OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 3: Recommendations and Readings.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In the first report, the 21-member Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. The results from a survey of site managers conducted in October-November 2009 were included in the second report. Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums, Part 3: Recommendations and Readings provides recommendations on social metadata features most relevant to libraries, archives, and museums and an annotated reading list of the literature consulted during this research. Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums: Executive Summary provides a high-level overview of all three reports. The group's final recommendation is that it is riskier to do nothing and become irrelevant to our user communities than to start using social media features.

Also available: Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums: Executive Summary."

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Mats Dahlström, Joacim Hansson, and Ulrika Kjellman have published "'As We May Digitize'—Institutions and Documents Reconfigured" in the latest issue of LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of European Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

This article frames digitization as a knowledge organization practice in libraries and museums. The primarily discriminatory practices of museums are compared with the non-discriminatory practices of libraries when managing their respective cultural heritage collections. . . . Two poles along a digitization strategy scale, mass digitization and critical digitization, are distinguished in the article. As memory institutions are redefined in their development of digitized document collections, e.g., by increasingly emphasizing a common trans-national rather than national cultural heritage, mass digitization and critical digitization represent alternative avenues. . . . The article re-contextualizes current digitization discourse: a) historically, by suggesting that digitization brings ancient practices back to life rather than invents entirely new ones from scratch; b) conceptually, by presenting a new label (critical digitization) for a digitization strategy that has hitherto been downplayed in digitization discourse; and c) theoretically, by exploring the relations between the values of different digitization strategies, the reconfiguration of collections as they are digitized, and the redefinition of MLA institutions through those processes.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital/Print Books | Digital Scholarship |

OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Part 2: Survey Analysis.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In the first report, Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Part 1: Site Reviews, the 21-member RLG Partners Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. In this second report, we analyzed the results from a survey of site managers conducted in October-November 2009. Forty percent of the responses came from outside the United States. The survey focused on the motivations for creating a site, moderation policies, staffing and site management, technologies used, and criteria for assessing success. In our upcoming third report, we provide recommendations on social metadata features most relevant to libraries, archives, and museums as well as the factors contributing to success.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

OCLC Research has released Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Part 1: Site Reviews.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Traditionally, staff at libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) create metadata for the content they manage. However, social metadata—content contributed by users—is evolving as a way to both augment and recontextualize the content and metadata created by LAMs. Many cultural heritage institutions are interested in gaining a better understanding of social metadata and also learning how to best utilize their users' expertise to enrich their descriptive metadata and improve their users' experiences.

In order to facilitate this, a 21-member RLG Partners Social Metadata Working Group reviewed 76 sites relevant to libraries, archives, and museums that supported such social media features as tagging, comments, reviews, images, videos, ratings, recommendations, lists, links to related articles, etc. In addition, working group members surveyed site managers, analyzed the survey results and discussed the factors that contribute to successful—and not so successful—use of social metadata. They also considered issues related to assessment, content, policies, technology, and vocabularies.

This report includes an environmental scan of 76 social metadata sites and a detailed review of 24 representative sites.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

The Canadian Heritage Information Network has released A Canadian Museum's Guide to Developing a Digital Licensing Agreement Strategy.

Here's an excerpt:

This book was written to provide information, from the unique perspective of Canadian museums, on how to develop a digital licensing agreement strategy. This second edition continues along this stream to provide a unique Canadian perspective as museums dive into the global scene of licensing their content. I hope to inform you about legal rights and obligations in licence agreements, creating your licensing agreement strategy, negotiating the best licences to meet your needs, lowering your legal liability when licensing and sharing content, and the variety of licensing arrangements which may be used.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 |

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded 14 Sparks! Ignition Grants.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced today 14 awards totaling $336,281 matched with $360,444 of non-federal funds for Sparks! Ignition Grants. IMLS received 106 applications requesting $2,468,234 in funds.

