Building a digital teaching commons to enhance teaching, learning and research: The MERIC experience and challenges

Abstract

AbstractThis panel is designed 1) to share with the ASIST community the development of an innovative project, MERIC, the Metadata Education and Research Information Center, 2) to discuss MERIC's potential for improving and enhancing cataloging and metadata education for LIS students, cataloging practitioners and others involved in metadata projects, and 3) to explore with the audience various issues and challenges related to educating a diverse community of metadata creators and turning MERIC into a virtual teaching commons and research center.MERIC originated from an action plan of the Library of Congress to prepare future information professionals to control digital resources in the 21st century. Initially conceived as a digital information clearinghouse (Hsieh‐Yee, 2003), the MERIC Advisory Board recognized the value of a “teaching commons” as recommended by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Huber and Hutchings, 2005), the need to provide users with the knowledge, skills and tools to process digital resources (Soergel, 2002), and the benefits of collaborative research in this emergent field. The vision and scope of MERIC have evolved beyond a repository for teaching and learning objects to embrace the concept of a collaborative research center and to expand the target audience beyond information professionals to include anyone interested in increasing their metadata knowledge. The project is a joint initiative of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services and the Association for Library and Information Science Education.As a portal‐based information center, the initial objectives of MERIC were to promote understanding of metadata within the LIS community, integrate metadata into LIS education, and encourage metadata research. The next foci of the MERIC project are building a diverse community of users and collaborators and providing fora and tools for collaboration in metadata teaching and research among these communities.As the co‐chair of the MERIC Advisory Board, Ingrid Hsieh‐Yee will facilitate the discussions. Sherry Vellucci, co‐chair of the MERIC Board and a highly respected metadata expert and educator, will present the background and development of MERIC. William E. Moen, a well‐known researcher who specializes in metadata, interoperability, and system design, will present the beta version of MERIC and the lessons learned from working with students to develop the prototype. Francis Miksa, a historian of library cataloging and a cataloging educator for more than 30 years, will discuss the challenges of teaching cataloging and metadata and MERIC's potential in enhancing such education. Diane Hillmann, another expert in metadata implementation and an experienced educator in building curriculum and materials for metadata education, will discuss the needs of students and practitioners and suggest ways for MERIC to make its resources more readily accessible to users. We will reserve 20 minutes to discuss issues and questions raised by the panel.