Content and Scope Meeting Notes: October 20, 2011

Overview

The Content & Scope workstream first identified a set of “guiding principles” upon which the mission statement would rely, including firm commitments to open access, interoperability, non-competitiveness, and a read/write nature for the DPLA. Looking to the national digital libraries of Europe for inspiration, the workstream agreed that the DPLA must first pull in content from those institutions that are both willing and able to participate, and then look to devise scalable distribution models.

The workstream also decided that the DPLA’s content should fill in a space where an audience already exists, and, by extension, connect stories across geography and expose people to different versions of those stories. Cultural and scientific heritage objects, including public domain works, appear to be the defining components of the DPLA’s first iteration in terms of content and scope. Types of content providers were also discussed, including image, book, and metadata aggregators of various size and scope. Most agreed that the DPLA should exist as a facilitator of content curation rather than a repository. One participant said, “preservation is out of scope; access is our scope.” Towards those ends, the group settled upon a working mission statement following various revisions:

To facilitate the discovery and exposure of digital content for permanent open public access for the enhancement of knowledge and community. To this end, we will:

• identify and engage digital content providers and producers who are willing to participate in DPLA content building through outreach with respective communities;
• identify and engage digital content aggregators and leverage their relationships;
• foster an open conversation about collection development.

Although all digital formats (visual, textual, representative arts of any form) will be included, the workstream was not able to completely define what was meant by “content” and “open.” Many found the root issue to lie in the ambiguous nature of the DPLA’s audience. The workstream was unsure how to identify relevant communities and their corresponding advocates—a fundamental component of collection development—without a fully defined audience. The workstream was also undecided about how to identify barriers, incentives, and rewards for contribution.

Over the next 18 months the content and scope workstream aims to answer perhaps the most pressing question of all: how will the DPLA supplement and enhance existing efforts to provide access to digital content? How will the DPLA add unique value to the existing digital library landscape? Moving forward, the workstream will work with the Audience & Participation workstream to identify the DPLA’s value to both its contributors and users. This will incorporate ways in which current DPLA participants, both in the workstreams and the public at large, can leverage relationships with potentially relevant communities and contributors. A timeline for content acquisition is needed as well.

Workstream Mission Statement

Principles guiding development of mission

• Open
• Non-competitive, collaborative
• Interoperable
• Permanent
• Collaborate with willing and able contributors (Who are the willing, and what will they come to the table saying they need in order to be able?)
• Collect and curate
• Facilitate discovery of digital content
• Facilitate creation of digital content
• Build community
• Add unique value

Working Draft of Mission Statement

To facilitate the discovery and exposure of digital content for permanent open public access for the enhancement of knowledge and community. To this end, we will:

• identify and engage digital content providers and producers who are willing to participate in DPLA content building through outreach with respective communities;
• identify and engage digital content aggregators and leverage their relationships;
• foster an open conversation about collection development.

Workstream Members

Rachel Frick, Digital Library Federation Program, CLIR

Chelcie Rowell, CLIR

Jeremy York, HathiTrust

Betsy Kruger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

James Shulman, ARTstor

Glen Hoptman, Executive Producer, “Dinner Party with History”

Margy Avery, MIT Press

Theresa Horner, Barnes and Noble

Susan Chun, ProjectAudience

Rich Cherry, Balboa Park

Jill Cousins, Europeana Foundation

Stephen Rhind-Tutt, Alexander Street Press

Robin Dale, LYRASIS

Ron Wheeler, Dorraine Zief Law Library, University of San Francisco

People from other workstreams who attended the Content and Scope workstream meeting:

Dwight McInvaill, Georgetown County Library (Steering Committee)

Jerome McGann, University of Virginia (Steering Committee)

Terry Fisher, Harvard Law School (Legal Issues)

Bradley Daigle, University of Virginia (Legal Issues)