Fedora Commons Educational Digital Library Projects

Carol Minton MorrisOct. 1, 2008

NSDL Annual Meeting

Overview

• Why Fedora works for libraries and archives

• Fedora Commons communities

• 3 Fedora Commons national library projects

• A Fedora Commons education project

• “Re-purposing” research and higher education resources: one NSDL example as a model for a potential “sustainable” way forward

• Conclusion

Fedora Commons Community

• 148+ “known” projects

• More than half are very large – National libraries– Public libraries– Academic libraries and archives

National/Public Libraries and Archives

•Alberta Library (TAL)•Boston Public Library•e-SpacioUNED•Library of Congress•National Library of Australia•National Library of Estonia•National Library of France/Bibliothèque nationale de France•National Library of Portugal•National Library of Scotland•National Library of Singapore•National Library of Slovakia•National Library of Sweden•National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru•New York Public Library•Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences•The State and University Library of Denmark

University Libraries and Archives

•Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham•Arizona State University–Library•Brown University–Library•Bucknell University Library•Case Western Reserve University–Kelvin Smith Library•Central Queensland University•Charles Darwin University•Columbia College Chicago•Columbia University Library•Deakin University•Delft University Library•Durham University•Emory University–Library•Glasgow Caledonian University–Saltire Centre•Hamilton College•Indiana University–Library•Johns Hopkins University–Library•LaTrobe University•Macquarie University•Monash University–Library

University Libraries and Archives

•Murdoch University•North Carolina State University Libraries•Northwestern University–Library•Oxford University–Library Services•Princeton University•Purdue University•Queensland University of Technology•Rhodes College•Rutgers University–Library•Swinburne University•Technical University of Denmark•Tufts University–The Digital Collections and Archives Department•UHI Millennium Institute•University of Alberta•University of Athens–Libraries Computer Center•University of Ballarat•Universite Catholique de Louvain•University College Dublin–IVRLA•University of Connecticut•University of Delaware

University Libraries and Archives

•University of Geneva•University of Hull•University of Koblenz-Landau•University of Lausanne•University of London–The Bloomsbury Colleges Consortium•University of Mary Washington•University of Maryland–Library•University of Massachusetts, Amherst•University of Michigan Library•University of Minnesota–Library•University of New Castle•University of New England•University of New South Wales•University of North Carolina•University of Prince Edward Island•University of Queensland

University Libraries and Archives

•University of South Australia•University of Southern Queensland•University of the Sunshine Coast•University of Virginia–Library•University of Western Sydney•Utdanning.no•Yale University–Arabic and Middle Eastern Electronic Library•Yale University–Electronic Records Archive•University of York

Why Fedora? Preservation for future scholarship is mission

• Fedora is a good match for large institutions with centuries-old collections because it enables digital resources that are:

– Durable, resources can be moved among other systems; policies, software, and even workflow can be attached to objects

– Re-usable, parts, pieces, and their associated relationships to other digital objects are available to be recombined and presented in multiple ways

– Independent, Fedora is open source software with a global installed community that guarantees improvement and evolution over time

Beyond curation and preservation

• “The idea that we should be in the business of marketing, creating new products, and providing open access to what’s inside of formerly well-guarded fortresses of knowledge is new for some of us.”

Librarian, at a recent international open repositories meeting

Beyond curation and preservation

• “Only about 50% of recent students from leading educational institutions have been in a library in

the last year.” (1)

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(1) Daniel Clancy, Engineering Director for Google Print, Joint Conference on Digital Libraries Plenary, June 2006

Beyond curation and preservation

• The Academic Library in a 2.0 World (2) suggests that libraries will increasingly be called on to prove their value to learning, teaching, and research by demonstrating tangible outcomes and evolving their structures, processes, services, and staff roles to accommodate the changes occurring in publishing and communication.

_______________________________________

(2) Wawrzaszek, Susan, and David G. Wedaman. “The Academic Library in a 2.0 World” (Research Bulletin, Issue 19). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Beyond curation and preservation

• Jorum is the JISC-sponsored UK National Learning Object Repository developed and managed jointly by EDINA and Mimas, the two JISC national academic data centres. In re-affirming support and funding for Jorum, JISC have agreed to the development and launch of new services which will act as a national showcase and means of sharing open educational resources.

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

National Libraries

• Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF)– Seven centuries of knowledge– Initiative launched to expand digital services by

establishing a Distributed Archiving and Preservation System (SPAR) based on the Fedora platform

– Preservation and security are key components of initiative.

National Libraries

• National Library of Wales– Preservation of culture– Center for education and outreach– Multi-media collections

Academic libraries and archives

• Forced Migration Online, University of Oxford– Resources to support people all over the world– Impartial– Outreach to increase use– Many people rely on resources– Since 1983

Semantic and Virtual Libraries

• Open Learning Exchange Nepal– International partnership with Government of Nepal– Critical need to provide additional educational

opportunities and materials online and in schools– “One Laptop per Child” partner

NSDL as a nexus for “re-purposing”: one example

• Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears

– Large collaboration focused on mining parts and pieces of higher ed and research-focused collections and centers of specialized knowledge to repurpose content for a K5 audience:

• College of Education and Human Ecology (OSU)

• Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading

• The Byrd Polar Research Center

• The Center for Science and Industry (COSI) Columbus

• NSDL—to develop and manage a new publication

It’s all about “strategic” collaboration

• BPPB is a potential sustainability model for other NSDL Pathways and Projects who could create online magazines and related outreach materials and activities focused on topics of interest for new education communities.

NSDL Community as an Engine for

Educational Mash-ups • NSDL Pathways and Projects are expert curators, editors

and producers of knowledge resources for K16 education

• Producing and packaging for libraries and archives is possible sustainability strategy

• New collaborations will enrich use and context of knowledge resources globally

Thank you

• Fedora Commons: http://fedora-commons.org

• Keep in touch–Carol Minton Morris: clt6@cornell.edu; 607 255-2702