MATRIX

One task of the CIS librarians is to review potential collections for the system. I attended a meeting with a medieval historian with a database entitled MATRIX Bibliographia, visible at http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu/bibliographia/ . Discussion is at the preliminary stages, with the Bibliographia scholars hoping to get a grant to keep it going. Discussions center around the cost of imaging, copyright, pushing copies to the public as needed, growth in resources, ownership of the images, adding new scholarship (like an open access journal), and so forth. This is an especially interesting example, as it is run by faculty around the country, and dependent more on the faculty person rather than on a local department or research center. CIS has to consider the cost of getting the collection into the system, the value of the collection to end-users, the ownership of the images, and the future of the collection should the present faculty member want to pass the responsibility on. CIS has developed a form for potential participants to fill out. I'll get a copy....