Greetings:



You are being invited to participate in a research study conducted by members of a sub-working group of the DLF Assessment Interest Group[1]: Santi Thompson from the University of Houston Libraries, Elizabeth Kelly from Loyola University New Orleans, Genya O’Gara from the Virtual Library of Virginia, Caroline Muglia from the University of Southern California, Ayla Stein from the University of Illinois University Library, and Liz Woolcott from Utah State University. This project is funded by a grant (LG-73-17-0002-17<https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/lg-73-17-0002-17>) from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).



The project team is conducting a community needs assessment, focused on developing the use cases and functional requirements for a freely available, collaboratively-developed digital library assessment toolkit, D-CRAFT.



We are administering a survey that will ask respondents to identify how cultural heritage organizations currently assess digital library reuse. The survey will consist of several questions asking participants to identify barriers for reuse and to prioritize potential solutions and next steps.

The results of this study may be published in professional journals. They may also be used for educational purposes or for professional presentations. However, no individual subject or identifying information will be shared.



Those who meet any of the following criteria are eligible for participation in this survey:

*         those with demonstrated experience, such as direct work experience, and/or research that involves building, preserving, and/or assessing digital library collections;

*         self-identified individuals from underrepresented groups based on factors including but not limited to race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender identity, sexual orientation, ableness, veteran’s status, and/or socio-economic status;

*         representatives from organizations with diverse and inclusive collections;

*         self-identified representatives from cultural heritage organization types that might not be represented in the research team membership.



If you meet the inclusion criteria, we would appreciate your participation in this survey. The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Respondents will only take this survey once. The first 50 participants will be eligible to receive a $25 Amazon gift card for completing the survey.



You can access the survey here: http://uhlibrary.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bKNLEtMwORvQmJD



This survey closes in one month (5:00 p.m. EDT on October 11, 2017)



If you have any questions, you may contact any member of the project team:

●        Santi Thompson at 713-743-9685 or [log in to unmask]

●        Ayla Stein at 217-300-2598 or [log in to unmask]

●        Elizabeth Kelly at 504-864-7047 or [log in to unmask]

●        Genya O’Gara at 703-993-4654 or [log in to unmask]

●        Caroline Muglia at 213-821-0756 or [log in to unmask]

●        Liz Woolcott at 435-797-9458 or [log in to unmask]



We look forward to seeing your responses and sharing the results of our research.

________________________________
[1] https://wiki.diglib.org/Assessment:User/Reuse

Santi Thompson, Head of Digital Research Services
University Libraries
University of Houston
A Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university
713-743-9685
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-6439