la educación patrimonial como a la educación para la ciudadanía. En el capítulo II presentamos el diseño de la investigación, partimos de un problema de investigación general: ¿Qué y cómo enseña el profesorado innovador educación para la ciudadanía utilizando el patrimonio como contenido pedagógico en Ciencias Sociales, Geografía e Historia en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria?, que se subdivide en otros específicos, los cuales se corresponden con los objetivos que pretendemos alcanzar en la realización de esta tesis. El capítulo III está dedicado a exponer los resultados en relación con las concepciones que el profesorado innovador maneja sobre la educación patrimonial, la educación para la ciudadanía y la vinculación existente entre ambas. Para ello, se aplicó un cuestionario inicial a diez profesores/as innovadores de Ciencias Sociales y una posterior entrevista exploratoria a los seis que mostraban un conocimiento más evolucionado de los contenidos mencionados, conforme a la hipótesis de progresión de desarrollo profesional que presentamos en el capítulo I. Tras este proceso, seleccionamos al docente que podía ser un modelo de referencia y con el que realizamos nuestro estudio de caso. En los capítulos IV y V se analizan los datos que registramos del estudio de caso en la observación de aula, los grupos de discusión discente y la entrevista final de reflexión docente. El análisis cualitativo de todos estos datos se realiza a través de un proceso de triangulación múltiple, que nos permite contrastar la intersubjetividad y asegurar la credibilidad de nuestra investigación al incluir la percepción del alumnado en relación con el desarrollo de las clases y la reflexión e interpretación que el docente hace de fas respuestas más representativas de sus alumnos y alumnas, Concretamente, en el capítulo IV analizamos los datos obtenidos de la observación de aula comparando estos resultados con los de la entrevista de exploración inicial que nos hicieron elegir a esta persona para la realización del mismo, y con las opiniones de su alumnado, registradas en los grupos de discusión discente, centrándonos en averiguar qué y cómo enseña este profesor innovador de Ciencias Sociales educación patrimonial y educación para la ciudadanía para formar ciudadanos/as críticos y participativos. En el capítulo V nos centramos, por un lado, en el análisis de la tercera categoría La enseñanza de ¡a educación para la ciudadanía a través de la educación patrimonial, que es la que vincula directamente los dos temas de estudio en los que se centra esta tesis doctoral; y por otro, queremos compartir los datos obtenidos en la observación de aula y en los grupos de discusión con nuestro docente protagonista del estudio de caso, en una entrevista de reflexión final en la que él mismo pueda dar su valoración final de los logros alcanzados, pero también de los obstáculos que aparecieron durante el proceso. Resultado de los análisis precedentes se obtiene un catálogo de buenas prácticas de profesores innovadores en relación con la educación patrimonial y la educación para la ciudadanía en Ciencias Sociales y un modelo de referencia al que hemos denominado profesor posmoderno/ que puede servir de punto de partida para profundizar en futuras investigaciones sobre cómo se desarrolla a partir de la educación patrimonial aprendizajes propios de la educación para la ciudadanía. Como conclusión más relevante podemos señalar que el profesor posmoderno, a través de un proceso de indagación basado en los referentes patrimoniales, busca que su alumnado comprenda conceptos relevantes del plano social, histórico, científico y ambiental, dando respuesta al planteamiento de problemas actuales. De forma que, para él, lo más importante que tienen que aprender sus estudiantes es el desarrollo de un pensamiento crítico y fundamentado en valores como la igualdad, la libertad, la cohesión social, la dignidad y la justicia social, así como la participación real en sus comunidades.This doctoral dissertation deals with innovative teachers' praxis and thought processes in relation to the subjects of patrimonial education (or heritage education) and citizenship (or civic education) in the field of Social Sciences. It takes as a starting point the assumption that the teacher as a reflective professional is one of the indisputable protagonists of the teaching-learning process and that if, in addition, he or she adheres to a teaching model that departs from the traditional one, examining that teacher's thoughts, theories and practices in relation to the teaching of these contents becomes an opportunity to offer a catalog of good practices and to propose a reference model. Chapter I justifies the need to investigate in this area of the educational reality, noting the challenges and problems associated with both patrimonial education and citizenship. In chapter II the research design is presented by starting from a general research problem: What and how does the innovative teaching staff teach citizenship using heritage as pedagogical content in Social Sciences, Geography and History in Secondary Education? This in turn is subdivided into other more specific points, which correspond to the objectives we intend to achieve through this dissertation. Chapter III is dedicated to presenting the results in relation to the ideas that innovative teachers handle when dealing with about patrimonial education, citizenship and the existing relation between them, In order to do this, an initial questionnaire was handed to ten innovative teachers of Social Sciences and, subsequently, an exploratory interview was carried out with the six of them that showed a more evolved knowledge of the aforementioned contents, according to the hypothesis of progression of professional development presented on chapter I. After this process, we selected the teacher who could stand a reference model and with whom we conducted our case study. In chapters IV and V there is an analysis of the data collected from the case study on classroom observation, the pupils' discussion groups and the final teaching reflection interview. The qualitative analysis of all this data has been carried out by means of a of multiple triangulation process, which allows us to contrast the degree of intersubjectivity and to ensure the credibility of our research by including what students perceive in relation to the development of the classes as well as the teacher's reflection and interpretation of his/her students' most representative answers. Specifically, on chapter IV the data obtained from classroom observation is analyzed by comparing these results with those of the initial exploration interview that made us choose the person to be observed as well as with the opinions of this person's students registered in their discussion groups, focusing on finding out what and how this innovative Social Sciences teacher teaches heritage education and citizenship to train critical and participating citizens. The focus of chapter V is twofold; on the one hand it focuses on the analysis of the third category: The teaching of citizenship through heritage education, which directly links the two subjects of study of this doctoral dissertation. On the other hand, it is our intention to share the data obtained during classroom observation and in the discussion groups with the teacher protagonist of the case study by means of a final reflection interview in which he can give his own final assessment of the goals achieved, butalso of the obstacles that appeared during the process. The result of the preceding analyses is a catalog of good practices for innovative teachers in relation to the subjects of patrimonial education and citizenship in Social Sciences together with a reference model tentatively called the postmodern teacher, that can serve as a starting point for future research on how learning processes proper to the subject of citizenship are developed from that of patrimonial education. The most relevant conclusion of this research is that the postmodern teacher, through an inquiry process based on heritage referents, seeks for his/her students to understand relevant concepts from the social, historical, scientific and environmental levels, responding to current problems. In such a way that, for this postmodern teacher, the most important thing that his/her students must learn is the development of their own critical thinking as based on values such as equality, freedom, social cohesion, dignity and social justice, as well as some real participation in their own communities