Information Organization in Libraries, Archives and Museums: Converging Practices and Collaboration
Opportunities
Authors
Ingrid Hsieh-Yee
School of Library and Information Science, Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20064
Email: [email protected]
Elaine Ménard
McGill University, School of Information Studies
3459 McTavish, MS72C Montréal, Québec H3A 1Y1
Email: [email protected]
Shu-Jiun (Sophy) Chen
Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program, Academia Sinica
No 128, Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
Email: [email protected]
Ya-Ning (Arthur) Chen
library service of Computing Centre, Academia Sinica
No 128, Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
Email: [email protected]
Martin Kalfatovic
Smithsonian
Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C. 20560
Email: [email protected]
Kathy Wisser
School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
Email: [email protected]
Jeonghyun Kim
School of Library and Information Management, Emporia State University
Emporia State University, Emporia, KS 66801
Email: [email protected]
As cultural institutions libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) share the mission to organize
information objects, artifacts, and data for user access and enlightenment. While (LAMs) may
follow different metadata standards and procedures to manage their collections and each
type of institution has unique information organization and service concerns, digital
technologies have enabled them to create, organize, preserve, and provide access to digital
collections for global audience. Increasingly LAMs are converging in their information
organization and management effort (LAM entries in Hangingtogether.org; Zorich, Waibel &
Erway 2008), and the cultural silos created by libraries, archives, and museums are being
integrated or rendered transparent for users (Calhoun 2006; Christenson and Tennant 2005;
Uzwyshyn 2007). The proposed panel is designed to examine the convergence of information
organization practices of libraries, archives, and museums; explore collaboration
opportunities; and discuss the implications of LAM information organization practices for
educating information professionals for these cultural heritage institutions.
The panel consists of five speakers who will cover (1) the use of a faceted classification to
organize museum artifacts and support website development; (2) metadata design and
applications for organizing and preserving information objects for several types of cultural
institutions; (3) the development of the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the involvement of
libraries and non-library specialists in this effort; (4) analysis of descriptive standards used by
cultural organizations and areas where libraries, archives, and museums can collaborate; and
(5) collaboration among cultural institutions, especially in the technology area.
Panel description
As cultural institutions libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) share the mission to organize
information objects, artifacts, and data for user access and enlightenment. While (LAMs) may
follow different metadata standards and procedures to manage their collections and each
type of institution has unique information organization and service concerns, digital
technologies have enabled them to create, organize, preserve, and provide access to digital
collections for global audience. Increasingly LAMs are converging in their information
organization and management effort (LAM entries in Hangingtogether.org; Zorich, Waibel &
Erway 2008), and the cultural silos created by libraries, archives, and museums are being
integrated or rendered transparent for users (Calhoun 2006; Christenson and Tennant 2005;
Uzwyshyn 2007). The purposes of the proposed panel are to examine the convergence of
information organization practices of libraries, archives, and museums; explore collaboration
opportunities; and discuss the implications of LAM information organization practices for
educating future information professionals for these cultural heritage institutions.
The panel consists of five speakers who collectively have experience in libraries, archives,
museums, and library and information science education. The panelists will share their
research and project experience and present their perspectives on how to prepare information
professionals to organize and manage cultural heritage materials at LAMs. The presentation
titles and brief descriptions are
Faceted Classification for Museum Artefacts: A Methodology to Support Web Site
Development of Large Cultural Organizations by Elaine Ménard, Sabine Mas, Inge Alberts.
Menard will present a research project that develops a taxonomy to provide a visual
representation for a digital collection, Artefacts Canada Humanities, and facilitate browsing of
the collection.
Designing Metadata for Cultural Institutions: The Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives
Program by Arthur Ya-Ning Chen and Sophy Shu-Jiun Chen. Sophy Chen will focus on the
principles of metadata design and application among various memory institutions in the
context of TELDAP (Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program) that coordinates content
digitization and preservation at leading libraries, museums, archives, research institutes, and
other content holders in Taiwan.
Global Library of Life: The Biodiversity Heritage Library by Martin R. Kalfatovic. Kalfatovic will
describe the development of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a consortium of natural history
and botanical garden libraries and discuss collaborative efforts with libraries and non-libraries
organizations at the international level.
Organizing Cultural Objects for Libraries, Archives, and Museums: Areas for Collaboration by
Kathy M. Wisser. Wisser will present a content analysis of descriptive standards used by
libraries, archives, and museums to identify areas where collaboration of the three types of
cultural heritage institutions will be fruitful.
Cultivating Interdisciplinary Dialogue among Libraries, Archives, and Museums by Jeonghyun
Kim. Kim will report on how library and information science curricula incorporate innovations
in information technology to enhance organization and access to cultural heritage materials.
She will also discuss how technological innovations provide opportunities for libraries,
archives, and museums to collaborate and integrate access to their collections and services.
Each panelist will present for 15 minutes, and the presentations will be followed by a panel
discussion with the audience. Announcements of the panel will be made to various listservs of
libraries, archives, and museums to encourage attendance from the three communities. To
promote exchange of ideas, a birds-of-a-feather dinner will be organized for people interested
in LAMs to continue the discussion after the session.
Panel organr and moderator
Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, Ph.D.ize Professor School of Library and Information Science Catholic
University of America
Panelists
Elaine Ménard, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
McGill University
School of Information Studies
Sophy Shu-Jiun Chen
Program Manager
Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program
Academia Sinica
Arthur Ya-Ning Chen
Project Leader
library service of Computing Centre
Academia Sinica
Martin R. Kalfatovic
Assistant Director, Digital Services Division &
Biodiversity Heritage Library Coordinator
Smithsonian
Kathy M. Wisser
Director of Instructional Services
School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jeonghyun Kim, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
School of Library and Information Management
Emporia State University
Acknowledgements
Sponsor: SIG ED
References
Calhoun, Karen. The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery
Tools. 2006. http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf (accessed Jan. 27,
2009).
Christenson, Heather and Roy Tennant. Integrating Information Resources: Principles,
Technologies, and Approaches. 2005.
http://www.libraries.vic.gov.au/downloads/Federated_Search_Portal_Project/nsdl_integrating_library_resources.pdf (accessed Jan. 27, 2009).
Hangingtogether.com. Archive for the Libraries, Archives, and Museums category.
http://hangingtogether.org/?cat=5 (accessed Jan. 27, 2009).
Uzwyshyn, Ray. New Information Discovery Tools Environmental Scan: Executive Summary
and Web Addresses. 2007.
http://uwf.edu/ruzwyshyn/20072008PDF/NewInformationDiscoveryTools.pdf (accessed Jan.
27, 2009).
Zorich, Diane M., Gunter Waibel and Ricky Erway. Beyond the Silos of the LAMs: Collaboration
Among Libraries, Archives and Museums. 2008. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Programs & Research.
http://www.oclc.org/programs/reports/2008-05.pdf (accessed Jan. 27, 2009).
Recommended
