DALNET Unveils Plans for Digital Archive Repository
By David Rapp Sep 7, 2011The board of directors of the Detroit Area Library Network (DALNET) recently approved a plan to create the DALNET Digital Archive Repository, which will contain full digitized texts as well as audio and image files. It is expected to be rolled out next year.
The repository will initially hold materials from four of DALNET's 20 member institutions: Adam Cardinal Maida Alumni Library, Orchard Lake, MI; Detroit Medical Center; Marygrove College, Detroit; and Oakland Community College, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
The DALNET Board awarded the four a $44,135 grant, matched by the institutions, which will be used mainly to purchase hardware and create a staffing infrastructure for the repository. Other DALNET members will be able to participate in the repository after it is implemented next year; members that take part will help provide funding for the repository's maintenance costs. (Other DALNET members include Wayne State University, Detroit; and the Detroit Public Library.)
Digital history
According to Steven Bowers, DALNET's executive director, the repository will contain the kinds of materials that populate similar repositories-books, scholarly articles, electronic theses and dissertations. But the libraries will also contain key historical materials as well.
For example, Marygrove College will add its John Novak interview collection, a series of audio interviews which addresses issues of immigration, migration and the civil rights movement. Oakland Community College will preserve its "collective digital memory, concentrating initially on storage of materials 'born digital' at their institution," said Bowers, including faculty research materials.
The repository will be free for anyone to view, although certain collections of internal documents or institutional records will require passwords for access, said Bowers.
