German Resources Project
Digital Libraries Working Group
Working Group Members
Action plan item for Working Group members to consider:
At the June 26, 1998 meeting in Washington, Project members agreed that digital library projects of interest to both German and American scholars must be identified and prioritized. On both sides of the Atlantic there is a perceived need to focus on discipline specific tools and on ways to facilitate scholarly collaboration. Digital library projects must be fully integrated in the academic enterprise and they need to enhance the quality of research and education.At the June meeting it was proposed that the German Resources Project sponsor focused meetings of German and American scholars to identify particular collections or well-defined bodies of material that would have a significant impact on the scholarship of a particular field in German, or German-American, cultural and historical studies. At this meeting collaborative projects between German and American research libraries would be discussed, and the feasibility of such collaboration would be weighed. A wide range of subjects and disciplines could be addressed, as well as considering bodies of material that would be of interest to those outside German cultural studies.
This meeting would play an important role in providing an opportunity for practicing scholars to respond to the agenda that is being developed for the German Resources Project. Specifically, they could comment on ways that using electronic technologies in relation to scholarly resources here and in Germany might help them enhance their teaching and research, as well as enhance their relationships with other scholars in their fields both here and abroad. There is a strong need at this time to clearly identify and assess the needs of practicing scholars and teachers regarding the development of digital library materials
Deanna Marcum of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), and Don Waters of the Digital Library Federation (DLF), have both expressed their organizations' interest in supporting such a meeting. In Germany, support for funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) would be solicited to sponsor a similar meeting of German scholars to discuss their interests. Following these two meetings the Digital Library Working Group would compare reports from the two faculty focus groups, and develop a prioritized list of digital library projects for the German Resources Project to consider sponsoring. The result would thus become an excellent means of solidly grounding future digital library projects with real, expressed needs and priorities.
