Dear all,
Last spring at the ARLIS 2007 conference I spoke in two different meetings about a project I had been trying to work on independently but that needed knowledge and resources that I hoped could be provided in some way through ARLIS; the project involved creating a virtual space within which researchers in the field of art (broadly defined to include graduate students, undergraduate art majors, librarians, art historians, art faculty, curators, artists, and interested members of the public) could share research questions and expertise.
My original vision was an online space that would have several "departments;" one could be a blog where questions could be posted and responded to; one could be a wiki where more settled topics and answers to questions could be contributed, edited, and searched; one could be a place where library research guides and bibliographies could be posted; one could be a flickr-type space for images; one could be a del.icio.us-type space where useful annotated and tagged links could be posted and searched; and so on.
The model that comes closest to the sort of look and organization I had in mind was the ArLiSNAP website.
After the conference other folks continued the discussion and have come up with some exciting ideas. For example, Jacqueline Rogers, Ross Day, and Rebecca Friedman have looked at the following resources as possible models to follow (or in some cases to avoid):
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The Business School FAQ (originated by UPenn & shared across several universities). A great synopsis of the FAQ can be found at this link: <http://datafarm.library.upenn.edu/pennlibraryfaq/faqmain.htm>. Scroll through the links along the top bar for more information, and if you click on the screen shots of the adopter library's FAQs, you will be taken to the live sites. (See Anello, Karen and Brett Bonfield, "Providing Reference Service in our Sleep: Using a FAQ Database to Guide Users to the Right Sources," Reference & User Service's Quarterly 26(3): 28-33 on the development of the product.)
Ohio University Libraries Biz Wiki <http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page> (The Research How-to's are especially good.)
Ohio University Libraries Lit Wiki <http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/litwiki/index.php/Main_Page> (This leans more to a list of resources than the Business Wiki)
Butler University Libraries' Butler WikiRef <http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/butler_wikiref/>
Ask MetaFilter <http://ask.metafilter.com/> (A little overwhelming.)
Askville <http://askville.amazon.com/Index.do> (Run by Amazon - awful!)
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The question for the listserv is this: is there interest out there for such a project? Would ARLIS be able to contribute resources? (I am not quite what that might/could involve, but as a guess: server space, programming or software expertise, time to monitor and/or maintain a website, publicity support, and other things as required.)
Please for now respond to the list, to involve anyone who wishes to be part of the discussion. My short-term hope is that I could help to organize a group that could begin to brainstorm and work on a prototype.
Thanks, everyone - and happy holidays!
Karen
Karen A. Bucky
Collections Access & Reference Librarian
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
V: 413.348.0532
F: 413-458-9542
email: [log in to unmask]
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