Potential Areas for Collaboration within a
Digital Land Grant Information System
The context for the collaboration is the development of a single, interoperable, Land Grant information system that enables an individual Extension Agent, librarians, and others to provide information to a single citizen or to an entire community.
Standards
- The NAL Thesaurus will provide a standard system of categorizing educational resources.
- The AgNIC metadata record structure is a subset of Dublin Core. The E-Extension technical committee recommended a metadata record structure that utilized elements of Dublin Core and SCORM.
Information/Knowledge Management
- The creation of a single information system will make possible an “information inventory.” The inventory will identify areas of redundancy or overlap as well as gaps in information coverage.
- Retiring professionals take with them considerable knowledge. A Digital Land Grant Information System would provide a method for capturing images, unpublished papers, teaching aids, observations and notes, or other materials retirees would like to leave in the knowledge base.
- Considerable Land Grant information, though still useful, is not available because of its format or age. The system would be able to reformat, preserve and digitize such information.
Specialization/Information Centers
- The public does not seek information based on the administrative structure of Land Grant institutions. AgNIC strives to create information centers by subject to assist citizens in locating information.
- Information centers will provide user-friendly access to information and decision-making tools on a particular subject.
Benefits to Customers
- Libraries, like Extension offices, have considerable experience responding to questions from citizens. The combination of the two capabilities would allow states to create highly relevant and useful access points to the digital Land Grant system.
Information Literacy Training
- In the current information environment, information seeking and evaluation skills are essential. Librarians could provide information literacy training for Extension professionals and assist them in creating a new “information” and educational product line for customers.
Heatley – February 2004