Digital collecting vs. digital research - Are they compatible?
This presentation will explore with eResearch attendees the following question: How can researchers inform the National Library of New Zealand’s digital collecting, processing, description and delivery so that these collections are more useful to researchers?
The first half of the presentation will give eResearch attendees a high-level overview of the Library’s digital collections, highlighting the Web and social media collections; the Library’s activities to make its digital collections open for data analysis by researchers; and the legal, social, ethical and methodological challenges encountered.
In the second half of the presentation, we will lead eResearch attendees in a discussion of how digital collecting institutions like the Library, can work more closely with digital researchers to provide data that is usable for research purposes.
The Library’s collecting processes include many decisions that ultimately shape what gets collected and what can be done with it. What are the types of decisions made by collectors that shape the digital collections? Which collecting decisions do researchers want documented? Where in the collecting, processing, description, packaging, delivery pipeline do researchers want to be involved? How can we create a feedback loop between the Library’s collecting and users of the collections, so that we are enabling and not inhibiting research in NZ?
Andrea Goethals manages the digital preservation team at the National Library of New Zealand. She has primary responsibility for the overall day-to-day operations of the National Digital Heritage Archive and contributes to the strategic direction of the Library’s digital preservation programme. She champions digital preservation issues and collaborates closely with others at the Library and around the world to advance digital preservation standards and practices. She co-chairs the Library’s Digital Research Working Group, runs the NZ DOI Consortium, and is a co-organiser of Australasia Preserves.