The initial meeting of the Massachusetts statewide Digital Library, The Digital Commonwealth was held March 30, 2006 at the Worcester Public Library. More than 70 interested individuals from libraries and cultural institutions around the Commonwealth gathered. See "What is the Digital Commonwealth?" below or visit www.digitalcommonwealth.org for more information.
Attendees unanimously approved an Executive Committee, guidelines for governance, and an initial fee structure to help the project remain sustainable. Our keynote speaker, Roy Tennant of the California Digital Library shared his perspective on this important occasion and provided very useful advice to help us on this new road.
Digital Commonwealth Executive Committee Members
| Carolyn Noah | | CMRLS, President |
| Greg Pronevitz | | NMRLS, Past President |
| Michelle Barker | | Connecticut Valley Museums |
| Michael Bennett | | C/WMARS |
| Stephen Dalton | | Boston College Libraries |
| Carrie Elliott | | Kingston Public Library |
| Vivien Goldman | | Brookline Public Library, Trustee |
| Nancy Heywood | | Mass. Historical Society |
| Barbara Preece | | Boston Library Consortium |
| Elizabeth Thomsen | | NOBLE |
| Maura Marx | | Boston Public Library, ex-officio |
| Amy Benson | | NELINET, ex-officio |
Gregor
Trinkaus-Randall | | Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, ex-officio |
What is the Digital Commonwealth?
The Digital Commonwealth will be a gateway to digital assets hosted by Massachusetts cultural institutions. Cultural institutions include libraries, museum, historical societies, and other repositories of our cultural heritage. The portal and planning information is available at www.digitalcommonwealth.org.
This planning project is funded by an LSTA Grant to the Boston Public Library. The grant is administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Examples of other New England digital libraries are available at NELINET's New England Collections Online: www.nelinet.net/digital/necol/index.htm
What will the Digital Commonwealth look like?
It will look like a Web site or portal with searching and linking functions to access digital assets held by cultural institutions across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Web site will be accessible to persons with disabilities,
Where can I find the Digital Commonwealth?
Visit our Web site: www.digitalcommonwealth.org.
How can my institution participate?
There are many ways to participate.
- Harvested Site Members -- Digital collections that are compatible with Digital Commonwealth standards may be integrated into the search functionality so that searches will include their digital assets. We will work with your institution to arrange for access to your metadata and digital collection.
- Shared Repository Members -- Institutions which lack the ability to make their own materials available on the Web in a manner which is compatible with the Digital Commonwealth standards may participate through shared repositories which are compatible with standards. We are working with other organizations to encourage formation of such repositories.
An institution that chooses to participate in the Digital Commonwealth via a shared repository will make these arrangements (technical, financial, and governance) directly with the host of the shared repository. The Digital Commonwealth does not plan to provide these services.
- Linked Members -- Cultural institutions which host digital materials on the Web that are not compatible with Digital Commonwealth standards may be listed as an online resource. A description of your digital collection and a link will be posted.
What are the standards for participation?
- Harvested Site Partners will ideally provide metadata in Dublin Core format with a server that is compatible with the Open Archives Initiative Harvesting Protocol. However, other metadata formats such as MARC and harvesting techniques may be compatible. Digital collections are best presented in commonly used Web formats, e.g., jpg and gif. We are determining the optimal formats for sound recordings and video.
- Linked Partners may apply to participate by submitting a description of the collection and appropriate links for public access.
Where can I learn more about the standards?
For simplified definitions, please see the glossary below.
For more details we have posted a technical white paper at: www.digitalcommonwealth.org/MODeLTechPaper.pdf
Are there any costs to participate?
Yes, an annual membership fee is planned. The amount has not been determined yet. This fee will allow the Digital Commonwealth to operate and develop services to allow sustainable access to the digital assets of member institutions. Grant funds are being used to fund start up costs, ongoing funds will be required to provide system management, maintenance, upgrades, promotion, training, and support. It is likely that the first year costs will be lower than costs in future years.
Participants will also incur costs in digitizing their materials, hosting these digital assets, and administering their own projects. Some of these costs may be one-time costs and others are likely to be recurring costs. The Digital Commonwealth is encouraging the formation of shared repositories to create economies of scale to allow cost effective ongoing maintenance.
Will there be training for those of us without digital collection experience?
Yes, an orientation and training program is in development.
How can I participate in the development of the Digital Commonwealth?
There is a Steering Committee listserv. To become part of a electronic discussion list that keeps members up to date on activities, please contact Amy Benson at benson@nelinet.net.
How will the project be governed?
At the open meeting a slate of officers and initial operation guidelines was voted on by attendees. Please see: www.digitalcommonwealth.org
How can I learn more?
There is a Working Group that meets quarterly to make progress on this initiative. To become part of the electronic discussion list that keeps members up to date on activities, please send a message to Amy Benson at benson@nelinet.net.
Visit the project Web site at: www.digitalcommonwealth.org or contact:
Greg Pronevitz greg@nmrls.org, Co-Chair Governance and Administration Committee
c/o NMRLS
175 Andover St.
Danvers, MA 01923
978-762-4433 x15
Glossary
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core is an emerging standard for metadata to facilitate discovery of digital resources. It consists of 15 elements.
Additional definitions are available at: www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=define%3Adublin+core&btnG=Search
Harvesting
The collection of metadata and links to digital content into a centralized, searchable index.
Metadata
Indexing or cataloging data, information known about a digital object to provide access. May include information about the intellectual content, technical description, and security or rights management information. Additional definitions are available at: www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=define%3Ametadata&btnG=Search
OAI - See Open Archives Initiative
Open Archives Initiative
"The essence of the open archives approach is to enable access to Web-accessible material through interoperable repositories for metadata sharing, publishing and archiving." See: www.openarchives.org/
