Creating a digital library outreach information system—planning at the University of Illinois

This project investigates the feasibility of creating a digital library for outreach documents, called an Outreach Information System, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The history of outreach publishing, with emphasis on recent changes and challenges to libraries, is presented. There were a number of desired outcomes for this project. A testbed of digital documents that could be used to test a search and retrieval interface would be created. Methods of markup for electronic documents currently under production would be explored. Conversion of paper documents into electronic form, with an attempt to predict the feasibility of a large-scale conversion project, would also be explored. Archival needs of a digital library for outreach would be assessed. Metadata creation, with special emphasis on outreach documents, is discussed. Search and retrieval needs for the system are discussed. Existing and needed partnerships for further expansion of the Outreach Information System are discussed.