IMLS Funds DLF “Reuse” Assessment Framework

"The Reuse subgroup of DLF’s Assessment Interest Group is thrilled to announce we have received a 2017 IMLS National Leadership Grant for Libraries award (LG-73-17-0002-17) to research the needs and ideal functionality of a toolkit for assessing the reuse of digital library objects!

How objects are reused by digital library constituents is a complicated, perplexing question for many staff at cultural heritage organizations. Currently, traditional assessment analytics for digital libraries focus almost entirely on simple access statistics. These statistics, although appropriate for many more traditional library materials, do not provide a nuanced picture of how different user communities utilize or transform, unique library-hosted materials from digital collections. This lack of distinction, combined with a lack of standardization in the assessment approaches applied to these collections, impacts an institution in two ways: its ability to build strong infrastructures and collections that respond to user needs; and its leverage in showing value to stakeholders. These problems are compounded by deficient staffing and long-term funding models needed to support rapidly expanding digital collections."