From the Library of Congress, January 21, 2012:
Library and information science (LIS) professionals specializing in digital collections will have an opportunity for a quality educational experience next year. The Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced today that they will collaborate to develop and implement a national residency program in digital curation, involving the collection, selection, management, and long-term preservation and accessibility of digital assets.
The primary goals of the IMLS/Library of Congress Residency Program in Digital Curation are to foster the creation of a cadre of experts in the field and encourage LIS schools to include more experiential learning as part of their standard curricula. “This initiative will define the core components of a digital curation experience in the field and set the stage for a national model in the industry,” said George Coulbourne, OSI’s executive program officer.
The program is designed to enhance the LIS curricula by complementing classroom instruction with hands-on field experiences at leading institutions in the Washington, D.C. area. Keeping residencies geographically focused will allow the participants to benefit from both individual project-based learning and team interaction.
Those selected to take part in the program will be outstanding graduate-level students currently enrolled in nationally accredited LIS programs, as well as recent post-master’s graduates with an LIS concentration. Organizers plan to start taking applications this summer.
Leading practitioners and scholars will help design the program. The residency is expected to become a highly visible national model that will be openly and widely shared through the use of such tools as project manuals, online toolboxes, wikis, etc.