Stepping Away from the Silos

Strategic Collaboration in Digitisation

Margaret Coutts

• Publisher: Chandos Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780081002780
• eBook ISBN: 9780081002797
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

For over twenty years, digitisation has been a core element of the modern information landscape. The digital lifecycle is now well defined, and standards and good practice have been developed for most of its key stages. There remains, however, a widespread lack of coordination of digitisation initiatives, both within and across different sectors, and there are disparate approaches to selection criteria. The result is 'silos' of digitised content. Stepping away from the Silos examines the strategic context in the UK since the 1990s and its effect on collaboration and coordination of exemplar digitisation initiatives in higher education and related sectors. It identifies the principal criteria for content selection that are common to the international literature in this field. The outputs of the exemplar projects are examined in relation to these criteria. A range of common practices and patterns in content selection appears to have developed over time, forming a de facto strategy from which several areas of critical mass have emerged. The book discusses the potential to improve strategic collaboration and coordinated selection by building on such a platform, and considers planning options in the context of work on national digitisation strategies in the UK and internationally. - Summarises the rise of publicly funded digitisation in the UK from the 1990s to date and identifies the need to improve coordination and content selection criteria - Reviews the role of digitisation in government and organisational strategies from the 1990s to the present day - Examines the strategic position of collaboration within and across different organisations - Identifies common selection criteria and outlines the coverage of exemplar projects  - Discusses the apparent emergence of a de facto selection strategy and thepotential for national strategic planning of digitised content based on existing outputs and improved collaboration

Chapter 1

Introduction

Digitisation since the 1990s

Abstract

This chapter traces the key stages in the digitisation of analogue materials over some 20 years. It outlines the development of digitisation from an innovative technology to its current position as a core element of the increasingly dominant digital environment. Whilst standards and good practice have matured in many aspects of the digitisation process, areas of weakness remain. Intellectual content is poorly coordinated in strategic terms, and there has been limited attention to common criteria for the selection of intellectual content. These issues are to be examined in the context of the UK heritage and educational sectors, and of higher education in particular. Coverage concentrates primarily on publicly and philanthropically funded initiatives and on digitisation of materials and formats beyond identified categories that are already well documented.

Keywords

Collaboration; Coordination; Culture; Digitisation; Education; Heritage; Philanthropic funding; Public funding; Selection criteria; Standards; Strategy

Some twenty years ago, digitisation rose to prominence in the educational, cultural and heritage sectors, bringing the prospect of revolutionised access to all forms of information and artefacts. Since then, it has gone through a cycle in which it has moved from high favour and priority to a more modest role, overshadowed by other developments in the digital world. It remains, however, a key element in the range of digital content on which all sectors now rely, and a key factor underpinning the current concepts, variously defined, of the ‘digital environment’ and the ‘digital library’ (Van Oudenaeren, 2010). As the digital world continues to present innovations that overshadow or replace earlier developments, it is timely to review digitisation progress to date, and to consider core aspects of the work that have had less attention than others as this groundbreaking development has come to maturity.

1.1. Initiative and Innovation

It is important to set such considerations in the context of the key developmental stages of digitisation. Terras (2011) includes in her full account the pre-1990 developments which created the basis for its widespread adoption from the 1990s onwards. Amongst the early adopters in the 1990s were the information and heritage sectors. They saw it as an unprecedented opportunity to extend access to their resources, to improve preservation, and to do so free of charge or at low cost. There was active support from leading educational and heritage organisations and significant amounts of public funding were invested. Total sums are very difficult to establish, but, for example, some £130 million was known to have been spent in the United Kingdom during the ten years up to 2005 (Bültmann et al., 2005, p. 3). All recognised that this was a true innovation. Lee described it as the ‘decade of digitisation’ (Lee, 2002, p. 160) and Lynch wrote of ‘an enormous, exhilarating flowering of innovation, creativity and experimentation’ (Lynch, 2000).

An entirely new field of expertise had to be developed, by a process of invention, experimentation, implementation, evaluation, refinement and further development. It also became clear that it was a multifaceted field, requiring that same process to be applied to issues of content, technology, infrastructure, intellectual property and sustainability. Universities, museums, galleries and national libraries were amongst the enthusiastic participants. In terms of content, small-scale projects typified the early work, often showcasing items of major intellectual and cultural value. The activity in this period, however, was as much concentrated on developing experience in and standards for the use of the technology and the provision of infrastructure, legal management and preservation. With standards and good practice consolidating around 2000, large-scale projects became more commonplace in the following years.

