Beginning in fiscal year 2005, LDI project
work that will be solicited and/or directed centrally by the
Executive Committee and the ULC
will be focused in five initiative areas.
Integration
Projects
These will be predominantly oriented towards
integrating library digital resources and services with
Harvard's central academic computing initiatives: the
iCommonc/ICG course platform, and the iSites portal tool.
The intent of this initiative is to encourage the use
of library materials by presenting them conveniently and
prominently in the web environments used by Harvard's
students and faculty.
Digital
Preservation
Harvard is in the forefront of digital
preservation activities nationally. The next 5 years will
certainly see an increasing amount of activity in this
domain both nationally and internationally, including
many cross-institutional projects. Harvard will maintain
an ability to participate in these as appropriate. For
more information about current digital preservation activities,
see Digital Preservation.
Targeted
digital resources
These projects will create or acquire digital resources
of immediate utility to Harvard students or faculty. The
key focus will likely be on materials for use in instruction,
although materials in demand for current research initiatives
with strong faculty input will also be eligible. This
program will need to be integrated with the current presidential
initiative to fund the creation of digital course materials.
Archiving
born-digital material
There is increasing interest across the libraries to begin
collecting and preserving born-digital materials. Areas
of interest include: digital materials included in archival
collections; Harvard web materials; smaller publications,
grey literature; and materials created by Harvard faculty.
Assessment
and Measurement
By the end of the next phase of LDI, the
library must be in a position to document the utility
of the initiative to Harvard students and faculty. Doing
meaningful assessment and measurement is not simple, and
it requires the dedication of noticeable resources.
For more information contact Wendy Gogel, Digital Projects
Program Librarian, via
or (617) 495-3724
