Inclusion of Under-Represented Voices in the Design and Development of the DPLA

Integrating the Perspectives of Rural Librarians in the Southern and Central Appalachia

Name: Dr. Bharat Mehra
Affiliation: Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee
Partners: School of Information Sciences, College of Communication and Information, University of Tennessee
URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/users/bmehra

This proposal addresses the lack of information access in Southern and Central Appalachia (SCA) rural libraries by using mixed methods to gather feedback from SCA’s rural librarians about their needs, expectations, and practices associated with the conceptualization, design, organization, and delivery of the Digital Public Library of America. A web-based survey will gather open-ended and structured responses from SCA’s rural librarians about the DPLA in terms of the following areas (DPLA Concept Note, 2011): [1] Scope/content; [2] Architecture; [3] Metadata [4] Scanning; [5] Storage/preservation; [6] Administration/governance; [7]Current status; [8] Access; [9] Funding; [10] Timing. Additionally, qualitative interview feedback from SCA’s rural librarians on these topics will also be reported. Findings will be delivered in the form of strategic recommendations (or guidelines) report highlighting the perspectives of SCA’s rural librarians in the DPLA’s design and development process.