Council On Library And Information Resources Research Articles

Common cause: Taking care of print collections

Drawing from information gathered by Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and published by Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in the report Developing Print Repositories: Models for Shared Preservation and Access, this talk sets the context for the day's discussions by focusing on the challenges to building and sustaining these types of print repositories. Discussion will focus on identifying key elements of the infrastructure needed to support such repositories; economic incentives to cooperate in supporting these repositories; and the roles and responsibilities of those who provide such services and those who benefit from them.

Common cause: Taking care of print collections

Drawing from information gathered by Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and published by Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in the report Developing Print Repositories: Models for Shared Preservation and Access, this talk sets the context for the day's discussions by focusing on the challenges to building and sustaining these types of print repositories. Discussion will focus on identifying key elements of the infrastructure needed to support such repositories; economic incentives to cooperate in supporting these repositories; and the roles and responsibilities of those who provide such services and those who benefit from them.

The Evidence In Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections (review)

In recent years, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has published a series of timely and well-regarded reports and white papers on subjects at the forefront of debate in academic libraries. It is not surprising that many of them deal with topics associated with digital efforts, but none was as eagerly anticipated as the work of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections. Chaired by Stephen G. Nichols, the James M. Beall Professor of French and Humanities and Chair of the Romance Language Department at Johns Hopkins University, the task force comprised fifteen distinguished scholars and librarians charged "to articulate for scholars and librarians a general context or framework for formulating and/or evaluating institutional policies on the retention or disposal of published and archival or unpublished materials in the form the works were created." While giving primary attention to the world of print, CLIR also asked the group to focus on non-print and electronic research sources. In the course of its deliberations, the members not only heard testimony from practitioners, but also conducted a series of forums around the country with scholars and faculty, in order to gather both opinions and approaches from as broad a segment of stakeholders as possible.

How and Why Libraries are Changing: What We Know and What We Need to Know

In November 2000, the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) commissioned a white paper to initiate discussion of how and why libraries are changing. Eight academic library directors met with representatives from the DLF and CLIR in March 2001 to discuss the issues. The outcome of this meeting was a proposal to conduct research that will begin to fill significant gaps in our understanding and to better position libraries to meet the needs and expectations of academic users and university and college administrators. The white paper and the forthcoming research should be of interest to anyone trying to cope with or make sense of transformational change in academic libraries. To reach a broader audience, the white paper has been revised and updated for publication in portal: Libraries and the Academy. The article examines the importance of understanding how and why libraries are changing, analyzes the limitations and difficulties of traditional library performance measures, and explores environmental factors that may help account for why library use is changing. It concludes with an overview of research designed to develop an understanding of how user behavior and preferences affect demand for and use of library collections, services, and facilities, and a call to contribute conscientiously to the legacy of academic libraries and librarianship.

Safekeeping

In May 2001 a project commenced that aimed to build a distributed and permanent collection of digital resources from the field of digital preservation. All resources incorporated in this 'safekeeping' project have been selected from the PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Information) subject gateway database. This article describes the first phase of the safekeeping project that is being undertaken by the National Library of Australia, with funding from CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources). This project aims to identify significant resources in digital preservation early in their lifecycle. It also aims to facilitate the cooperative development of a distributed network of 'safekept' material with resource owners, or parties nominated by them, providing long-term access to their material. We anticipate that a diversity of technical and organizational solutions will be employed within this project that relies on cooperation within the digital preservation community, rather than on formal agreements, to realize an asset of communal value. This article discusses some early findings and outcomes of the safekeeping project; however, a full assessment of this approach must await evaluation over an extended period.

Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities: The Value of the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment Collections, Content, and the Web

Shades of Greek mythology: around 1980, the Council on Library Resources (CLR) created the Committee on Preservation and Access, which shortly there-after gained independence as the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA). For fifteen years the CPA was a principle advocate for and recognized leader of national preservation activities, in addition to promoting preservation research and international preservation activities. In 1997, CLR and CPA merged to form the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), which not only maintained most of the activities of CLR and CPA, but also became the administrative home to the Digital Library Federation.