The Development and Use of Digital Collections to Support Interdisciplinary Education

Washington And Lee University, Lexington VA

Investigators

Abstract

The primary purpose of this project is to mentor emerging creators of digital collections for educational uses, especially those that are multidisciplinary and integrate science and technology with the humanities. The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues (http://alsos.wlu.edu, DUE Award 0085657) is a web-based searchable collection of approximately 500 annotated references to multimedia resources that offers a broad, balanced perspective on current and historical topics relating to nuclear issues. The Library, due to its relatively small scale, interdisciplinary focus, inclusion of multimedia materials, and diverse users make it an excellent example of digital collection concepts. This project is using the Alsos Digital Library as a model for educators wishing to develop their own digital collections in the following manner. 1. The Alsos Digital Library model is being disseminated through a series of workshops. The target audience is educators, often content experts, who wish to build digital collections associated with courses, and to make their collections accessible through credible, digital, searchable, annotated references. Each participant brings an interdisciplinary topic that is to be developed during the workshop. Discussion topics at the workshop include collection development, software systems, processes for editing materials, integration of collections into courses and curricula, evaluation, and dissemination. Mentorship of workshop participants by the PIs is ongoing during the award period. 2. The software system developed for the Alsos Digital Library consists of four interconnected tiers, the user interface, the search engine, the database system, and the metadata system, constituting a digital resource locator. Work with this system and training in related concepts in the workshops is serving as the creative stimulus and model for educators who are creating their own prototype digital collections. 3. As the Alsos Digital Library evolves, issues that deal with assessment, maintenance, culling, technology migration, security, collaboration, and integration into large digital libraries are being encountered and resolved in cooperation with other NSDL collections. Significant co-funding of this project is being provided by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences in recognition of the importance of providing access to digital resources for interdisciplinary education that involve the physical sciences.