An introduction to international digital library perspectives focusing on digital librarianship in China to gain practical experience alongside library professionals and knowledge of the applications used in providing digital library services and resource sharing in China.

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Define the mission and main components of a Chinese digital library
• Understand the differences among international digital libraries, information professionals and services
• Describe digitization technologies and practices
• Describe the construction and the structure of a digital information collection
• Describe the principles and standards of resource description
• Describe the information technologies used in digital library operation
• Describe how practices of digital librarianship apply to and differ between countries and traditional libraries

• Current status and development of Digital Libraries in China
• Digital Library Infrastructure - Computerized Information Consortia
• Types & Features of Digital Libraries - Comparative perspectives
• Digitization Practice and Standards - Building Digital Libraries
• Database Architectures - Organizing Digital Libraries
• Integrating & Interoperating Digital Information - Digital Library Software
• Interface Design and Services - Multimedia Technology for Digital Libraries
• International Information Infrastructure - Global Perspective for International Information Sharing

Many issues were raised during the creation, maintenance, and use of the digital library services. Some of these have been solved while others are still being worked on. Project goals and objectives, project organization, collaboration and cooperation between institutions, resources sharing and collection development, use and implementation of technology, and net environmental policies are among the key concerns.

Facing many challenges of configuration and construction, the Chinese digital libraries are still in the test trial stage. Issues listed by the China Digital Library committee and seen as crucial are:

• The relation of centralized and decentralized systems: while digital library technical aspects need standardized agreements to avoid duplicate efforts, the digital libraries have to be distributed to have more than one center.
• Multi-language display and browsing capabilities include the use of cross platform, component tool applications and UNICODE for better solutions.
• Classification, index and access methods need to be uniform and/or standardized across digital libraries in order to develop uniform and user-friendly browsing/search applications.
• Scientific management of information resource construction among digital libraries is strongly needed, which is more important than the technical aspects in some sense.

4. Investigate Professional Activities of the following:

• Chinese national library rare books, archives, special collections
• Chinese university libraries - organization and services
• Chinese science and technology libraries- organization and services
• Chinese public libraries- organization and services
• Digitization policies, procedures, and technologies
• Acquisition and collection development
• Bibliography & cataloguing
• Document delivery and inter library loan
• Education and training
• Library services such as reference work for multicultural populations

5. Social and Cultural Events during the Summer 2008 Special Project Course

• China National Digital Library and their 2^nd Phrase of Digital Library Constructions in Beijing
• The National Science Digital Library in Beijing
• Library Visits and Workshops to be held in China.

ASSIGNMENTS & EVALUATION

The final grade for this course will be based on the following assignments:

• Attendance and class participation (20%)
• Analytical paper on an aspect of international digital library perspectives (30%)
• Exploratory paper on a digital library in China or another foreign country (40%)
• Journal comparing international digital librarianship (10%)

Mode of Instruction, Study, and Evaluation

This course is proposed to be held in Summer 2008 including,

• class lecturing by both this instructor and professionals in China,

• field study-visits of institutions providing digital library services and digitization practices of rare books and Archives in Beijing, and

• class discussions.

A total of contact hours will be 37.5 for 2 weeks in China. The tentative course activities for this summer are:

• Lectures – Introduction of the Course, units,
• Visit 3-5 libraries in Beijing to show construction of digital library departments,
• Meet with Chinese library professionals through the group activities of library visits and social and culture events in China
• Observations of Digitization of Rare books and Archives,
• Students prepare a course project in Digital Libraries as a semester assignment
• Prepare a Report/Presentation describing learning experiences from the Summer Special Topic Course
• Cultural exploration: visit Forbidden City, Great Wall.

Each student will

• Read and understand fully the course structure and policy
• assume responsibility for own learning
• manage time effectively (plan a schedule and practice time management)
• ask for assistance when needed to avoid unnecessary frustration and confusion
• remain active in Email, threaded discussions and other course activities
• strive for cooperation and collaboration with classmates through team work
• prepare all work at graduate performance levels

The instructor will

• provide lectures and instructions for the course work
• provide assistance/knowledge in facilitating understanding of the course content
• guide students through the course
• facilitate discussion through questioning, probing, examples, etc.
• make exams/assignments available ahead of time
• provide feedback
• maintain records

Please contact Dr. Yan Quan Liu for more course information.