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A Guide to the Best Revenue Models and Funding Sources for your Digital Resources
With the support of the Jisc-led Strategic Content Alliance (SCA), Ithaka S+R has developed this guide to support those who are actively managing digital projects and are seeking to develop funding models that will permit them to continue investing in their projects, for the benefit of their users, over time. This report updates Sustainability and Revenue Models for Online Academic Resources (2008) in two major ways: first, by expanding the list of revenue models covered in order to take into account emerging models, including highlighting those methods that are compatible with open access. Second, the report places the notion of ‘revenue generation’ in the context of the fuller range of funding activities we have observed in higher education and the cultural sector. In addition to practices more often seen in the commercial world like advertising and corporate sponsorships, the report devotes time to discussions of a range of philanthropic sources of support as well as support offered by host institutions.
Born Digital: Guidance for Donors, Dealers, and Archival Repositories
The report provides recommendations to help ensure the physical and intellectual well-being of materials created and managed in digital form ("born digital") that are transferred from donors to archival repositories. The report is presented in four sections, each of which provides an overview of a key area of concern: initial collection review, privacy and intellectual property, key stages in acquiring digital materials, and post-acquisition review by the repository. Each section concludes with two lists of recommendations: one for donors and dealers, and a second for repository staff. Appendixes provide more specific information about possible staffing activities, as well as a list of resources and ready-to-use checklists that incorporate recommendations from throughout the report. Ten archivists and curators from institutions in the United States and United Kingdom collaborated on the report.
Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries
Sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and conducted by Ithaka S+R, this study provides insight into how ARL libraries are managing and funding the hundreds of digitized special collections they have created and that they believe to be critical to their futures. This is the first survey of ARL institutions that specifically attempts to understand and benchmark the activities and costs of supporting these collections after they are created. By looking at questions of management, costs, funding sources, impact, and outreach, the survey offers data that will deliver insight to all those engaged in sustaining digitized special collections.
Searching for Sustainability: Strategies from Eight Digitized Special Collections
This report aims to address one of the biggest challenges facing libraries and cultural heritage organizations: how to move their special collections into the 21st century through digitization while developing successful strategies to make sure those collections remain accessible and relevant over time. Through a cooperative agreement as part of the National Leadership Grants Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in partnership with Ithaka S+R, to undertake in-depth case studies of institutions that have worked to build the audience, infrastructure, and funding models necessary to maintain and grow their digital collections. The eight collections profiled provide useful models and examples of good practice for project leaders to consider when digitizing their own materials. We hope that these case studies will encourage greater discussion among individuals in the academic library and cultural heritage communities about the reasons why they invest so much time and energy in the creation and ongoing management of their digitized special collections, the goals they set for them, and the planning needed to realize those aims. These questions become even more pressing in an environment where the traditional sources of funding for digitization are beginning to wane. In the coming years, the ability to identify secure sources of support and to demonstrate impact over time will undoubtedly become increasingly important.
Does Every Research Library Need a Digital Humanities Center?
The essay discusses specific concerns of digital humanists in hopes of bridging the gap between how library directors and digital humanities researchers think. It suggests many ways to respond to the needs of digital humanists, and creating a Digital Humanities center is appropriate in relatively few circumstances. The essay recommends that a “Digital Humanities-friendly” environment may be more effective than a Digital Humanities Center but that library culture may need to evolve in order for librarians to be seen as effective Digital Humanities partners. The authors conclude that what we call “The Digital Humanities” today will soon be considered “The Humanities.” Supporting Digital Humanities scholarship is not much different than supporting digital scholarship in any discipline. Increasingly, digital scholarship is simply scholarship.
A Beginner’s Guide to Persistent Identifiers
The essay discusses specific concerns of digital humanists in hopes of bridging the gap between how library directors and digital humanities researchers think. It suggests many ways to respond to the needs of digital humanists, and creating a Digital Humanities center is appropriate in relatively few circumstances. The essay recommends that a “Digital Humanities-friendly” environment may be more effective than a Digital Humanities Center but that library culture may need to evolve in order for librarians to be seen as effective Digital Humanities partners. The authors conclude that what we call “The Digital Humanities” today will soon be considered “The Humanities.” Supporting Digital Humanities scholarship is not much different than supporting digital scholarship in any discipline. Increasingly, digital scholarship is simply scholarship.
The Evolving Scholarly Record
The scholarly record is evolving into a corpus of material vastly different from its previous print-based version. While in the past the scholarly record was largely defined by the formally published monographic and journal literatures, its boundaries are now both expanding and blurring, driven by changes in research practices, as well as changing perceptions of the long-term value of certain forms of scholarly materials. Understanding the nature, scope, and evolutionary trends of the scholarly record is an important concern in many quarters—for libraries, for publishers, for funders, and of course for scholars themselves. This report presents a framework to help organize and drive discussions about the evolving scholarly record. The framework provides a high-level view of the categories of material the scholarly record potentially encompasses, as well as the key stakeholder roles associated with the creation, management, and use of the scholarly record.
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