Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK): Digitization and Digital Libraries
Full Review

Reviewed by: Albert Dean Atkinson, Ed.D., Head, Information Resources and Services, ADB
Review posted 30 May 2005
Review No. 45

CD-ROM Information

Content: A computer-based learning course about digital libraries for capacity building in agencies, institutions, and networks worldwide. It offers a series of interactive lessons covering the workflow, processes, technologies, and skills involved in the creation, management, and distribution of digital libraries.
Publication Date: 1 March 2005
Audience: Policy makers and development professionals involved in establishing and managing digital libraries for international agencies and institutions. Its content is scalable and customizable, meaning that users ranging from novices to experts can benefit.

Size: 633 MB
Price: Free
Manual needed: No
How to order:

Order online.*

View CD-ROM content online (registration required).*

*These links take you outside the ADBI website. Please use the back button to return to ADBI.org.

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Full Review

Drawing upon the instructional design and technical strengths of IMARK’s first offering, this 2nd course in the series confirms the resource kit’s commitment to learners and the learning process by providing another best-in-class example of computer-based learning. In this CD-ROM, users explore a series of interactive lessons covering the workflow, process, technology, and skill involved in the creation, management, and distribution of digital libraries.

Beyond mere words, this CD-ROM provides a powerful open source software package that users can install and use to build their own digital library, providing users with a 360 degree learning experience from knowledge to application.

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Users

As with the first CD-ROM, Management of Electronic Documents, users will experience the same media-rich, customizable, and data-driven learning environment. This is accomplished at the beginning of the course where users have the option of setting up a Personalized Learning Path that assesses their needs and interests through a series of questions related to the course’s content.

Upon completion of the assessment, the course is visually diagrammed for the learner, providing an overview of core and recommended content.

In the interest of spiraling users’ understanding of information management upward, three concepts are revisited from the first CD-ROM and applied to the new concept of digital libraries. Rather than stopping at providing only knowledge and comprehension of the subject, the developers chose to take users’ level of understanding one step further and provide the software and necessary steps for creating a powerful and immediately usable digital library of their own. This 360 degree design strategy allows users to apply their learning and leaves nothing to want for except, perhaps, the hardware to actually support the application.

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Content

The total curriculum consists of 31 lessons, of approximately 30 to 45 minutes each, grouped into six units:

• Unit 1. Overview: Introduces digital libraries and the legal environment within which they operate. Examples from different subject domains are used to demonstrate the use and main features of digital libraries. The unit also provides an overview of the legal issues related to the creation and management of digital material.
• Unit 2. Electronic documents and formats: Borrowing from the previous IMARK course, this unit describes several of the different formats of electronic documents that can be included in a digital library. It provides a technical overview of the various formats, character encoding schemes and encoding scripts, document mark-up, and how to convert between the various formats.
• Unit 3. Metadata standards and subject indexing: Borrowing from the previous IMARK course, this unit concerns the purpose and use of metadata, focusing on standards for electronic documents, including the Dublin Core. The unit also introduces the principles and procedures of subject indexing for document retrieval.
• Unit 4. Creation and management of digital documents: Closely mirroring content in the previous IMARK CD-ROM, this unit covers the workflow involved in the creation and management of electronic documents, including digitization, the creation and adaptation of documents for a digital library, issues related to delicate and heritage documents, and the preservation of digital material.
• Unit 5. Creation and sharing of digital libraries: This unit covers the processes and resources required for planning, implementing, and managing a digital library project.
• Unit 6. Example of digital library software - Greenstone: This unit describes how to use the open source Greenstone Digital Library Software to build and provide access to digital library collections.

The required time for completing the CD-ROM is approximately 15 to 24 hours of self-paced instruction. Each lesson achieves a specific set of learning objectives, using interactive step-by-step instruction and exercises which help reinforce what is being taught.

Each lesson also includes a list of relevant resources and additional reading. Learners can consult a glossary and search within the course materials for specific terms. A series of non-proprietary software applications and methodological guides are also provided.

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User Friendliness

A print version of the manual is included within the CD-ROM under the Help and Support section. However, given the intuitive nature of the CD-ROM’s navigation and use, a manual is not required. A complete explanation of the technical requirements (software, hardware, plug-ins, and operating system) is given with sufficient detail to get a user started. Once the user is inside the CD-ROM, an introduction describes the intended audience, along with a detailed site map that shows the CD-ROM’s content.

Though only offered in English now, it will be multilingual in future, with versions planned in French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese.

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Interactivity

As with the first IMARK CD-ROM, users will find they can

• customize and personalize the content to meet their specific settings and needs,
• engage their learning with an interactive, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing user interface,
• benefit from well-designed and sequenced learning content, and
• become part of a larger community of learners.

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Distribution

The entire CD-ROM is delivered using freely available software (Flash player and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and an Internet browser that will enable it to run on any computer using any operating system. For users who prefer a printed copy to engage the content, a print version is available for every portion of the module.

It is readily available through the FAO contacts listed above in theHow to Order section.

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Comment(s)

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1. adrian marquez
   (posted 06 October 2005 / 12:43:41 AM)
   
   It´s a good development tool for libraries and electronic documents.