[Sigifp-l] FW: News Release: NCLIS Issues Report from Symposium on Mass Digitization - May 10, 2006

[Richard Hill]

[Forwarded.  Dick Hill]

_____
Richard B. Hill
Executive Director
American Society for Information Science and Technology
1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510
Silver Spring, MD  20910
Fax: (301) 495-0810
Voice: (301) 495-0900 

-----Original Message-----
From: NCLISMedia-owner at nclis.gov [mailto:NCLISMedia-owner at nclis.gov] On
Behalf Of Kim Miller
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Subject: News Release: NCLIS Issues Report from Symposium on Mass
Digitization - May 10, 2006

News Release: NCLIS Issues Report from Symposium on Mass Digitization - May
10, 2006, can also be viewed at the following url in pdf format:
http://www.nclis.gov/news/pressrelease/pr2006/MassDigitizationSymposium-repo
rt-2006-8.pdf
********************

News Release
Contact:
Information Officer
1 202 606 9200
info at nclis.gov
For Immediate Release

                             NCLIS Issues Report from Symposium on Mass
Digitization
                                 Focus is on Implications for Information
Policy

Washington DC May 10, 2006.  The Chairman of the U.S. National Commission on
Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), Dr. Beth Fitzsimmons, announced
today the publication of a report from the symposium "Scholarship and
Libraries in Transition: A Dialogue about the Impacts of Mass Digitization
Projects."  The symposium was held at the University of Michigan on March
10-11, 2006.  The URL for the free 24-page report is
http://www.nclis.gov/digitization/MassDigitizationSymposium-Report.pdf.
Persons wishing to request a hard copy of the report may send a request to
info at nclis.gov. 

The idea for the symposium was inspired by the announcement in December 2004
for a partnership between Google, Inc. and five major research libraries to
digitize over 10 million unique titles.  This partnership launched a new era
of large-scale digitization heretofore not imagined feasible or affordable.
However, the "Google 5" project has generated many questions about the
legal, social, economic, and other impacts of this and similar projects that
will inevitably follow Google's lead.  The symposium brought together
scholars, librarians, publishers, government leaders to discuss their
concerns and issues.  NCLIS co-sponsored the symposium, which was planned
and organized by the University of Michigan Library staff and funded mainly
by the University of Michigan. 

After the symposium, because of their responsibility to address the
information and learning needs of the American people, NCLIS Commissioners
summed up nine major issues that have information policy implications and
connected them to key points made during the symposium.  The nine issues or
areas that the Commission identified to have potential impact on national
information policy are:

1.	Copyright:  How should important aspects of copyright-fair use,
orphan works, opt-in vs. opt-out models-be handled in digitization projects?

2.	Quality: When is the quality of OCR good enough?  What about quality
of content and authentication?
3.	Libraries: What are the roles and priorities for libraries in the
digital age?
4.	Ownership and preservation:  Who will assume long-term ownership of
books and journals and other media?  Who will take responsibility for
long-term preservation of books and journals and other media, and preserving
the public record?
5.	Standardization and interoperability:  How can the silos of digital
initiatives communicate with each other? 
6.	Publishers:  What are the roles of publishers and booksellers in the
digital age?
7.	Business models:  What business models are needed in the era of mass
digitization? How will the open access movement affect the economics of
digitization?
8.	Information literacy: What should be done about information
illiteracy?
9.	Assessment:  What types of assessment are being used?  How will we
know if digitization and electronic access are meeting people's needs?

This report sums up the key points under each of these nine topics and
concludes that finding workable solutions will have to involve authors,
scholars, publishers, libraries, associations, and government agencies.  The
solutions will involve education and awareness, policies, responsibility,
standards, quality, cooperation, rights, sustainability, technology, and
assessment.

The Webcast of the entire symposium may be found on the symposium Web page:
http://www.lib.umich.edu/mdp/symposium/.

ABOUT NCLIS
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) is
a permanent, independent agency of the Federal government charged by Public
Law 91-345 to advise the President and Congress on national and
international library and information policies, to appraise and assess the
adequacies and deficiencies of library and information resources and
services, and to develop overall plans for meeting national library and
information needs.

# # #


Kim A. Miller
Special Assistant - Technical
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
1800 M Street, NW; Suite 350 North Tower
Washington, DC 20036-5841
202-606-9200; Fax 202-606-9203
kmiller at nclis.gov
www.nclis.gov <http://www.nclis.gov/>