"I am delighted to announce the first-ever Sparks! Ignition Grants, designed to help libraries and museums solve challenging problems," said Susan Hildreth, IMLS Director. "These awards speak to the great ingenuity and creativity of libraries and museums and we look forward to sharing their lessons learned."

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has issued the "IMLS FY2011 Appropriations Allocation."

Here's the announcement:

In allocating the FY 11 appropriation, we have carefully reviewed our strategic priorities and our activities that have the greatest impact. IMLS supports a diverse portfolio of programs to meet the IMLS mission and bring high-quality library and museum services to the broadest possible public. In making these allocations IMLS balanced interests in supporting "what works" and also investing in "what's new" through innovation and research. In this way IMLS provides the leadership to help libraries and museums evolve their services to meet the public’s ever-changing needs for information and lifelong learning. In addition to making careful reductions to IMLS programs, we are also reducing our administrative budget and will be rigorously examining our operations for cost-efficiency measures.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 |

The Edward and Betty Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts has released 2010 Horizon Report: Museum Edition.

Here's an excerpt:

The highest ranked of those trends had significant agreement among the Advisory Board members, who considered them to be key drivers of museum technology adoptions for the period 2010 through 2014. They are listed here in the order in which the Advisory Board ranked them.

• "Rich" media—images, videos, audio, augmented reality, and animations—are becoming increasingly valuable assets in digital interpretation. Museums understand the value in capturing high-quality media documentation related to their collections at every opportunity. Working more closely than ever with educators and researchers, museums are embracing opportunities for multimodal learning both online and in the galleries. High-quality media like images, videos, audio clips, augmented reality, and animations are no longer seen as afterthoughts in interpretation but increasingly as necessary components of an interpretive plan. This trend is beneficial to museum professionals and visitors alike as it encourages a deeper understanding of objects, ideas, and audiences.
• Digitization and cataloguing projects will continue to require a significant share of museum resources. Museums are distinguished by the content they keep and interpret. There is an increasing understanding among museum professionals that visitors expect to be able to readily access accurate and interesting information, and especially high-quality media. This requires museums to plan strategically for the digitization and cataloging of collections. These projects frequently require hard choices in the allocation of money, personnel, and time, but are not likely to diminish in importance in the foreseeable future.
• Increasingly, museum visitors (and staff) expect to be able to work, learn, study, and connect with their social networks in all places and at all times using whichever device they choose. Wireless network access, mobile networks, and personal portable networks have made it easy to remain connected almost anywhere. Museum audiences have become accustomed to easy access to the network in other parts of their lives, and grow increasingly impatient with places where it is not possible (or where it is prohibitively expensive) to be connected using the device of their choosing.
• The abundance of resources and relationships offered by open content repositories and social networks is challenging us to revisit our roles as educators. Access to educational materials of all kinds has never been as easy or as open as it is today. The model of the museum curator or educator standing in front of an object interpreting meaning for a passive audience is no longer realistic in a world accustomed to instant access to virtually any kind of information. More important to today’s audiences is advice on how to find, interpret, and make their own connections with collections and ideas.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has released Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries and Museums guidelines.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This new grant program will provide one-year grants of $10,000 to $25,000 for innovative projects that respond to the challenges and opportunities facing cultural heritage institutions in a rapidly changing information environment. The submission deadline is November 15, 2010.

Successful proposals will address problems, challenges, or needs of broad relevance to museums, libraries, or archives, will test innovative responses to these problems, and will make the findings of these tests widely and openly accessible. Grant funding may include all activities associated with planning, deploying, and evaluating the innovation, as long as the expenses are allowable under federal and IMLS guidelines. Examples of projects that might be funded by this program include, but are not limited to:

• exploring the potential of highly original, experimental collaborations,
• implementing new workflows or processes with potential for substantial cost savings,
• testing new metrics or methods to measure the impact of promising tools or services,
• rapid prototyping and testing of new types of software tools, or creating useful new ways to link separate software applications used in libraries, archives, or museums,
• offering innovative new types of services or service options to museum, library, or archive visitors, or
• enhancing institutions’ abilities to interact with audiences in new ways to promote learning or improve services, such as through the deployment of innovative crowd-sourcing techniques.

