IRIS Photos

Emory University Sustaining Digital Libraries Symposium

Ira Revels

On October 6, Ira Revels, the project manager for the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)-CUL Digitization Initiative, attended a symposium sponsored by the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University titled “Sustaining Digital Libraries.” The event was limited to forty representatives from numerous libraries across the country. Presenters were welcomed from agencies such as the Library of Congress and the National Science Foundation. Directors at organizations such as the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and program managers at the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIPP) and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), the Perseus Project, and “Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe” (LOCKSS) provided their insight into pressing issues related to digital library sustainability.

Throughout the presentations it became clear that no one had figured out the problem of sustainability and no one was able to provide the perfect answer. Several of the presentations, however, laid out a series of issues and concerns that have arisen from involvement with their projects. The first concern was presented by Gregory Crane, a professor at Tufts University and editor-in-chief of the Perseus Digital Library. He asked the audience whether we are “sustaining digital libraries or sustaining libraries.” He also encouraged everyone to consider whether existing collections are “big enough.” The question of whether we are sustaining digital libraries or libraries seems to me to mean that Crane perceives that digital libraries represent an evolution of traditional brick-and-mortar libraries. He presented a concept in which he described digital libraries as incunabula in the way they represent books. He proposed that texts in the physical library could be brought to life using digital technologies in new and different ways, so that eventually they may even “talk” to one another. I believe his second question—whether digital collections are big enough—cautions digital library creators to consider a day when we may decide whether we continue to build individual distributed collections or content on a particular subject or stop building and make new content integrate seamlessly into a single, multipurpose collection. In many ways, the DLF Aquifer is one initiative that explores this concept through the development of a distributed framework for cultural heritage materials in which to discover content for teaching, research, and learning.

Second, Paul Berkman, the chair of the Sustainability Standing Committee for the National Science Digital Library program, encouraged the audience to explore answers to a fundamental question, “What is needed to sustain digital libraries?” His presentation focused on strategies at the NSDL to analyze sustainability models across a variety of projects, benchmark revenue strategies, and define criteria for establishing an innovative business model.

Next, panelist Martha Anderson, the program officer for NDIIP, called for a plan for initial investment to test projects for building a technical infrastructure and for research toward the development of a national public policy on preservation. Finally, during his panel talk, Chris Greer, who is currently responsible for strategic planning in the Office of Cyberinfrastructure of the National Science Foundation, promoted a vision whereby we could achieve a global-level policy for preservation. Overall, the daylong symposium was enlightening and thought provoking. The presenters explored tough questions and provided audience members with real-life examples of research and practice that may prove useful to both present and future builders of digital libraries and to those who are responsible for preserving them.