Collection Development Policy
Digitized Collections
The Digital Library of Georgia, working together with Georgia's libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of cultural heritage, provides access to the cultural and historical resources of the state of Georgia through ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of online digital collections and resources. Original formats included may be text-based, including manuscripts, letters, diaries, and published works such as books and pamphlets, photographs, maps, art, artifacts, audio and video, graphic materials including architectural plans and drawings, and microfilm.
The Audience of the Digital Library of Georgia consists of five segments: Casual User, Student/K-12/Lifelong Learner, Information Seeker/Hobbyist, Scholar/Researcher, Government/Business Community.
Collections, materials, or items may be nominated for digitization by any interested party using the Digital Library of Georgia Digitization Nomination Form.
Collections nominated for digitization and/or inclusion in the Digital Library of Georgia will be judged based on the following criteria.
- Mission. Proposed materials or collections must
conform to the mission of the Digital Library of Georgia and be related
to the culture and history of the state of Georgia.
- Restrictions. Materials that are restricted by the
donor or other owner will not be digitized unless permission can be
obtained.
- Copyright. Materials that are clearly in the
public domain will be given priority for digitization. Where public
domain status is questionable, a decision will be made on a case by
case basis. When materials are under copyright restrictions, they will
not be digitized unless permission is obtained.
- Documentation/Description. Materials or
collections that are completely or partially described, captioned,
labeled, processed, or cataloged will be given priority for
digitization. Other instances will be handled on a case by case basis
depending on factors such as the type and depth of description
required, need for research, etc.
- Accessibility. Materials that are hard to access
due to preservation concerns or are only available to a limited
audience due to security restrictions will be given priority for
digitization.
- Use. Materials that are heavily used by
researchers, other patrons, or staff will be given greater priority for
digitization.
- Diversity. Materials that represent the cultural,
political, social, geographic, and/or economic diversity of the state
of Georgia will be given priority.
- Value. Materials that have high research,
artifactual, or evidential value and/or are of particular interest to a
key audience will have high priority for digitization.
- Potential for Added Value. Materials for which
access will be substantially improved by digitization and which have a
high potential for added value in the digital environment will be given
priority. Examples of added value that the materials may lend
themselves to include:
- Creation and/or addition of supplemental resources to allow users to better understand, navigate, and use the collection
- Linkages between materials
- Virtual collections of materials based around a creator, topic, subject, or similar theme
- New metadata, description, and finding aids in electronic form
- The ability to search through the creation of electronic text
- New ways to use or analyze the originals
- Duplication of Effort. Materials that are publicly
available in digital form elsewhere at a level of quality that meets
the needs of the audience of the Digital Library of Georgia will not be
digitized. Note that the DLG Portal Service may link to items related
to the mission of the Digital Library of Georgia.
- Cooperative Potential. If the materials have the
potential to be related to others held by different repositories or
organizations, including materials already digitized or being
considered for digitization, the priority for digitization is higher if
it is likely that a cooperative or multi-collection digitization
initiative may result.
- Availability of Local or Additional Resources.
Following on cooperative potential, if a repository or other
organization can provide support in the form of staff time, equipment,
or funding - especially at a local basis - to digitize materials to the
standards required by the Digital Library of Georgia those collections
may be given greater priority to take advantage of these
opportunities.
- Technology. Materials for which appropriate technology, processes, and best practices already exist for digitization will generally have priority. Projects that explore or require implementation of new technologies will be considered depending on the availability of resources and funding.
DLG Portal Service
The DLG Portal Service links historical and cultural collections digitized by the DLG and held locally in GALILEO with digital collections, materials, sites, items or similar resources held by cultural and/or other non-profit organizations throughout the state and elsewhere by means of a selective portal service. The core of the portal service is a metadata catalog containing descriptive information about each resource.
The DLG Portal Service will record metadata about and link to sites meeting the following criteria:
- Provides digitized resources for collections representing Georgia's history and culture
- Makes the resource available at no cost
- Has a plan for ongoing sustainability and maintenance
- Respects copyright by ensuring that materials are in the public domain or cleared for public distribution
- Priority will be given to sites containing cultural materials digitized in accordance with standard best practices for digital imaging recommended by the Digital Library of Georgia
Ownership
The Digital Library of Georgia does not claim ownership of digital objects linked to from the DLG Portal Service. Ownership remains with the originating site. Note that collections digitized and mounted by the Digital Library of Georgia and GALILEO are linked to from the DLG Portal Service in the same way as other participating sites. Metadata created by the Digital Library of Georgia and included in the DLG Portal Service remains the property of the Digital Library of Georgia, but may be freely copied and shared as long as credit is given.
Accuracy
Responsibility for accuracy of data, facts, and information presented rests with the institution providing the digital resource. The Digital Library of Georgia does not warrant any information on the sites linked to by the portal. The Digital Library of Georgia recommends that all sites have a means of collection information regarding the content accuracy and a policy for site review and revision.
Accessibility
The DLG Portal Service strives to comply with accessibility standards developed as part of the Web Access Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium available at http://www.w3.org/WAI/. However, the Digital Library of Georgia does not guarantee that sites linked to by the DLG Portal will comply with these accessibility standards.
Removal Policy
A site may be removed from the DLG Portal at the discretion of the Digital Library of Georgia for one or more of the following:
- Site is not consistently available and reliable
- Inaccurate data, facts, or information
- Proven violation of copyright
- Site or content is no longer available for free to the public
July, 2001
Revised Sept. 2004