Course Schedule
Below is a week by week schedule of the course. The exact topics covered each week may vary somewhat depending on our rate of progress.
Week 1: Introduction to Digital Libraries
January 16
What is a digital library? Definitions and history; introduction to this course
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 1
- Schwartz, 2000
- Bush, 1945
National Archives chart
Week 2: Digital Library Development
January 23
Digital collections versus digital libraries; issues, tasks, and roles in developing digital libraries
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 12
- Besser, 2002
- Choi & Rasmussen, 2006
- McCray & Gallagher, 2001
- Crane, Chavez et al, 2001
Week 3: Planning a Digital Library Project
January 30
Digital objects; determining mission, objectives, and user needs
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 8, Ch. 9
- Levy & Marshall, 1995
- Borgman et al, 2004
Week 4: Metadata
February 6
Metadata fundamentals; types of metadata; metadata standards
A1 Presentation: Metadata in DLs
A2 Presentation: Documenting the American South
A2 Presentation: International Children's Digital Library
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 5
- Nair & Jeevan, 2004
- Baca, 1998
- Furuta et al, 1996
Week 5: Manuscripts and Text
February 13
Digitization, scanning, and OCR issues; access to text documents
A1 Presentation: Digitizing manuscripts
A1 Presentation: Open source software for digital libraries
A2 Presentation: Perseus
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 2, Ch. 3
- Buckland, 1997
- Crane, Smith, & Wulfman, 2001
- Managing Digitization, 2004
Week 6: Images
February 20
Formats and metadata for still images; image indexing and tagging
A1 Presentation: Still images in digital libraries
A2 Presentation: NYPL Digital Gallery
A2 Presentation: Cushman Photograph Collection
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 4
- Yee et al, 2003
- Cunningham & Masoodian, 2006
- Trant, 2006
No Class Meeting
February 27
iSchool Conference
Week 7: Multimedia
March 5
Audio, video, and geospatial objects; formats; digitization and metadata issues
A1 Presentation: Moving images in digital libraries
A1 Presentation: Music in digital libraries
A2 Presentation: Harvard Geospatial Library [link and link]
Readings:
- Christel & Conescu, 2005
- Brancolini, Dunn, & Walsh, 2000
- Chang et al, 2004
No Class Meeting
March 12
Spring Break
Week 8: Architecture & Interoperability
March 19
Digital library infrastructures; federation and interoperability; OAI
A2 Presentation: Calisphere
A2 Presentation: Mountain West
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 6, Ch. 10
- Crane & Wulfman, 2003
- Palmer, Zavalina & Mustafoff, 2007
- Witten & Bainbridge, 2007
Week 9: Intellectual Property
March 26
Copyright and licensing issues; funding strategies and models. Guest speaker: Georgia Harper, Scholarly Communications Advisor, UT Libraries
A2 Presentation: Harvard's Open Collections Program
A2 Presentation: Exploratorium
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 11
- Besek, 2003
- Villano, 2005
Week 10: User Interfaces, Usability, and Evaluation
April 2
Usability studies for digital libraries; methods of evaluation; user interface and usability considerations
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 7
- Lee & Smeaton, 2002
- Dillon, 2002
- Covey, 2002 [skim]
Week 11: Project Meeting Day
April 9
Project and committee meetings; catch up with previous topics as necessary
Readings:
- Lesk, 2005, Ch. 13, Ch. 14
- Any reading from previous weeks that you missed
Week 12: Future of Digital Libraries
April 16
Promising or intriguing research areas in digital libraries; hybrid digital libraries and interactive spaces
Readings:
- Lynch, 2005
- Gronbak et al, 2006
- Yu et al, 2006
Week 13: Evaluation and Committee Meetings
April 23
In-class usability evaluation; project meeting; small committee meetings
Week 14: Digital Library Presentation
April 30
Final project meeting; presentation of completed digital library