LIS553, Digital Libraries, Fall 2005

Tuesdays, 11:50am-2:30pm. Room 201

Preliminary schedule

DateLecture topicAssignment due
1.September 6, 2005Introduction and summary
2.September 13, 2005History of digital librariesGoogle scanning
3.September 20, 2005Services and usabilityServices
4.September 27, 2005TechnologyQuantity/quality
5.October 4, 2005U. S. projectsUS DL projects
6.October 11, 2005Economics: in libraryProject idea
7.October 18, 2005Economics: dot comJSTOR and PLOS
8.October 25, 2005Tour of SCC: meet Alexander Library, 4th floor, 12:00 noon (Ron Jantz and Jeffrey Triggs run the show; Judith Gelertner will substitute for me)
9.November 1, 2005World projects (Prof. Wacholder will run the class).International digital libraries
10.November 8, 2005Law: copyright and ChinaLegal case
11.November 15, 2005Law : privacy, etc.; filteringYour project
November 22, 2005No Class(Thanksgiving week)
12.November 29, 2005Digital preservation and perhaps organizationPreservation
13.December 6, 2005Student presentationsSign up here
14.December 13, 2005Student presentationsSign up here

The above list of topics is a guide; I seem to run a week or two late by the end of the semester.

There is no textbook. If there is any class where reading from the Web ought to be enough, this should be it. If you feel that you would like a book, you can of course look at my own book: Understanding Digital Libraries (Morgan Kaufman, 2004; second edition of 1997 book). Other people have presented a different view of the subject, of course. For something more expansive see Bill Arms' Digital Libraries or for more technical detail read How to Build a Digital Library by Witten and Bainbridge. Chris Borgman's From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure is more international and people-oriented; Ann Bishop's recent Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation has a variety of articles on how to evaluate digital libraries, but little on what you learn by doing these evaluations.

The grades will be half based on weekly assignments and half on a term project. Projects can be either a proposal to build a digital library or a proposal for a research project. Proposals to build a library will be encouraged to prepare a specific plan for using $2500 to buy scanning or conversion. See more at the assignment due November 15 (i.e. here). Assignments may be turned in either on paper or via email.