Description: This doctoral dissertation is about collection-level subject access in aggregations of digital collections. Abstract: Problems in subject access to information organization systems have been under investigation for a long time. Focusing on item-level information discovery and access, researchers have identified a range of subject access problems, including quality and application of metadata, as well as the complexity of user knowledge required for successful subject exploration. While aggregations of digital collections built in the United States and abroad generate collection-level metadata of various levels of granularity and richness, no research has yet focused on the role of collection-level metadata in user interaction with these aggregations. This dissertation research sought to bridge this gap by answering the question "How does collection-level metadata mediate scholarly subject access to aggregated digital collections?" This goal was achieved using three research methods: - in-depth comparative content analysis of collection-level metadata in three large-scale aggregations of cultural heritage digital collections: Opening History, American Memory, and The European Library, - transaction log analysis of user interactions, with Opening History, and - interview and observation data on academic historians interacting with two aggregations: Opening History and American Memory. It was found that subject-based resource discovery is significantly influenced by ...

Description: This poster presents information about what transaction log data can tell about about collection-level subject access. This poster includes the research questions, methods findings and future research involved in investigating transaction log data and collection-level subject access.

Description: This paper discusses building contextual mass in digital aggregations for scholarly use. Abstract: At present there are no established collection development methods for building large-scale digital aggregations. However, to realize the potential of the collective base of digital content and advance scholarship, aggregations must do more than provide search of sizable bodies of content. Informed by empirical understanding of scholarly information practices, the IMLS Digital Collections and Content project developed an aggregation strategy for building Opening History, one of the largest digital cultural heritage aggregations in the country. The strategy applied policy-driven collecting based on the principle of contextual mass, and conspectus-style evaluation of collection-level metadata to identify strong subject areas within the aggregation. Analysis of density, interconnectedness, diversity, and small/large collection complementary determined subject concentrations and thematic strengths to be prioritized for future collection development and used as organizational structures for browsing and visualization. The approach models how scholars build their own personal research collections, as they follow leads from collection to collection across institutions near and far, and adds value that cannot be achieved through conventional retrieval and browsing at the item-level.

Description: This paper presents a new area of research in library and information sciences - investigation into collection-level subject metadata that describes entire digital collections as integral wholes - and reports results of the multi-method exploratory study combining comparative content analysis of collection-level subject metadata in three large-scale aggregations of digital collections in the USA and Europe, transaction log analysis of user interactions with one of these portals, as well as interviews and observations of aggregation users.

Description: Call Number is a twice yearly (spring and fall) magazine of the College of Information at the University of North Texas. The periodical contains information about professors, news in the departments, and the school's alumni.