Mellon Foundation Supports Dartmouth-DukeCollaboration on Digital Information Management

A critical challenge facing higher education is the effective management and preservation of the huge quantity of digital information being produced. As with paper-based information in the past, digital information will be the future core of academe. While paper and digital based information will live side by side for some time to come, several years ago a team from Dartmouth began working with their counterparts at Duke University to study the challenges of preserving, making accessible, and protecting digital information into the future.

As part of this effort, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded Dartmouth $352,000 to build on the Duke-Dartmouth collaboration, with Jeffrey Horrell, dean of the libraries and librarian of the College; Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president for information technology; and Martin Wybourne, vice provost for research, as principal investigators. Duke received a similar award to support its part of the work. The purpose of the award is to establish a digital information strategy at both campuses that can serve as models for other institutions. The work will involve raising awareness on both campuses, targeted demonstration projects, establishing measures of success, and an outreach component that will be aided by an advisory council of senior leaders from up to six other colleges and universities.

Provost Barry Scherr established a Dartmouth Digital Information (D2I) committee last year in response to the preliminary Duke-Dartmouth effort. “I am delighted by the support from the Mellon Foundation and the recognition of the difficult challenges facing institutions of higher education by the transition to digital information,” he says.

In addition to Horrell, Waite-Franzen, and Wybourne, the other D2I members are Wess Jolley, college records manager; Ellen Arnold, associate general counsel; Cheryl Josler, human resources information systems manager; and David Seaman, associate librarian for information management. “Dartmouth has recognized the importance of designing and implementing management strategies, crafting institutional policies, and promoting a cultural environment that will ensure these critical resources are accessible for as long as required,” says Horrell. “This cultural shift will be one of the biggest challenges for us.”

Waite-Franzen adds, “Within the College, we have diverse requirements for managing and preserving digital information. I doubt that we will find one technological solution that will address all of our needs, but we believe that by gaining insight and knowledge of the needs of all areas, we will make better decisions when we apply the appropriate technological solutions.”

As the newly funded aspects of the Duke-Dartmouth work get up to speed, the D2I committee will be organizing meetings and focus groups for students, faculty, and administrators to get broad input and participation in the process.

“We look forward to working closely with Dartmouth on this important program to manage digital assets,” says Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and vice provost for library affairs at Duke University. “Duke and Dartmouth share similarities but also differ in many ways, which promises to make our collaboration in this area especially fruitful and useful for other institutions.”

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