1 digital library initiatives in higher education in malaysia & singapore shaheen majid
TRANSCRIPT
1
Digital Library Initiatives in Higher Education in Malaysia &
Singapore
Shaheen Majid
A Notable Start
Singapore was one of the pioneer countries to start work on digital librariesUniversities started teaching courses on digital libraries in late 1990’sActively involved in organizing ICADL conference and other related conferencesSeveral digital library initiatives were also undertaken in Malaysia
2
Scope of My Presentation
3
Some DL initiatives undertaken by institutions of Higher Education in Malaysia
& Singapore
Mostly management-related aspects of digital libraries
will be discussed
Data Collection
A ‘question sheet’ was sent to selected public universities in Malaysia and SingaporeAreas covered:
Scope and size of DL collectionDigital content management policyAccess management and copyrightProblems encountered and lessons learnt
Interviews with a few individuals responsible for developing digital libraries
4
Participant Universities - Singapore
5
1. National University of Singapore (NUS)
2. Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
3. Singapore Management
University (SMU)
Participant Universities - Malaysia
6
1. University Malaya (UM)
2. University Technology Malaysia (UTM)
3. University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
4. University Putra Malaysia (UPM)
Year of Launching DL
NTU - Sep. 2008SMU - Dec. 2008NUS - Apr. 2010
UKM - 2003/2007 UTM - 2007UM - 2008UPM - 2008
7
Singapore Malaysia
Digital Collection Size
NTU - 39,800SMU - 11,000NUS - 4,551
UKM - 30,550 UTM - 7,690UPM - 6,190UM - 2,250
8
Singapore Malaysia
DL Software Used
NTU - DSpaceNUS - DSpaceSMU - Symposia/
Innovative
UKM - EPrintsUTM - EPrints UPM - EPrintsUM - Eprints/
Dspace (theses)
9
Singapore Malaysia
DSpace and EPrints are open source software
Software Customization
NTUEmbargo featureDynamic generation of citation information for downloaded full text documentsSubmission workflow & collection templatesBatch import tool for metadata, and Subject taxonomy
NUSUser interfaceBatch uploading of electronic theses
10
DSpace
Software Customization
UPM– User Interface– Metadata
UKM UTMUM
11
EPrints
Scope of Digital Collection
NTU (39,800)– Theses; exam papers; project reports, working
papers; staff conference papers and journal articles
– Format: Text (pdf & word); audio (mp3); videos (wmv & avi); image (jpeg)
SMU (11,000)– Theses; journal articles; working papers;
teaching videos
NUS (4,551)– Theses, staff and students’ publications
12
Singapore
Scope of Digital Collection
UKM (30,550) - Theses; exam papers; journal articles; UKM news clippings; seminar papers; minutes of meetings; Malaysian Law Index; Southeast Asia collection
UTM (7,690) - Theses; journal articles; conf. papers; research reports; UTM staff books; top management profiles; UTM news clippings ; photos
UPM (6,190) - Theses; journal articles; conference papers; inaugural lectures; UPM news clippings
UM (2,250) - Theses; journal article; conference papers; pre-prints; research reports; proceedings
13
Malaysia
Development & Maintenance Responsibility
14
Institution Library* Collaborator Outsourced
NTU . ICT + Info. Studies Division
Software Enhancement
NUS . ICT Design & Development
SMU . ICT -UPM . - Document Scanning
UTM . ICT -UKM . ICT -UM . Comp Sci. Dept -
* IT/ICT Department of the Library
DL Document Management Policy
15
Institution Policy Status
NTU Under development
NUS Under development
SMU Under development
UPM Under development
UTM Only inclusion/exclusion
UKM Under development
UM Inclusion/exclusion, archiving
Documents to be included/ excluded
Retention period of documents in the active collection
Documents to be archived, how long? by whom?
Responsibility for uploading, maintenance, deletion, etc.
Use of Taxonomy for Document Categorization
16
Institution Taxonomy
NTU In-house
SMU Hybrid (internal + external)
NUS No
UM In-houseUTM LC Subject HeadingsUPM NoUKM No
Staff Training
NTU
SMUNUS
UPMUTMUKM
UM
On-the-job training; self-learning; participation in DSpace community Recruiting trained staff; self learning Customization vendor training
On-the-job trainingVendor training; on-the-job; self-learningVendor training; on-the-job trainingOn-the-job training
17
Institution Training Method
Digital Library Access Policy
18
Institution Restricted Users
Internal Users External Users
NTU - All items Selected items (e.g Thesis abstracts)
NUS . All items Selected
SMU . Items allowed by copyright owners
Selected items
UPM - All items Metadata only
UTM - All items Selected items
UKM - Library membersonly
External library members only
UM - All items -
Compliance with Copyright
19
Institution Check against SherpaRomeo
Clearance from the Copyright Owner
After the Embargo Period
NTU . Journal publishers Theses - undecided
.
NUS . Students for theses Staff for reports -
SMU . Staff to check with the publisher -
UPM . Journal publishers -UTM . Students for theses
Staff for reports -
UKM . Students for theses Staff for reports -
UM . Univ. publications -
Problems Encountered
1. Limited DL software capabilitiesNTU, SMU, UTM, UM, NUS
2. Unavailability of adequately trained staff NTU, UKM, UM
3. High maintenance cost (customization, system migration)
UKM, UTM
4. Limited staff training opportunitiesUTM
20
Problems Encountered
5. Lack of motivation among stakeholders to submit their publicationsNUS
6. University bureaucracy and rigid policesUTM
7. Coordination problems with other collaborators (ICT Dept.)UTM
21
Promotion and Use Monitoring
22
Institution
Promotion Use Statistics
Usability study/
evaluation
NTU Website, part of lib. orientation
No No
NUS Website, library orientation
No. of visitors No
SMU Website, library orientation
No No
UPM Library orientation
No. of visitors/
downloads
No
UTM Website, library orientation
No. of visitors/
downloads
Part of library satisfaction
survey
UKM Part of IL skills No. of visitors/
downloads
No
UM Part of library orientation
No No
Lessons Learnt
Establish a team of well-trained staff before starting the project– NTU, NUS, UPM, UKM
Seek prior commitment of the top management (budget, staff, other resource)– NTU, NUS, UTM, UM
Understand users’ needs + conduct user study– NTU, SMU, UKM
Before populating the DL, develop policies and procedures– NTU, SMU, UKM
23
Lessons Learnt
Properly assess DL packages + vendors– NTU, UKM
Some open source packages are better than proprietary systems– UKM
Make DL part of the university wide system to facilitate submissions – NTU
24
Conclusion
Although all universities have established their DL, their collection size is quite smallThere is a need to promotes & encourage faculty and researchers to submit their scholarly worksProper needs analysis and usability studies should be conductedDL policies and procedures need to be developed early Universities in the region need to collaborate (software enhancement, staff training, resource sharing, etc.)
25
26
Digital Library Initiatives in Higher Education in Malaysia &
Singapore
Shaheen Majid