This document discusses digital curation in libraries. It defines digital curation as the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital assets to keep them accessible indefinitely. It provides an overview of the history and definitions of digital curation. It also lists several initiatives and projects related to digital curation. The document discusses how digital curation has emerged as a new practice for libraries and the need for professionals to develop related competencies. It outlines some challenges to implementing digital curation in libraries and the future potential of using cloud environments and persistent infrastructures.

1. Dr.Bhojaraju Gunjal
Deputy Librarian & Head
Central Library
National Institute of Technology Rourkela
Odisha, India.
WNL-2K15: What Next in Libraries, Jan 21-23, 2015, NIT Silchar, Assam. India.
Gunjal, Bhojaraju (2015). Digital Curation in Libraries: An innovative way of content preservation and
dissemination; In proceedings of International Conference on What Next in Libraries (WNL-2K15),
January 21-23, NIT Silchar, Assam.

2. Digital Curation
Digital Curation (DC)
 is the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection
and archiving of digital assets.
 establishes, maintains and adds value to repositories of
digital data for present and future use.
 will mitigate digital obsolescence, keeping the
information accessible to users indefinitely

3. Digital Curation: Overview
 Term “Digital Curation” was first used in 2001
 as a title for a seminar on digital archives, libraries and
eScience
 various communities came together to discuss the
urgent challenges of improving the
 long-term management of, and
 preservation of access to, digital information

4. Definition of DC
 Digital Curation Centre (DCC) - defines as
“maintaining and adding value to a trusted body of
digital information for current and future use;
specifically the active management and appraisal of
data over the life-cycle of scholarly and scientific
materials”
 Rusbridge, C et al. (2005) - the activity of managing
and promoting the use of data from its point of
creation, to ensure it is fit for contemporary purpose,
and available for discovery and reuse

5. DC - Initiatives and Projects
 Digital Curation Centre
 Glasgow University
 Digital Curation Interest Group – ACRL
 Digital Curation Services - University of Virginia
 Research Data - Purdue University
 UK Data Archive
 Databrary Project
 University of California Curation Center

6. Digital Curation in Libraries
 emerged as a new practice
 need for practitioners has risen
 need for professionals to equip with Competencies
 changing role of libraries to
 deal with research data
 cope-up with the digital curation activities
 quickly developing support for research data
management (RDM)

7. Scoop.it
Source: http://www.scoop.it

8. Pinterest
Source: http://www.pinterest.com

9. BagTheWeb
Source: http://www.bagtheweb.com

10. Aggregage
Source: http://www.aggregage.com/

11. Curata
Source: http://www.curata.com/

12. DC Tools: Capabilities and Features
 long term preservation of digital content
 key to reproducibility and re-use
 few provide bookmarklet feature - enable to curate
content dynamically while browsing
 help to connect with similar interest people
 suggest users to connect/follow
 users can publish information consistently
 users can become thought leaders

13. Checklist for implementation DC
 tools to be carefully examined and designed
 requires the implementation of proactive, scalable and
sustainable preservation strategies
 important to ensure that digital data remain accessible
and reusable over time
 user education is very important - for both curators
and end-users

14. Challenges to implement DC in libraries
 Skills of the library staff
 Users’ education
 Evaluation and selection of the DC tools
 Long term planning for archival and preservation of
curated data

15. Future of Digital Curation
 DC involves a wide range of activities, many of which
may be suitable for deployment within a cloud
environment
 significant effort needs to be put into developing
persistent information infrastructures for digital
materials and into developing the digital curation
skills of researchers and information professionals
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model may provide a
basis on which more specialized software services may
be provided.

16. Conclusions
 Digital curation tools can be used for long term
preservation of content and help to reduce the digital
obsolescence
 With the proper use of social technologies,
organization can yield productivity and collaborate
effectively among communities
 Its applications among library or KM communities can
benefit the organization to a large extent
 With the proper use of strategy, tools and
technologies, DC adoption can help organisations to
manage research data management effectively

17. Thank you
Dr.Bhojaraju Gunjal
Endeavour Research Fellow (Australia)
Rourkela, Odisha. India.
Cell: +91- 9040511891
Email: Bhojaraju.G@gmail.com
Profile: http://bhojaraju.weebly.com