At the Digital Public Library of America’s DPLAfest2017, networking and conversations about outreach, collection development, and issues central to the DPLA community were expected, and no one was disappointed. The speakers placed a special emphasis on details that are frequently overlooked. American Libraries brought this interesting information to us in their blog post, “The Devil Is in the Digital Details.”
For example, clean metadata, user-friendliness, personal narrative, and face-to-face interactions that grow sparser in the online age were among the topics addressed. These may seem like small considerations but they are tantamount to digital preservation and librarianship, not to mention nurturing content curators and users.
Everyone agrees that the digital age should not replace or delete storytelling. Whether it’s one-on-one interviews in the name of preserving our history, having tough community conversations to further social justice, or even those interactions between an organization and its volunteers, these interactions build relationships and make an impact.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
