The Digital Dungeon

ARL released an extended and updated version of their " Strategic Thinking and Design Initiative " report. While the report is a long 126 pages, I've provided a few highlights that I think could also serve as strategic directions for digital libraries: Recognized Shifts that are occurring -  Page 19 (PDF page 21)    Within two decades, the research library will have transitioned its focus from its role as a knowledge service provider within a single university to become a collaborative partner within a broader ecosystem of higher education.  Research libraries will be even more intimately engaged in supporting the full life cycle and activity range of knowledge discovery, use, and preservation, as well as the curating and sharing of knowledge in diverse contexts of the university’s mission and of society more broadly. ARL—the organization—will enable and catalyze research libraries to leverage and mobilize individual assets toward the collective advancement of learni

The conference this year was exceptional. The keynote address by Trevor Owens was particularly good and helped me at least understand what is going on at a national level for digital libraries and introduced the list of awarded grants for the National Digital Platform . Reading through that list is an eyeopener for seeing the tools and initiatives people are working on. Just some of the highlights: Memorandum of Understanding Workshop: Creating a Process for Successful Digital Collaboration - Brett D. Currier, Rafia Mirza, Peace Ossom Williamson We have already started using these at our institution.  The materials presented were exceptional. Envisioning a Geospatial Data Portal and Curation Network -Kathy Weimer, Douglas Burns, Joshua Been, Kim Ricker, Cecilia Smith They brought up an interesting point that a lot of free governmental data is location based, and GIS knowledge is really needed to allow access to it. The Training Games: A Method for Digitization Skills Re