1. Collection Description considerations in the nof-digitise programme Sarah Mitchell Programme Manager New Opportunities Fund

2. Overview of nof-digi Programme The objectives The timescale The content and criteria The delivery mechanism The outcomes The CD challenge …..Susi Woodhouse Nof-digi in context ….David Dawson

3. The Objectives £50m fund for publication of on-line material to support and encourage lifelong learning for all increase access to resources of museums, charities, libraries, community groups, galleries, archives, centres of education and learning support government strategy for social inclusion and help those not part of formal education benefit from information age build cross-sector partnerships complement Fund’s other ICT initiatives

4. The Timetable all awards approved end June: 154 projects throughout the UK representing wide range of expertise and participation from voluntary, public and private sectors all sites must open to public by end Dec 02 public launch early 2003 Final completion by Oct 04: over 1m images/sound & video clips/text pages/400 learning packages

5. The content and criteria Three main theme strands: - cultural enrichment - citizenship for all - re-skilling the nation access via community languages finding tools meeting technical standards proven user need / links to related material subject and regional partnerships user evaluation and response capability sustainability - 3 year monitoring period

6. The Delivery Mechanism 154 project websites - linked to 500 contributing organisations plus….. 29 consortia gateways UK Online learning centres Peoples network in public libraries National Grid for Learning - NGfL nof-digitise portal

7. The Outcomes Body of material to support learning in its broadest sense Body of expertise to continue development New models of service delivery across “traditional” boundaries Good practice in digital content creation Repository for future exploration New communities of interest

8. The CD challenge for NOF How to ensure optimum access to project resources through the nof- digitise portal by December 2002 over to Susi…...

9. Context of the CD challenge A unique experiment of unprecedented scale and scope. Brings together many sectors: –cultural; voluntary; community; public information; health; education; government... 154 projects with many unexpected inter- relationships of topic, of place, of format, of target audience Need to be able to exploit these

10. Driving factors Users expect to find “stuff” across all media irrespective of source. Aim to: provide collection-level resource discovery mechanism for the programme of relevance –across digi consortia and projects –across digi projects and other bodies of digital materials (e.g. DNER, COL, Canadian DCCI) –across digi projects and collection descriptions of physical items (e.g. A2A, Cecilia) Technical standards framework

11. Questions for the challenge! How best to deliver a sustainable, interoperable end product? What is NOF’s definition of “collection”? How will CLDs be created and managed? What schema? What terminology? How will Digi CLDs be made available through the portal and other points of interest? No answers yet….

12. Next Steps Consultation and intelligence gathering with key players Identify options and make decisions on implementation strategy Share thinking at an early stage Inform and be informed by wider context… over to David...

13. NOF-digitise in context Domain-specific –physical collections –museums –libraries –archives –historic environment –natural sciences –voluntary sector –which context????

14. ARCHON Archives HMC http://www.hmc.gov.uk/archon/archon.htm

15. Cornucopia Pilot 2 regions –SW –WM http://www.cornucopia.org.uk

17. Simple for our users?

18. Simple for collections holders?

19. Wider picture e-Europe Co-ordination of National Digitisation Policies Inventory of policies, programmes and projects across Europe –virtual collections description –international agreement on standards –metadata harvesting ??? http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/forum/index.html

21. Collection Description considerations in the nof-digitise programme New Opportunities Fund