Ross Harvey

Out of the classroom and into the laboratory: Teaching digital curation virtually and experientially

As graduate LIS/IS education seeks to respond to intensifying virtual information and preservation environments, it becomes increasingly clear that innovative teaching tools and methods are required. These teaching tools must complement and enhance state-of-the-art curriculum offerings in subjects such as digital curation. The digital curation courses offered in the LIS School at Simmons College, Boston illustrate an innovative virtual and experiential approach. At the heart of these courses is the Digital Curriculum Laboratory, a virtual archives and preservation laboratory. This paper discusses and demonstrates the relationship between a digital curriculum laboratory, the successful delivery of a digital curation curriculum and its wider international implications.

From Teacher to Learner to User: Developing a Digital Stewardship Pedagogy

Addressing how the education of library, archival, and museum professionals influences the ways in which practitioners incorporate technology into user service environments, this article focuses on digital stewardship as a developing pedagogy. Digital stewardship encompasses, but is not limited to, the creation, maintenance, preservation, dissemination, and exhibition of a trusted body of digital information for current and future use. Pedagogy in this emerging area offers opportunities for experimentation and innovation that should have an impact on the ability of practitioners to interact with users and on the ways that users can become involved with and integrated into the construction of digital stewardship activities. The authors explore how this pedagogy can be applied in the classroom, in the laboratory, and in internships.

UNESCO'S Memory of the World Programme

UNESCOs Memory of the World Programme is one response to the challenges of preserving cultural heritage. This paper describes its activities, indicates its relationship to other large-scale programs to promote understanding of the importance of preserving heritage, introduces the Australian Memory of the World Program as a case study, and examines some of the issues surrounding the program.

UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme and Australia’s lost and missing documentary heritage

UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme, launched in 1992, is intended to protect and promote the world’s documentary heritage through preservation and access; it aims to guard against the collective amnesia of the world caused by its fragility. A register of material determined to be of international significance has been established; in addition, more than forty countries have established national programs, with Australia an enthusiastic participant.

Automating the appraisal of digital materials

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the requirements for automating aspects of the appraisal process for digital objects. It explores these requirements in the context of automating re-appraisal and questions many of the assumptions commonly made about appraisal and about automating the processes needed for life-cycle management of digital objects. Design/methodology/approach - The literature of digital preservation and curation and the experience of one of the authors in planning to implement a digital archive at the Wellcome Library are the basis of an exploration of issues. Findings - The development of automated appraisal systems and associated tools is a worthwhile endeavour, although the complexity and cost associated with designing, developing and implementing them may be prohibitive in some situations. An automated appraisal system may, however, have only limited benefits in some contexts. The re-appraisal of technical attributes of digital materials, which is an essential part of their management, is a prime contender for some level of automation. The approach proposed has limitations which arise from such factors as metadata requirements and trustworthiness. Originality/value - The paper articulates assumptions made about automation and applies these in order to gain a better understanding of the requirements of automating aspects of appraisal in a digital archive.

Finding and forming the bold and the fearless: the future of LIS education in Australia

Abstract The education of information professionals needs constant re-examination and renewal if it is to remain relevant to the needs of society. Rapid change in the environments in which information is managed calls for the re-evaluation of old skills and the development of new skills. From our perspectives as a new professional and an experienced academic we define some of what is needed to enable library and information studies education to evolve quickly so that it can produce the ‘fearless information professionals’ that are needed. We aim to stimulate robust debate, reassessment, and revision.

Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship: a decade on. (An update on the original article by Ross Harvey, ‘Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship’. The Australian Library Journal, 50 no. 1, 2001: 15–22.)

The Editor of ALJ has invited me to comment on my 2001 article ‘Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship’ (Harvey 2001). The article was prompted by a period I spent as a visiting professor in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA (the University of California Los Angeles) and was written while I was there. Coincidentally, I am writing this commentary while based at another top-ranked LIS school in the U.S, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, Boston. I have resided outside Australia for almost all of the last four years, teaching and researching at the University of British Columbia, the University of Glasgow, and at Simmons College. I explain this because it has inevitably modified my views and has distanced me from the Australian LIS education scene.

Lost and Missing Australian Documentary Heritage: Is There Any?

The Memory of the World (MOTW) Program identifies and protects significant documentary heritage. Part of the Australian MOTW program seeks significant Australian documentary heritage that can no longer be located. The Australian Lost and Missing project, based at Charles Sturt University, is the first in the world to attempt a register of lost and missing documentary heritage. This paper describes the activities of the project during 2003-04, building on the article by Harvey in the Australian Library Journal in May 2003. It notes the evolution of methodological approaches to identify material that no longer exists.

Watch Out Australia!: Information Policy in Singapore.

Australia is re-aligning itself as part of Asia. It will need to compete on the same terms (or, at least, perform in the same quantum) as its Asian neighbours. The Asian tigers are realising the vital role that information plays in their development. Information policy in one Asian country, Singapore, is examined and some aspects of it are compared with Australia: the emphasis is on developments in Singapore since the publication of the Library 2000 report in 1994. Recent developments in the provision of public library service and progress in their implementation, are the main themes of the article. The conclusion is that Australia is set to become an underdeveloped nation in Asian information policy terms.This is a refereed article

Information professionals in Australia

This paper ascertains current concerns and directions of the library sector of the Australian information profession by analysing papers presented at recent Australian conferences. 189papers from three conferences were assigned a total of 421 subject descriptors, which were grouped into more general categories. From these, five primary areas of concern were identified: electronic services; the quality and value of services offered; Australias neighbours; traditional management concerns; and traditional concerns of the library profession such as education, collection development, and bibliographical control. This analysis suggests that the language currently being used to express professional concerns is that of business and the marketplace, with little to indicate that important questions relating to issues like public service and equity of access to information are being addressed. The paper was delivered at CONSALIX, the Congress of S. E. Asian Libraries, at Bangkok in May 1993 and will be published in...