# /programs/about/collaborations.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/programs/about/collaborations.htm

# Collaborations As a membership organization, RLG had a long history of collaborative work. Here are some highlights: 2005 RLG joins the Open Content Alliance to aid the mass selection and digitization of library holdings. For the third year in a row, RLG is named an E-Content 100 company for its innovative online services. The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, a report produced in collaboration with OCLC, is the foremost international effort in its field and wins the 2005 UK Digital Preservation Award. The CAMIO database of digitized art museum collections succeeds the AMICO Library, the popular art images database RLG developed and launched in 1998 in partnership with the Art Museum Image Consortium. Audit Checklist for Certifying Digital Repositories, draft guidelines cosponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), tackles a key piece of the digital preservation puzzle—how to establish trustworthy digital vaults. At the National Archives in the UK, representatives from eight national archives discuss the creation of a global archive at the RLG-sponsored meeting, "International Archival Gateways." The RLG members forum "Libraries, Archives, and Museums: Three-Ring Circus, One Big Show?" brings together the three types of institutions to discuss their common interests. RLG migrates all its systems and databases to an open-systems platform for easier maintenance and applications development. 2004 RLG develops the EAD Report Card, the first automated program that checks the quality of encoded finding aids, for the benefit of the archival community. An RLG working group completes a year-long effort to update the Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials. Trove.net™, a spinoff of RLG Cultural Materials, launches. It offers 160,000 images to the general public for searching and licensing. RLG's student-friendly search engine, RedLightGreenSM, moves out of pilot phase. RLIN cataloging tools are substantially updated and released as RLIN21™. The OCLC-RLG joint working group on preservation metadata (PREMIS) issues a major survey on digital repository practices and trends. During the RLG forum "To Have and to Hold: Metadata and Institutional Repositories," members discuss the practicalities of metadata schemes and software systems for implementing institutional digital repositories. Held twice, at Stanford and in the Netherlands, these complete a series begun in 2003 with meetings in New York City, Chicago, and Washington DC. The Society of American Archivists awards the C. F. W. Coker Award to the RLG Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival Description. And for the second year in a row, EContent magazine cites RLG as one of the 100 companies that "matter most in the digital content industry." 2003 RLG's free, student-oriented RedLightGreen access to the RLG Union Catalog launches; Columbia University, New York University, Swarthmore College, and University of Minnesota are early adopters. The RLIN ILL legacy system is retired after the SHARES partnership completes a year-long transition to RLG's ILL Manager networked peer-to-peer system—streamlining processes and reducing the cost. RLG sells Ariel, its document-delivery system, to a for-profit firm that can expand the Ariel network while insuring that it will continue to work with ILL Manager. New working groups are established to address automated capture of technical metadata from digital cameras, how to implement best practices in creating metadata for digital files, and certifying trusted digital repositories. New publication goes online: RLG Guidelines for Microfilming to Support Digitization. RLG and JISC hold the forum "Selection and Collaboration in Digital Preservation." 2002 RLG Cultural Materials, a subscription database of digital objects for academic research, launches. RLG secures a grant of $250,000 to subsidize digitizing materials for the study of the history of science and technology; 12 members are recipients of the funds. A Web site is established as a resource for those interested in digital preservation, including links to Open Archival Information System reference model implementations, applications, and related standards development. Working groups co-sponsored with OCLC release papers on the topic of digital preservation: Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities and A Metadata Framework to Support the Preservation of Digital Objects. RLG writes the charge for a new task force on digital repository certification, in collaboration with the US National Archives and Records Administration. RLG holds a series of forums: "Metadata Matters"; "Where Libraries, Museums, and Archives Intersect"; “Introduction to METS "; and "Converging, Emerging Standards for Digital Preservation." 2001 The RLG Cultural Materials project gains momentum: It receives grants totaling $2.325 million, and the number of contributing members grows to 45. RLG joins the work on Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), the effort first launched by Digital Library Federation to encapsulate information for archiving and providing complex digital objects. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gives a grant to support work towards the "RLG Union Catalog on the Web." (See 2003 for the resulting "RedLightGreen" implementation.) RLG issues Cataloging Guidelines for Creating Chinese Rare Book Records in Machine-Readable Form. The release of version 3 of RLG's Ariel document delivery software provides Web delivery to patrons. The OCLC-RLG Preservation Metadata Working Group issues Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: A Review of the State of the Art for public comment and A Recommendation for Content Information. NISO Committee AU, co-chaired by Robin Dale (RLG) and Oya Rieger (Cornell University) issues for comment the working draft 1.0 of Data Dictionary: Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images. The RLG-OCLC Digital Archive Attributes Working Group releases Attributes of a Trusted Digital Repository: Meeting the Needs of Research Resources for public comment, earning a "Scout Report Selection." 