Return to reality...July 9, 2007

I stepped back for a year to refresh myself after feeling burned out....and today, my first day "back at work" found me in San Diego for the Council of Chief Librarians, California Community Colleges annual board retreat. I was particularly interested in coming to this meeting since I wanted to share my sabbatical report called "On-ramps to digital highways: Digitization activities and trends in California's community college libraries."

It was well received...and these were the goals of this study and the findings:
1. Assess the digitization activities and practices of California’s community college libraries
This study and analysis demonstrated the lack of emphasis and activity for digitization of local history resources in California’s community college libraries. Only ten (of 102 surveyed) community college libraries responded that they are currently digitizing resources. Incidentally, these campuses are defined by the Chancellor’s Office as small campuses, medium campuses and large campuses:
1. Coastline College
2. College of San Mateo
3. Cypress College
4. East Los Angeles College
5. Fullerton College
6. Los Angeles City College
7. Mendocino College
8. Pasadena City College
9. Riverside Community College
10. Sierra College

Primary digitization activities in these ten colleges focused on:
•photographs 60%
•newspapers 50%
•course-related materials 40%
•videotapes 30%
•“Other” resources 30%

In the IMLS study of academic libraries in the U.S, the availability of digital images on the web for small and medium academic libraries was significant (44.4% and 42.1% respectively). In California community college libraries, only (9.8%, 10 libraries) are providing access to historical digital resources on the web

Of these ten colleges, there was a significant difference in the percentage of the college’s awareness of the benefits of preserving resources in a digital archive (60%) as compared to the responses of the 102 colleges overall (41%). Even significantly greater was the difference in the college’s management awareness of the importance of preserving the college’s historical resources in a digital archive (80% for the 10 libraries vs. 18% for the entire group surveyed –102 libraries.)

The value of digitizing local resources for the community colleges was strongly identified in the question on the target audience who would benefit from the resources: 72.6% of respondents indicated that Students at my college would benefit while 57.8% indicated that the College’s Faculty or Staff would benefit. The General public who have Internet access is another target audience that was significant (27.5%).


2. Assess funding and collaborative activities
Ninety libraries (88.2%) received no funding for digitizing resources in the last 12 months and sixty-six percent did not plan on obtaining any funding within the next twelve months. In examining the possible funding sources, it was clear that the few campuses that were receiving funding were receiving it from two sources:
•Institutional operational funds
•Other funds such as LSTA and district funds

Another untapped resource that IMLS libraries use for funding is grants from federal agencies. Community college libraries may want to consider this as a funding resource.

Collaboration is clearly not a current practice at present with only 2 libraries of 102 collaborating with museums in their areas.

3. Identify institutions that are forming “best practices” policies and procedures
The majority of libraries in the California community college study (86%) do not have policies in place or in development. Those that do, have focused on these areas:
•Responsibility and location of Institutional Archives 10 libraries, 9.8%
•Preservation of original documents 8 libraries, 7.8%
•Copyright 7 libraries, 6.9%
•Intellectual Property issues 6 libraries, 5.9%

The percentage of libraries with no policy or procedures or no knowledge of policies or procedures was significantly higher in California than the IMLS study libraries. It was not surprising to find that policy development was also more prevalent in the 10 libraries that are already digitizing resources. (See Appendix E for “Top Ten” Survey Responses).

4. Identify priorities for resources currently being digitized and priorities for those campuses that have not started to digitize resources
Libraries were asked to identify priorities for digitization/preservation:
•Historical documents/archives 59.8 %
•Course material 41.3%
•Photographs 40.2%
•Videotapes 31.5%
•Newspapers 31.5%
These responses are consistent with the IMLS study data for academic libraries.

5. Identify and confirm barriers to digitization activities
The majority of community college libraries in California are traditionally underfunded and these concerns were clearly articulated in the consideration of a digitization project. Responses of barriers to digitization included the following:
•Lack of funds 99%
•Lack of staff time 98%
•Other projects have higher priorities 91.2%
•Lack of an established digitized plan 81.4%
•Concerns about costs of preservation and management 79.4%
•Lack of established policies and procedures 72.5%

6. Raise awareness of digitization activities in the California community colleges
This study and analysis demonstrated the lack of emphasis and activity for digitization of local history resources in California’s community college libraries. Primary digitization activities were outlined as well as priorities were identified. Yet, the major hindrances to a digitization project that community college libraries face are harsh realities. These realities (Lack of funds, lack of staff time, and Other projects have higher priorities are documented in other colleges in the state as well as in other academic institutions nationally.

Additional activities on digitization will be made available on the Council of Chief Librarians wiki: http://cclresources.pbwiki.com

Recommendations
This report will be presented to the Council of Chief Librarians of the California Community Colleges for discussion, review and final recommendations. It is clear that funding options may be explored for demonstration studies on model policy development and best practices, collaboration options, funding strategies.

In addition, it is recommended that the ten libraries currently involved in digitization activities work together to develop a grant to:
•Prepare an inventory of digitization activities already underway
•Collaborate on the development of best practices and procedures models
•Digitize the college newspaper, catalogs, campus historical photographs, and selected historical documents/archives about the divisions or departments