Maximised discovery of institutions digital collections - Jisc Digital Festival 2015

Spotlight on the Digital

Maximised discovery of institutions’ digital collections

A treasure chest at the bottom of the sea

10/03/2015 Jisc Digital Festival, 9-10 March 2015, ICC Birmingham 3

The Spotlight project found that digitised collections are like a treasure chest at the bottom of the sea: it’s there but not many people can find it.

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_project

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_project


Surfacing the treasure chest

Databases, library catalogues

Personal recommendations

Survey of Academics 2012- ~ 40% …. begin their research processes at a

general purpose search engine on the internet or world wide web

- ~ one-third … begin their research at a specific electronic research resource

- ~ less than 15% … start with an online library catalogue or a national or international catalogue or database

- only a very few (2%) reported starting their research with a visit to the library building

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_behaviours

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_behaviours


What spotlight found

Global search engines – search engines (such as Google) represent for the majority the default mechanism for discovering. But

surveyed libraries believe key channels are open Institutional Repository first, and then Google and the Discovery Layer second.

Popular web-scale channels – Channels such as Wikipedia and Flickr are regarded as starting points for

students and researchers

Social recommendation – The impact of recommendation and in particular the roles of experts and peers should not be underestimated; it may become more explicit as online ‘social’ services

achieve critical mass and become more embedded in practice.


What spotlight found

Undiscoverable collections – Some collections become “lost” to the web over time (about 20% of the web assessment sample). Reasons range from poor exposure to search engines to the loss of web access to the content itself to relocation within other collections or aggregation services – which doesn’t necessarily mean that collections don’t exist anymore.

Undiscoverable items – Items, as opposed to collections, are at most danger of being “lost” (only about 50% of items assessed appeared on the first page of Google results using the item name or title). http://bit.ly/Spotlight_items

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_items


Solutions1. Institutional capacity building

2. Role of aggregations

3. Technology foresight group

4. Reliable reference service

5. Reusable software tools

6. Strategic content promotion

7. Open content licensing

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_outputs

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_outputs


Spotlight on the digital – Phase 2

Providing services and tools to maximise discovery of institutions’ digital collections over time

Audience: librarians, information professionals, archivists, e-resource managers, academics responsible for creation and management of digital collections

1: Providing national training and advice services to support discoverability good practice ~ Jisc Digital Media

2: Develop tools to facilitate discoverability of digital collections ~ Jisc services and external stakeholders

3: Optimise Jisc resource discovery services to increase visibility of digital collections ~ Copac, Archives Hub

4 Provide horizon scanning on rapidly changing technology in resource discovery ~ Jiscdiscovery services , Jisc Digital Media, external stakeholders


The Spotlight Guide

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_guide

http://bit.ly/Spotlight_guide


Discovery scholarships

Jisc will offer Discovery scholarships to a small number of institutions to help shape the training offer.Jisc will• Award £5000 per participating institution • Provide training, guidance and advice to institutions on how to

maximise discovery of their resources

Institutions will:• Work with Jisc on piloting the training offer• Provide input into the curriculum and delivery of the training• Produce a case study at the end of the pilotKeep an eye on the Jisc content blog http://bit.ly/1FbcCap


Targeting training to user needs

Make google searches work

for you

Improve the user

experience

Reach academic

researchers

Use social media

Integrate with your

organisation’s systems

Using popular websites to

reach broader audiences

Create collection

champions

Learn to use content

aggregators

Make your collection

available for learning and

teaching


Make google searches work for you

Structure your URLsUnderstand relevancy rankingGet your page titles correctGet your page descriptions correctUse sitemaps effectivelyHelp search engines index your contentUse ‘alt’ texts to describe imagesAdd structured metadata to your pages using schema.orgCreate clear, simple item descriptionsRemove registration or authentication barriers for your audiencesStructure your page with good heading tagsKeep your search engine optimisation (SEO) knowledge up to date

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/make-google-searches-work-for-you


Use social media

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/using-social-media-to-promote-your-digital-collections

Identify and use popular web servicesUse hashtags effectivelyDevelop your own social network presenceUse crowdsourcing to engage usersCreate a twitter bot to regularly tweet collection items or linksMake it easy for others to share your contentCreate engaging blog posts


Learn to use content aggregators

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/use-aggregators-to-boost-your-collection

Understand relevancy rankingLicense your content correctly to enable suitable reuseFind aggregated catalogues your audience usesMake use of established cataloguing standardsUse common data formats for metadataPublish metadata describing digitised resources under an extremely permissive

license such as CC0The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata HarvestingGet your resources listed on library discovery indexesImprove processes for exporting content


Make your collection available for teaching and learning

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/make-your-collection-available-for-learning-and-teaching

License your content correctly to enable reuseMake use of Wikimedia commonsCreate resource packages for teachersUse common data formats for metadataProvide APIs to enhance access to your collectionPublish metadata describing digitised resources under an extremely permissive

license such as CCOCollaborate with the users of your collectionWork with suitable partners


Using popular websites to reach broader audiences

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/how-to-help-your-digital-collections-reach-global-audiences

Structure your URLsRepublish your content on popular web servicesMake use of Wikimedia commonsTarget websites and services your audience useMake it easy for others to share your contentHost a Wikipedia edit-a-thonCreate engaging blog posts


Improve the user experience

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/improve-the-user-experience-of-your-digital-collection

Structure your URLsUnderstand relevancy rankingGet your page titles correctUse ‘alt’ texts to describe imagesCarry out regular user testingGet the best from web analyticsCreate clear, simple item descriptionsRemove registration or authentication barriers for your audiencesKnow your audience, speak to themLearn how to use log files


Reach academic researchers

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/ensuring-your-digital-collections-reach-academic-researchers

Provide clear guidance on citing your contentLicense your content correctly to enable suitable reuseMake use of established cataloguing standardsUse common data formats for metadataProvide APIs to enhance access to your collectionCollaborate with the users of your collectionEnsure your systems work with reference management software (e.g. Zotero,

RefWorks, Mendeley, EndNote)Improve processes for exporting content


Create collection champions

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/create-champions-for-your-digital-collections

Create resource packages for teachersUse crowdsourcing to engage usersGive your internal staff clear rolesProvide APIs to enhance access to your collectionLicense your content correctly to enable suitable reuse


Integrate with your organization’s systems

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/ensure-your-digital-collections-integrate-with-your-organisations-systems

Understand relevancy rankingMake use of established cataloguing standardsUse common data formats for metadataPublish metadata describing digitised resources under an extremely permissive

license such as CC0


Shaping the training opportunity: your feedback

1) Audience - Who would you envision as the core audience for this training and how would it be disseminated within your institution?

2) Focus – Would a focus on cross-cutting themes (such as improving discoverability for teaching and learning) be more useful than technically themed units?

3) Mode - What mode or modes of training delivery would you and your colleagues most value (eg f2f, webinar, online independent learning…)?

4) Modularity – Should the training components be independent of each other (pick 'n’ mix) or is there value in working through a programmeof activities as a cohort

Find out more…

Contact…

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND

Paola Marchionni

[email protected]

@paolamarchionni

Karen Colbron

[email protected]

@karencolbron


2015 Survey

Do you recogniseor are you surprised by these reported student, researcher and academic staff behaviours?

UK Survey to be published2987 Respondents


Training Modes

Subject expert

webinars

Guided online study

Self paced online

learning

Face to face

workshops

Education

Maximised discovery of institutions digital collections - Jisc Digital Festival 2015