Perspectives on the Digital Information Environment: A Case for Collaborative and Institutional Models

Presented by Wendy Lougee
Assistant Director for Digital Library Initiatives
University of Michigan Library

The changing landscapes of higher education, scholarly communication, and technology have provided a catalyst for rethinking existing structures for information delivery and access within the academy. Wendy Lougee will discuss perspectives on the digital information environment. The University of Michigan’s Digital Library Program is offered as a case study to highlight the organizational and technological dimensions of developing digital collections and services. Collaboration–with the technology and research sectors–is offered as an imperative in building local and national infrastructure for digital library resources.

Begun in 1993, Michigan’s Digital Library Program is jointly sponsored by the University Library, the newly chartered School of Information, and the Information Technology Division and brings together the complementary expertise of librarians, researchers, and technologists to develop digital content and the access environment. Through a project-based strategy, the campus information infrastructure is being developed and attention directed toward attendant issues of economic models for information delivery, access policies, and intellectual property management.

Wendy Lougee currently serves as Assistant Director for Digital Library Initiatives at the University of Michigan Library. In this capacity, she oversees a campus-wide collaborative Digital Library Program focused on achieving a comprehensive, coherent networked information environment for the University. Previously, she directed the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at Michigan, Michigan’s central humanities and social science research library. Her professional and research interests have been in the arena of scholarly communication, collection management models, and digital library development.

Ms. Lougee holds a BA from Lawrence University, an MS (Library Science) from the University of Wisconsin, and an MA (Psychology) from the University of Minnesota.

The OCLC Office of Research graciously invited CO-ASIS members to attend this OCLC Distinguished Seminar and sponsored our attendance.