Sparks! Ignition Grant funds may not be used for:

• evaluation of an existing program or service,
• projects that are only for planning or research (as distinguished from experimentation),
• projects that are limited to existing and traditional approaches to exhibitions, performances, or other types of public programs,
• projects that involve mainly digitization, unless the applicant is proposing an innovative method for digitization,
• activities that will produce only incremental improvements in operational or business processes,
• support of conferences or professional meetings, or
• acquisition of equipment in excess of 50 percent of the total funds requested from IMLS.

The Smithsonian has released Creating a Digital Smithsonian: Digitization Strategic Plan.

Here's an excerpt:

How long will digitization take? How much will it cost? Right now, we are not sure, and the plan’s number-one task is to determine timelines, cost parameters, and guidelines for setting priorities about what will be digitized when. While we will not digitize all of our collections, the price tag is still daunting, especially considering that many of our objects are three-dimensional and therefore more difficult to digitize. Added to the direct cost of digitization are the staff hours needed to find and research objects and data and the rights associated with them.

Regardless of the specific digitization strategies we pursue, the investment will be enormous. This accounts for a key goal in the digitization plan: securing additional financial and human capital. As noted, digitization is an ongoing process that will require ongoing resources. We have been digitizing, and will continue to do so as funds become available, but from now on we will work across the Institution from a single plan that outlines a comprehensive and systemic approach.

The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University has released Omeka 1.2.

Here's an excerpt from the download page

Omeka version 1.2 includes following features and plug-ins:

• Four themes that are easy to adapt with simple CSS changes and theme configuration
• Exhibit Builder plugin with 12 page layouts and 5 exhibit themes
• Tagging for items and exhibits
• RSS feeds for items
• COinS plug-in making items readable by Zotero
• SimplePages plugin for easily making static pages

Here's a brief description of Omeka from Omeka: Serious Web Publishing.

Omeka is a free, flexible, and open source web-publishing platform for the display of library, museum, archives, and scholarly collections and exhibitions. Its "five-minute setup" makes launching an online exhibition as easy as launching a blog. Omeka is designed with non-IT specialists in mind, allowing users to focus on content and interpretation rather than programming. It brings Web 2.0 technologies and approaches to academic and cultural websites to foster user interaction and participation. It makes top-shelf design easy with a simple and flexible templating system. Its robust open-source developer and user communities underwrite Omeka’s stability and sustainability.

Read more about it at "Configurable Themes in 1.2."

Melissa A. Brown and Kenneth D. Crews have self-archived "Control of Museum Art Images: The Reach and Limits of Copyright and Licensing" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

Many museums and art libraries have digitized their collections of artworks. Digital imaging capabilities represent a significant development in the academic study of art, and they enhance the availability of art images to the public at large. The possible uses of these images are likewise broad. Many of these uses, however, are potentially defined by copyright law or by license agreements imposed by some museums and libraries that attempt to define allowable uses. Often, these terms and conditions will mean that an online image is not truly available for many purposes, including publication in the context of research or simple enjoyment. Not only do these terms and conditions restrict uses, they also have dubious legal standing after the Bridgeman case. This paper examines the legal premises behind claiming copyright in art images and the ability to impose license restrictions on their use.

This paper is one outcome of a study of museum licensing practices funded by The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. This paper is principally an introduction to the relevant law in the United States and a survey of examples of museum licenses. The project is in its early stages, with the expectation that later studies will expand on this introduction and provide greater analysis of the legal complications of copyright, the public domain, and the reach of license agreements as a means for controlling the use of artwork and potentially any other works, whether or not they fall within the scope of copyright protection.