[Irtalk] FW: Managing Digital Collections: a collaborative initiative on the South African Framework

[Smith, Ina <ismith@sun.ac.za>]

From: Henda van der Berg [mailto:JHMVDBERG at nrf.ac.za]
Sent: 09 February 2011 11:34
To: Henda van der Berg
Subject: Managing Digital Collections: a collaborative initiative on the South African Framework

The publication "Managing Digital Collections: a Collaborative Initiative on the South African Framework". Published by the National Research Foundation, December 2010, is available at:  http://digi.nrf.ac.za/publ/Managing Digital Collections.pdf<http://digi.nrf.ac.za/publ/Managing%20Digital%20Collections.pdf>

The NRF gratefully acknowledges the generous financial su            pport of the Carnegie Corporation of New York which made this publication possible.

Overview of the publication

The framework provides principles and guidelines to assist planners, policy developers and managers of digital collections gain a sense of the digitisation landscape. It can be either a reference (to be consulted as and when required) or an overview (to be read from beginning to end). It is not a step-by-step manual of digitisation processes ? that will be the function of training initiatives for personnel actually doing the digitisation ? but it can support and supplement training by being prescribed reading for digitisation students and staff. This will assist them by providing an overall understanding of the broader perspectives and the multiple processes involved in building good digital collections.

Each chapter is devoted to a different area of the digitisation process and is authored by an authority in that area of specialisation.  A chapter on community practice examines the emerging community developing standards and guidelines in order to find consensus about what constitutes good practice. It reviews at documents such as reports that have shaped and continue to shape principles of good practice. Before proceeding with any digitisation, the intellectual property issues and most specifically copyright issues need to be understood within the legal framework.

There is a chapter on the current South African legislation and its relation to digital resources.

Digital collection development is the broad term for the management of digital collections which may not necessarily be housed in any one location but may consist of several collections on a theme, across several organisations. A chapter on selection criteria and development criteria is complemented by a subsequent chapter on digital objects.

Metadata plays an essential role in the access, storage, discovery, preservation and exchange of digital resources. It provides the mechanism for efficient and effective management of all digital resources. A chapter on metadata examines international standards for the creation of quality metadata.

A chapter on digital infrastructure focuses on the hardware, software and middleware required to host digital collections as well as the digital content management system to ingest, preserve and deliver content to and from the Web.

Components required for an efficient digital preservation program are discussed in a chapter where the resources required to sustain preservation programs are discussed.

The final chapter of the publication addresses the planning, overall management, quality assurance and evaluation of a digital collections project.

[cid:image979efd.jpg at d7663fff.4f5747af]
Meiring Naude Road
Brummeria
PO Box 2600
Pretoria, 0001
South Africa
http://www.nrf.ac.za<http://www.nrf.ac.za/>


Henda van der Berg
Principal Information Specialist
Information Resources Services
Tel: +27 (0) 12 481 4016
Fax: +27 (0) 12 481 4231
Email: JHMVDBERG at nrf.ac.za



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