LIBR 559G: Developing Digital Collections -- COURSE SYLLABUS
Program: Master
of Library and Information Studies
Year: 2005-2006, Winter session,
Term 1
Instructor: Mark
Jordan
Location: KL 216
Office location: TEF 321
Office Hours: Wednesdays 4:00 – 5:00
pm or by appointment
Office phone: 604-822-0051
E-mail address: mjordan@sfu.ca
Course web site address: http://libr559.interoperating.info
Course Goal: The goal of this course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills required to plan and manage the development of digital collections.
Course Objectives: By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Evaluate print, born-digital, and other materials for their potential value as organized digitized collections.
- Choose metadata and technologies appropriate for various types of digital collections.
- Apply the major interoperability and preservation standards in use today.
- Plan and manage digitization/conversion projects.
- Write proposals for developing digital collections.
Course Topics:
- Digital collections: Definitions, types, and trends
- Evaluating analog and born-digital material for suitability as digital collections
- Intellectual property issues
- Search/retrieval systems for digital collections
- Content management systems for digital collections
- Digital object formats and standards
- Metadata and interoperability standards
- Digitization/conversion project planning, management, and evaluation
- Project operations
- Staffing for digitization/conversion projects
- Proposal writing for developing digital collections
- Preservation strategies
Prerequisites: LIBR 500, 510, 540, 560
Format of the course: Lectures, discussions, hands-on exercises, student presentations
Required and Recommended Reading : Required and recommended readings from selected web sites, the journal literature, and other sources will be linked from the course website or available on reserve.
Course Assignments, Due dates and Weight in Relation to Final Course Mark:
Assignment 1: Comparison of two digital collections |
Team; written and presentation components |
Due Sept. 21 |
15% |
Assignment 2: Technical analysis of a collection |
Individual; written only |
Due Nov. 2 |
25% |
Assignment 3: Project proposal |
Team; written and presentation components |
Due Nov. 30 |
50% |
Class/activity participation |
|
|
10% |
Course Schedule:
Date |
Class |
Sept. 7 |
Definitions and trends |
Sept. 14 |
Metadata and interoperability for digital collections |
Sept. 21 |
Digital object formats Team presentations |
Sept. 28 |
No class |
Oct. 5 |
Digital Library Management
Systems |
Oct. 12 |
Project management |
Oct. 19 |
Lab: DCMS continued, and image processing (SLAIS Lab, two sections) |
Oct. 26 |
Project operations |
Nov. 2 |
Guest speakers: Nigel Long (OCLC) and Bronwen Sprout (UBC) Assignment 2 due |
Nov. 9 |
Proposal writing |
Nov. 16 |
Project operations and workflow
continued |
Nov. 23 |
Case studies |
Nov. 30 |
Assignment 3 due |
Attendance: The calendar states: “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes.”
Evaluation: All assignments will be awarded letter grades using the evaluative criteria given on the SLAIS web site.
Written & Spoken English Requirement: Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English.
Other Course Policies: All students must subscribe to the course mailing list. Instructions will be provided on the course website. Participation in the course weblog is also encouraged.
