This document discusses enterprise content management (ECM) and the role of research librarians. It defines ECM as managing all organizational information across units and stakeholders through a centralized system. There are two approaches to ECM - taking a functionality/software-driven approach or an information/governance-driven one. The document argues that research librarians are well-positioned to play a key role in ECM initiatives due to their skills in areas like metadata, content curation and research support. It highlights how research portals can consolidate resources to better support researchers if driven by research needs rather than just technology.

1. Content Management and
The Research Librarian
Richard Higgs
17 October 2011
COPYRIGHT: Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
South Africa (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5)

2. Outline
• What is Enterprise Content Management?
• 2 approaches
• Where does the Librarian fit in?
• Implications for the Research Librarian
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3. Enterprise Content Management 101
• “Enterprise”: Across all organisational units and
stakeholders (faculties, support, external stakeholders…)
• “Content”: All information that is not transactional or
financial data
Channels: Media: Web, Audience: Staff,
Portals, sites, brochures, print, mobile, students, alumni, other
journals, blogs… radio… universities, NGOs…
• Academic’s profile
• Research
• Registration forms
• Meeting minutes
Single version Content • Curricula
of truth object • Lecture notes
• Telephone directory
• …
Sources:
Systems, repositories, external sources, sites…
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4. ECM 101: Example
Single
Capture Publish
version of
once anywhere
truth
Content uct.ac.za
Academics’ Inventory
profiles
Printed
Course brochure
Re-aggregate
Disaggregate
descriptions
Faculty
calendar
Research
Research
portal
Admission
criteria Student
portal
Lecture
schedule Blogs,
twitter…
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5. Best Practice ECM Principles
• Single source (Store once, Publish anywhere, Single
Version of the Truth)
• Centralise metadata management for maximum re-
use and interoperability
• Separate content from format for maximum re-
usability
• Consumer-centric: Structure content the way
consumers want to access it, not according to
organisational silos
• Decoupled architecture – Avoid being locked in by
proprietary functionalities: There is no single end-to-
end solution out there
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6. Approaches to ECM
• Functionality/software-driven
• Information/governance-driven
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7. Content Management Systems
• Document Management
• Web Content Management
• Records Management
• Imaging
• Digital Asset Management
• Brand Asset Management
• Groupware/Collaboration
• DTP
• Workflow/BPM
• Component Content Management
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8. The Evolving Imperative
Era of the Library
Rise of the e-enabled Library
•Books & Journals
Rise of the “Cybrarian”
•Card catalogues,
microfiche
Rise of the Knowledge Centre
•Electronic catalogues
•Electronic check-out Era of “Information Management”
•Websites and search engines
•Online journals
•Video, image and sound libraries
•Records, Contract, Document
•Institutional repositories Management
•Communities of Interest and •Metadata and semantic web
Communities of Practice •Groupware, portals, social media
•Search and retrieval services •E-books etc.
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9. Key skills for the contemporary
librarian
• Storing and curating information
• Cataloguing
• Identifying, brokering and acquiring information
sources
• Information retrieval and facilitating retrieval
• Information governance
• Subject area knowledge
• Operational management
…so what else is new?
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10. Development areas for librarians
• Cataloguing: Metadata, standards, taxonomy, ontology,
classification… (Going beyond Dewey and MARC)
• Content acquisition, brokering, syndication and
licensing: Inward and outward
• Records Management: Governance, archiving, retrieval
• Social Media governance and administration
• Copyright and Intellectual Property (Creative
Commons, Commercialisation, Intellectual Capital)
• XML, RSS, Semantic Web, portals
• Digitisation
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11. The Research Librarian and ECM
• The Metadata monster: Techies simply
don’t understand it. Rare skills.
• Content beyond books: Know your media.
• Agency and ownership: Claim your space.
• Enabling research: Mashing content
together in the research value chain.
• Curatorship of IP.
• The Research Portal.
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12. More about Research Portals
• Must be driven by research needs, rather than
IT
• Value proposition: Everything in one place, at
the researcher’s fingertips.
– Reduced login
– Consolidated sources of data, information and tools
– Facilitating collaboration, funding, administration
– Facilitating publishing and management of publications
– Follows the process/value chain (goes beyond information
retrieval)
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13. Questions?
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