The document outlines a 5-step process for establishing a digital scholarship commons at a university. Step 1 involves taking stock of existing services, hardware, expertise, and peers. Step 2 is to listen to potential partners such as administrators, library staff, IT staff, faculty, students, and special centers. Step 3 is to prepare for anticipated needs such as websites and policies. Step 4 recommends building projects with reusable tools and considering access and sustainability. Step 5 advises being realistic about current capacity while remaining optimistic about future potential.
3. Step 2: Listen to potential partners
Admins
Library staff
IT staff
Faculty
Students
Special Centers
4. Step 3: Get ready for what you know
you will need
Websites
Policies
Training
5. Step 4: Build with the future in mind
Create project charters. These should state the scope of
a project and define the responsibilities of individual
team members.
Try to adopt reusable tools.
Consider access and sustainability at the beginning.
6. Step 5: Be realistic but remain
optimistic
Be honest with yourself and your partners about
capacity.
Don’t let lack of capacity today be mistaken for
permanent reality.
Notas del editor
You probably already have some of the pieces you will need to start building out support for digital scholarship.Example: Database service
Digital scholarship work almost always takes team work. Make sure you understand how your institution works and who does what. Listen to what people need and also what they are anxious about.
You know people are going to want to put things online. Go ahead and figure out where you can host things and what you will support.Also, determine what kinds of policies you need; how long will you host something? Who is responsible for updates? How will you manage IP rights concerns?
Even if you do not have the capacity to do everything you want to right now, you can start working towards it.