Education for Digital Libraries: Challenges, Developments and Cooperation

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Education for Digital Libraries Challenges,
Developments and Cooperation

• Tatjana Aparac Jeluic
• University of Zadar, Croatia

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Content

• Introduction
• Challenges
• Developments
• Cooperation

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Introduction

• since the advent of DLs in the early 1990s
• a consistently strong theme in DL research and
  development has been HOW DLs may be used in
  education
• much research has been done how to teach WITH
  DLs, but only recently has research been
  conducted on how to teach ABOUT/FOR DLs

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Introduction

• one goal of this presentation
• to discuss the issue of the reform application in
  LIS, Archival, Museum and IS schools between a
  traditional approach and an innovative one, based
  on European trends in harmonization of courses
  and recognition of qualifications
• other goal
• to present Croatian efforts in DL education,
  including cooperative projects

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Challenges

• the potential of DLs as tools for large-scale
  social and scientific change unites many emerging
  specialties
• digital humanities,
• digital cultural heritage,
• e-government,
• e-commerce,
• e-science,
• e-learning, and the list goes on

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Introduction Questions

• What are the basic concerns in developing new
  curricula for those who are working in digital
  information sector?
• How do the multidisciplinary and
  interdisciplinary issues influence curricula
  design in wider IS?
• What are the future steps, particularly in regard
  to European and/or SEE cooperation?

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Introduction cont

• interesting topics for future professionals in
  ALM (memory institution) community are in general
  provided by
• guidelines for professional education of
  librarians, archivists, museum workers and
  information professionals

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Key elements from those guidelines

• information environment, information policy and
  ethics,
• generation, mediation and usage of written
  information,
• information needs and creation of appropriate
  services
• process of information transition, organisation,
  retrieval,
• preservation and protection of information,
  scientific and research work,
• analysis and interpretation of digital
  information,
• application of ICT in memory institutions
• management, quantitative and qualitative
  evaluation of (digital) information and cultural
  services usage impact

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Developments

• DL education in the EU has evolved from a
  tradition in humanities computing, LIS and
  museum informatics
• the European Commission has intensely promoted
  from the beginning (mid1990s) many DL projects
• the financing of digitization projects with
  different European partners from the academic and
  private sector has resulted in rich networks
  amongst European LIS researchers and departments

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Developments cont

• Current state of DL education
• in US DL certificates in many LIS/IS and some
  CS schools
• in Europe Certificates, Bologna Process
• Hot topics in DL development
• in US Education, Cyberinfrastructure
• in Europe Cultural heritage

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EU Digital Library Curriculum Project

• European curriculum reflections
•  
• Project initiated and performed by Euclid
  (coordinated by Royal School of LIS, Copenhagen)
•  
• DL education workshop
• Fiesole, Italy, 2005
• Zadar Workshop
• University of Zadar, Croatia, 2006

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EU DL curriculum results

• published guidelines European Curriculum
• Reflections on Library and Information Science
  
• Education report (Kajberg Lørring, 2005)
• new programs focus on cultural heritage
  institutions,
• and access to and safeguarding of cultural
  heritage
• Opportunities to discuss and analyse different
  
• approaches to DL
• IT approach (DELOS)
• Cultural Heritage approach (Humanties scholars,
• Learning and Teaching)
• Library approach (Minerva Project, Europeana)

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Cooperation examples

• Joint and Twin Master Programmes
• Joint graduate (master) programs in DL
• Digital Libraries and Learning (DILL Oslo,
  Tallinn, Parma)
• Written Heritage in the Digital Environment
  (WHIDE Zadar, Osijek, Parma)
• Regional programs
• Graduate program in LIS innitiated by IZUM,
  Maribor and offered by Universities of Zadar and
  Ljubljana

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WHDE aims

• the development of a wide recognised graduate
  program for information professionals who intend
  to work in the complex area of memory
  institutions collections and services in a
  digital environment
•  

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Intended learning objectives for students

• to understand challenges of a digital environment
  and to become skilled to practice best models of
  organization and delivery of digital services in
  memory institutions
• to get opportunity for and experience of
  independent, yet supervised, research projects
  within the digital environment, through the
  application of relevant methodological and
  analytical approaches
• to understand the impact of digital environment
  on the role of the information professional for
  the Knowledge Society

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conclusions

• based upon 12 years experience in ALM seminars
  and LIDA conferences
• Croatian National digitization project of
  cultural heritage
• some experience in collaborative projects such as
  Europeana (but, only NUL)
• need for educated staff to work with heritage in
  general, and digititation projects in particular
• need for academic staff regional PhD programs