Page 42 - Building Digital Libraries

Acquiring, Processing,

Classifying, and 3

Describing Digital

Content

The value of a repository is determined by how it selects, organizes, IN THIS CHAPTER
and presents information. While libraries have successfully used a number
of powerful tools such as approval plans, OCLC cataloging, the MARC  Planning Workflow
format, electronic resource management systems, and knowledge bases  Collection Development
for traditional library resources, the analogous standard procedures for  Acquiring Content
identifying, processing, and organizing other types of digital materials are  Organizing Content and
less developed. Assigning Metadata

 Structuring Content
 Resource Identification
Planning Workflow  Setting Up Workflow
 Batch Processes
Libraries depend on a variety of procedures to incorporate books, journals,  Rights Management
database packages, and other resources into their collections. A collec-  Protecting the Integrity
tion development process determines which materials will be added to or of Resources
removed from the collection based on what users need and what the library
has. An ordering and acquisitions process determines how libraries locate
and obtain desired items wherever they may be. Other processes make
these items findable and usable, whether they are physically managed by the
library or made temporarily available with records, metadata, knowledge
bases, and other tools.
Workflows define the physical and conceptual processes that occur
when libraries acquire new materials, organize or manage the collection,
and provide access. They determine who does what: what level of staff is
needed, what specific skills these staff need, and what actual tasks they
perform. Managing a library collection is a complex operation. Most people
have difficulty finding things that they recently bought for themselves,
even though they decide where those things are kept. However, these same
people expect to easily find library resources regardless of when they were
acquired, their format, or given the fact that their accessibility might depend
entirely on decisions made by one of hundreds of staff members working at

27