Digital Librarian Course

Lesson 1 • Legal and Ethical Frameworks

Introduces intellectual property, privacy, and accessibility obligations relevant to digital collections. Establishes compliance awareness before students handle real content.

Lesson 2 • Information Lifecycle in Digital Contexts

Traces how digital information is created, managed, preserved, and retired. Provides the workflow model that underpins collection and metadata decisions.

Lesson 3 • The Digital Librarian's Professional Role

Maps the competencies, responsibilities, and career paths of digital librarians. Connects professional identity to practical tasks covered throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Practical Cataloging Workflows

Applies metadata standards to real cataloguing tasks including batch processing and quality review. Prepares students to manage cataloguing projects at scale.

Lesson 2 • Core Metadata Schemas and Standards

Surveys widely adopted schemas including Dublin Core, MARC, MODS, and VRA Core. Students select appropriate schemas based on content type and institutional context.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to Metadata Concepts

Explains descriptive, structural, and administrative metadata and their roles. Provides vocabulary needed to evaluate and apply any metadata schema.

Lesson 1 • Collection Development Policy Fundamentals

Outlines the purpose, structure, and governance of collection development policies. Anchors selection decisions in documented institutional priorities.

Lesson 2 • Digitization Planning and Execution

Guides students through scanning, imaging, and quality control for physical-to-digital conversion. Connects digitisation outputs to metadata and preservation workflows.

Lesson 3 • Collection Assessment and Weeding

Provides methods for measuring collection use, relevance, and gaps. Students apply usage data and user feedback to make evidence-based deselection decisions.

Lesson 1 • File Formats and Format Migration

Evaluates format sustainability criteria and migration strategies for common content types. Students select preferred formats and plan migration pathways.

Lesson 2 • Preservation Metadata and Standards

Covers PREMIS, OAIS reference model, and audit frameworks for trustworthy digital repositories. Links preservation metadata to accountability and long-term management.

Lesson 3 • Storage Infrastructure and Redundancy

Examines storage architectures, geographic redundancy, and fixity checking practices. Students design a storage strategy meeting recognised preservation standards.

Lesson 4 • Core Concepts of Digital Preservation

Introduces threats to digital longevity including bit rot, format obsolescence, and media failure. Establishes the preservation imperative before technical strategies are introduced.

Lesson 1 • Configuring and Customizing a Repository

Covers installation, configuration, and branding of a repository system. Students apply settings that reflect institutional policies and user needs.

Lesson 2 • Interoperability and Data Exchange

Explains OAI-PMH, APIs, and linked data protocols that enable repository interoperability. Students expose repository content to external harvesters and aggregators.

Lesson 3 • Repository Software Landscape

Surveys open-source and commercial repository platforms and their use cases. Enables informed platform selection based on institutional size, content type, and budget.

Lesson 1 • Evaluating and Improving Discovery Performance

Uses search analytics, user testing, and A/B testing to measure and improve discovery. Closes the loop between user behaviour data and configuration decisions.

Lesson 2 • Configuring Search and Retrieval

Covers field weighting, stop words, stemming, and synonym management in search configuration. Students tune retrieval settings to improve precision and recall.

Lesson 3 • Discovery Layer Architecture

Explains how discovery layers index, rank, and present content from multiple sources. Provides the technical foundation for configuration and optimisation tasks.

Lesson 1 • Digital Literacy Instruction Design

Applies instructional design principles to create digital literacy sessions for diverse audiences. Students produce learning objectives, activities, and assessments for a target group.

Lesson 2 • Reference Interview in Digital Contexts

Adapts the reference interview technique to text-based and virtual interactions. Builds communication skills that improve query clarification and user satisfaction.

Lesson 3 • Online Tutorials and Learning Objects

Guides creation of reusable online tutorials, screencasts, and interactive learning objects. Students produce a polished tutorial aligned with a defined learning objective.

Lesson 1 • Strategic Planning for Digital Libraries

Applies environmental scanning, SWOT analysis, and goal-setting to digital library contexts. Students draft a multi-year strategic plan aligned with institutional priorities.

Lesson 2 • Programme Assessment and Metrics

Establishes key performance indicators and assessment frameworks for digital library programmes. Students design a dashboard of metrics tied to strategic goals.

Lesson 3 • Leading Digital Transformation Projects

Applies project management and change management principles to digital library initiatives. Students create a project charter and change communication plan.

Lesson 4 • Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement

Builds skills for communicating value, securing support, and managing stakeholder relationships. Students craft an advocacy message tailored to a specific decision-making audience.