1.2. Expansion, Consolidation and Review

The wide variety of content produced in this period was welcomed by their communities, and user demand and expectation rose fast and high. By the 2000s, however, reality had also impacted. Digitisation was not a one-off, cheap solution, whether to enable access or to preserve, but a high-cost activity in terms of capital investment and, crucially, of recurrent expenditure. Most outputs required assured availability, periodic updating and long-term sustainability, all of which brought technical and financial implications. Moreover, the volume of material digitised to date was impressive, but constituted only a tiny fraction of the analogue resources yet to be considered for transfer to the digital environment. As Carr noted, ‘the sums already spent from public and private sources have merely scratched the surface’ (Carr, 2007, p. 49). There was also a ‘fashion factor’, summarised aptly by Van Oudenaeren. ‘Paradoxically, efforts to digitise and place online additional content may be hampered somewhat by the very inexorability of the trends underway. Under the assumption that ‘everything is going to be online eventually anyway’, foundations, government agencies, and corporations may be less interested in supporting digitisation efforts than they were, for example, in the 1990s, when digitisation was a newer and more glamorous technology’ (Van Oudenaeren, 2010, p. 98).

Some funders withdrew from supporting digitisation. Others became more cautious and judicious about their commitments and generally exercised a more strategic oversight of the work which they funded. This shift was intensified by the global economic downturn of 2008. Digitisation initiatives continued, but many reverted to small-scale and short-term projects.

Faced with such complications and setbacks, the enthusiasm and energy of the early days of digitisation have inevitably been replaced by a more subdued approach to continuing activity. This should not, however, obscure the widespread activity in the education and cultural sectors. A recent survey of digitisation of heritage materials in Europe revealed that, of some 2000 institutions responding, 83% had a digital collection or were currently involved in digitisation activities, and 34% had a written digitisation strategy (Stroeker and Vogels, 2012).

1.3. ‘A Core Function’

Digital content in its widest sense is now seen, at the very least, as having a central role in key provision for education and heritage. A recent consultation with UK library directors drew the advice that ‘digitised materials are of pervasive importance for many areas of Higher Education institutions' mission’ (Marchionni, 2014). Terras describes the commitment of libraries, archives, museums, galleries and private collections to producing digital surrogates as ‘commonplace’ (Terras, 2011, p. 16). More significantly, there is strong evidence that digitised content is now of central importance in some fields and disciplines. In 2008, an environmental scan from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Research Committee listed ten assumptions for forward planning, the first of which predicted that ‘there will be increased emphasis on digitising collections, [and] preserving digital collections’ (ACRL Research Committee, 2008). Broady-Preston and Swain (2012) quoted a member of the staff from the National Library of Wales (NLW), ‘now [digitisation] seems a core function in giving access’. Hernon and Matthews observe that in some cases faculty are increasingly dependent on digital materials, including digital archives (Hernon and Matthews, 2012, pp. 3–4). Van Oudenaeren uses stronger terms still: various user groups display an ‘increasing to near-total reliance’ on electronic information, including cultural information (Van Oudenaeren, 2010, p. 1), and Calhoun notes several major surveys and studies recording calls for online provision (Calhoun, 2014, pp. 112–3).

This trend towards digital dominance is, as one would expect, influenced by users' needs and expectations. Stubbings (2012) notes an Ithaka survey which shows strong recognition of users' preference for online access and Calhoun stresses that ‘most segments of population place high value on immediately available, convenient online sources’ (Calhoun, 2014, p. 112). Coyne considers convenience for the academic sector specifically, and believes that students, researchers, faculty and authors need to access information around the clock and from anywhere in the world (Coyne, 2010, pp. 104–5). Significantly, many commentators are signalling that we may well be approaching, finally, the long-predicted time when digital supersedes analogue in standard provision across all fields of interest:

We can assume that most printed out-of-copyright paper publications will be digitised and fully available on the web by 2030

(National Library of Scotland, 2010, p. 7)

There is a growing expectation in society that all information resources should be available online 24 hours a day.

(The National Archives and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2010, p. 6)

Digital formats are beginning to dominate library collections, especially in academic libraries.

(Calhoun, 2014, p. 111)

…the digital versions will be the principal mode of delivery

(Pressler, 2014, p. 12).

This trend is, of course, enabled by the pervasive nature of the digital environment and the ubiquity of born-digital materials that have long replaced physical formats in many fields. Over the last 10 years or so, this has obscured to a certain extent the case for progressing further digitisation of analogue materials. In the light of increasing digital dominance, however, and the incontrovertible fact that so much of the world's knowledge and cultural outputs still exist only in physical form, digitisation is as much a key element in future digital developments as it has been in the past. ‘Digitization of existing library, museum, and archive collections is still a major priority, where funding can be found for these initiatives’ (Hughes, 2012, p. 1).

1.4. ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Series Page
• Copyright
• Biography
• Foreword and Acknowledgments
• Editorial Notes
• Glossary
• Chapter 1. Introduction: Digitisation since the 1990s
• Chapter 2. Strategic Context
• Chapter 3. Digitisation Programmes and Outputs in the UK
• Chapter 4. Content Selection for Digitisation: Principal Criteria and Mapping of UK Outputs
• Chapter 5. The Future for Collaboration
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Index