2000 A new interface to RLG databases, Eureka, provides access to catalog records in Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Japanese, and Korean scripts. The Program for Cooperative Cataloging adopts a standard developed by RLG's Art & Architecture Group for creating collection-level records to describe ephemeral and rarely cataloged materials. The SHARES member partnership implements new reimbursement protocols designed to encourage international interlibrary lending. RLG publishes the book Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives; on the Web, it publishes (in conjunction with the Digital Library Federation) Guides to Quality in Visual Resource Imaging. RLG and others hold an international conference and workshop in York, England: "Preservation 2000" and "Information Infrastructures for Digital Preservation." 1999 SHARES Practitioners' Council formed. Public and Collections Services Advisory Group formed. "Borrow Direct" pilot test begun. "Aspects of Digital Preservation and Archiving": RLG forum at Emory University. RLG working-group-sponsored MARBI proposal 99-01 adopted to expand MARC 21 Computer File 007 fields to carry preservation and reformatting information. "Managing Digital Imaging Projects" workshops in Syracuse, NY, and Ottawa, Ontario. "Technical Metadata Elements for Image Files": workshop cosponsored by NISO, CLIR, and RLG. "Providing International Integrated Access to Primary Research Resources": RLG primary sources forum at Yale University. "Wade Giles to Pinyin Conversion Planning": RLG forum at ALA annual conference. Two working groups guided RLG's Pinyin and Scripts on Eureka projects for enhancing access to non-Roman script materials in RLG's databases (work funded by a Henry Luce Foundation grant). 1998 RLG Executive Briefing, a monthly electronic newsletter, begins publication. An outsourcing vendor for finding aid encoding certified for RLG members and special RLG-discounted rate negotiated. European Register of Microform Masters added to the RLG union catalog (RLIN) to support reformatting decision-making. Tools: "Guidelines for Creating an RFP for Digital Imaging Services", "Model Request for Information (RFI)", "Model Request for Proposal (RFP)", and "RLG Worksheet for Estimating Digital Reformatting Costs" created. "Managing Digital Imaging Projects" workshops held in several US and overseas locations (1998-1999) "Digital Preservation Needs and Requirements in RLG Member Institutions" survey; publication in 1999. ILL Practitioners Council formed; first regional meeting held for SHARES front-line staff. "Joint RLG and NPO Conference on Guidelines for Digital Imaging"; proceedings to be published in 1999. 1997 Digital Collections Project: "Studies in Scarlet (Marriage, Women, and the Law)," a collaborative project of seven members (1996-1998) RLG DigiNews, an electronic news magazine focused on preservation and digital technology, launched (quarterly in 1997; bimonthly in 1998-1999 ) All SHARES documents and directories put in easily-accessible form on the web (1997-1998). 1996 "Enhancing Access to Primary Sources Internationally," joint CURL-RLG symposium; proceedings published 1997. "Local Access to Global Collections," joint CURL-RLG symposium on international resource sharing; proceedings published 1997. "Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information," joint RLG-CPA initiative and publication. Finding Aids SGML Training (FAST) workshops held in 13 locations in the US and overseas. (1996- 1998) "Cost-Effectiveness of Ariel for Interlibrary Loan Copy Requests" SHARES report issued. 1995 "Selecting Library and Archive Collections for Digital Archiving," symposium; proceedings published 1996. "Scholarship in the New Information Environment," symposium and 20th anniversary event; proceedings published 1996. "RLG Digital Image Access Project" (1993-1995) symposium and publication. Resource Sharing Program planning workshop; "Vision 2000" report issued 1996. SHARES/PRESERV Preservation ILL Task Force report issued. 1994 RLG awarded Society of American Archivists' Distinguished Service Award. "Digital Imaging Technology for Preservation," symposium and publication. RLG Archives Microfilming Manual published; in 1995 this publication was awarded the Society of American Archivists' Preservation Publication Award. RLG web site created to enhance communication with members. Eureka for Law Reference Guide published. RLG Forums of two types, regional and held in conjunction with ALA meetings, begun with the aim of engaging members while keeping travel expense low (1994-present) AMIS: Archives and Museum Information Service Demonstration video issued. 1993 "Electronic Access to Information: A New Service Paradigm," symposium; proceedings published in 1994. Preferred Library Futures II: Charting the Paths, report on an invitational workshop for university campus information environment stake holders. Research Resources in American Literature project (1993-1994). RLG Mid-decade Planning Group report issued. Great Collections Microfilming Project, Phase 4. 1992 RLG Preservation Microfilming Manual published. Technical Services in Large Research Libraries: Seeking a New Paradigm published. Standing Program Committees disbanded and optional programs created. Third vault in National Underground Storage facility required. 1991 Information Needs in the Sciences: An Assessment published. Preferred Futures for Libraries, report on workshops held on six university campuses. Chinese Rare Books Project (1991-1995) Ariel document-transmission software created for SHARES program. Great Collections Microfilming Project, Phase 3. 1990 "Photograph Preservation and the Research Library," symposium; proceedings published in 1991. Art Serials Preservation Project (1990-1992) On-site Access Guide to the RLG Archival, Manuscript, and Special Collections published. Government Records in the RLIN Database: An Introduction published. Archives Preservation Microfilming Project (1990-1993) Long-term Serials Project launched. RLG Shared Resource Manual revised and published. 1989 Information Needs in the Social Sciences: An Assessment published. "Computer Files and the Research Library," symposium; proceedings published in 1990. Government Records Project: 16 state repositories, plus the National Archives, collaborating on sharing government records appraisal and disposition information in the RLG union catalog, RLIN (1989-1991). Cooperative Preservation Microfilming Project, Phase II concluded successfully in 1989. Great Collections Microfilming Projects, Parts 1 and 2. (1989-1992) Art and Architecture program cooperatively building SCIPIO (online list of art auction catalog records) 1989-present. Increase in microform reels from members' cooperative projects required purchase of second vault in National Underground Storage facility. E-mail discussion groups introduced to improve and speed member communications.