Abstract: Digitization of Cultural Heritage in the U.S.

The United States government has supported the development of two large national digital libraries: the National Digital Library Program established by the Library of Congress in 1995, and the new National Science Digital Library currently under development by the National Science Foundation. There are also several large federally-supported digital libraries for special topics and for special materials, such as theses and dissertations, and scientific publications. Digitization activities in the U.S. are decentralized and complex. There is currently no national strategy for digitization, and no one Federal agency has responsibility for it. There is no formal coordination at the national level, even within the cultural heritage sector.

However, there are many cultural institutions with rich resources that want to make their materials more accessible to the public, and that are doing so. A variety of Federal agencies and private foundations are providing funds for digitization. And there are a number of organizations that do not provide either funds or collections, but who play an important role in helping to promote access, develop standards, and address the technological, legal and other challenges of digital libraries.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, created by Congress in 1996, is the only Federal grant-making agency with statutory authority to fund digitization. Since 1998, IMLS has funded the creation of digital content from the holdings of libraries, museums and archives throughout the United States. It has also supported efforts to improve the quality, interoperability, preservation, accessibility and usefulness of digital content. A number of useful resources developed with IMLS funding are available on the Web, or are under development, and will be of interest to those undertaking or organizing digitization activities. These include resources relating to:

1) Program and project planning

2) Guidance on planning for digitization, including needs assessment and selection

3) Use issues such as accessibility, copyright, and privacy

4) Interoperability, collection and object management, metadata, preservation, and project management

5) Evaluation of impact on users

In addition, IMLS has supported several large projects that look beyond individual institutions and are providing access to digital content on a state-wide scale. The first and best-known of these is the Colorado Digitization Project, which is working with more than 40 museums, libraries, archives and historical societies, large and small, in Colorado to provide integrated access to holdings and to directly involve teachers and others in collection development and use. More than 15 states are now undertaking state-wide efforts based on the Colorado model.

At the national level, IMLS announced an award in September 2002 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to investigate the feasibility of providing integrated access to the more than 100 digital collections created with IMLS funding between 1998 and the present, and will continue to add new collections until 2005. The project is testing the applicability of the Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting Protocol to provide integrated access to disparate collections. It is anticipated that the project will help to identify "best practices" for content creation, description and management, and that the knowledge gained will contribute to our understanding of what will be needed to develop a National Digital Library for Cultural Heritage.

In the legislative arena, a bill to provide Federal funds to create digital cultural content was introduced in Congress in 2002. As one of the bill's proponents stated, the Federal government has thus far spent far more on technology and connectivity than on content. The goal of the proposed Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Fund is to "revolutionize K-12 [kindergarten through high school] education and lifelong learning."

A National Digital Library for Cultural Heritage could:

¨ Provide access to the rich resources of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies throughout the United States, as well as to the holdings of the major Federal cultural institutions

¨ Interoperate with other national and international efforts

¨ Enrich and complement the museum experience

¨ Enhance learning in the classroom and by informal learners

¨ Preserve endangered indigenous languages

¨ Support research

We have developed strong collaborative relationships among funders, grantees, and influential institutions and organizations interested in the uses of digital cultural content to support and enhance learning. With strong national interests in education and cultural heritage, and growing interest in deployment of new technologies such as broadband, we may create order out of the current chaos.