The New Jersey Digital Highway: A Next-generation Approach to Statewide Digital Library Development

Abstract

The New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH) is a statewide collaborative being built by public information providers in New Jersey including libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, public broadcasting, and schools. Its broad mission is to develop and sustain an immersive, user-centered information portal to support the New Jersey learner, providing seamless access to cultural heritage materials. To that end, NJDH integrates concepts and technologies of mature digital library initiatives. Equal attention is being given to the competing needs of standardization and customization. It has a user-centered focus that emphasizes the active engagement of the education community and end users. The project stresses iterative training and assessment to inform the entire development and presentation process. But the NJDH initiative extends beyond that of earlier statewide digitization projects in its core mission: to build a robust preservation platform that will ensure perpetual access to the State's digitized collections. NJDH development is one of the first statewide digitization initiatives to have as its core mission the development of a solid digital preservation platform. The integration of core digital preservation extends the capabilities of existing consortial digital library initiatives. NJDH will demonstrate a digital preservation strategy for a statewide digitization initiative that is extensible to other states or institutions. The initial development of NJDH was funded through a National Leadership Grant for Museums and Libraries awarded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in 2003.