Rethinking Digital Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Thirty years ago digital initiatives emerged as a practice associated with digital libraries. Although the digital library concept has evolved considerably, digital initiatives are still largely associated with digitization projects and institutional repositories. EBooks, scanned texts, and archival surrogates are increasingly found alongside electronic theses, digital assets, and research data. These developments highlight the growing need for academic library participation in a broad range of technologies, covering everything from online education to electronic publishing. This session will rethink the role of library digital initiatives, and refocus the practice within the context of technology project management.