Dear all,
Recently, the Institute for Museum and Library Service convened a Digital
Library Forum "to discuss networked
digital libraries, including issues of infrastructure, metadata, thesauri,
and other vocabularies, and content enrichment."

The forum discussions led to the development of two reports including "A
Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections," which
identifies core principles and related information resources for the
creation of high-quality digital collections, objects, and metadata.
http://www.imls.gov/pubs/forumframework.htm

I pass along this reference to the framework for information and comment.

I am particularly interested to learn your views about whether the
framework, perhaps in some revised form, could be endorsed by the DLF and
adopted not so much for particular recommendations (which would probably
have to be vetted on an individual basis) but as a coherent container in
which more specific good practice recommendations can be recorded and
maintained. The framework seems to have real potential for bringing some
coherence to what is at present a relatively chaotic mass of good practice
information that is currently circulating in the ether.

It would be helpful if I could have comments before Dec 25 2001. Provided
there is sufficient enthusiasm, I would envisage initiating some process
through which we could develop the framework further working closely of
course with the IMLS and any other agencies that may be interested.

The full text of the IMLS press release is also supplied below.

Regards,
Dan


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6. I M L S  I S S U E S   T W O   D I G I T A L   L I B R A R Y
    F O R U M  R E P O R T S  F O R  C O M M E N T

This past Spring IMLS convened a Digital Library Forum

"Report of the IMLS Digital Library Forum on the National Science Digital
Library Program," produced jointly with representatives of the National
Science Foundation's Science, Math, Engineering and Technology Education
digital library project (otherwise known as the National Science Digital
Library, or NSDL program) http://www.imls.gov/pubs/natscidiglibrary.htm

IMLS requests comments on the reports.  Please access the press release
issuing the reports at: http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/110601-1.htm

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