Digital Library Initiatives in Higher
Education in Malaysia & Singapore
Shaheen Majid
1
A Notable Start
Singapore was one of the pioneer countries to
start work on digital libraries
Universities started teaching courses on digital
libraries in late 1990’s
Actively involved in organizing ICADL
conference and other related conferences
Several digital library initiatives were also
undertaken in Malaysia
2
Scope of My Presentation
Some DL initiatives undertaken by
institutions of Higher Education in
Malaysia & Singapore
Mostly management-related
aspects of digital libraries will be
discussed
3
Data Collection
A ‘question sheet’ was sent to selected
public universities in Malaysia and
Singapore
Areas covered:
Scope and size of DL collection
Digital content management policy
Access management and copyright
Problems encountered and lessons learnt
Interviews with a few individuals
responsible for developing digital libraries
4
Participant Universities - Singapore
1. National University of
Singapore (NUS)
2. Nanyang Technological
University (NTU)
3. Singapore Management
University (SMU)
5
Participant Universities - Malaysia
1. University Malaya (UM)
2. University Technology
Malaysia (UTM)
3. University Kebangsaan
Malaysia (UKM)
4. University Putra
Malaysia (UPM)
6
Year of Launching DL
Singapore
NTU - Sep. 2008
SMU - Dec. 2008
NUS - Apr. 2010
Malaysia
UKM - 2003/2007
UTM - 2007
UM - 2008
UPM - 2008
7
Digital Collection Size
Singapore
NTU - 39,800
SMU - 11,000
NUS - 4,551
Malaysia
UKM
UTM
UPM
UM
- 30,550
- 7,690
- 6,190
- 2,250
8
DL Software Used
Singapore
NTU - DSpace
NUS - DSpace
SMU - Symposia/
Innovative
Malaysia
UKM
UTM
UPM
UM
-
EPrints
EPrints
EPrints
Eprints/
Dspace (theses)
DSpace and EPrints are open source software
9
Software Customization
DSpace
NTU
Embargo feature
Dynamic generation of citation information for
downloaded full text documents
Submission workflow & collection templates
Batch import tool for metadata, and
Subject taxonomy
NUS
User interface
Batch uploading of electronic theses
10
Software Customization
EPrints
UPM
– User Interface
– Metadata
UKM
UTM
UM
11
Scope of Digital Collection
Singapore
NTU (39,800)
– Theses; exam papers; project reports, working
papers; staff conference papers and journal articles
– Format: Text (pdf & word); audio (mp3); videos
(wmv & avi); image (jpeg)
SMU (11,000)
– Theses; journal articles; working papers; teaching
videos
NUS (4,551)
– Theses, staff and students’ publications
12
Scope of Digital Collection
Malaysia
UKM (30,550) - Theses; exam papers; journal
articles; UKM news clippings; seminar papers; minutes
of meetings; Malaysian Law Index; Southeast Asia
collection
UTM (7,690) - Theses; journal articles; conf. papers;
research reports; UTM staff books; top management
profiles; UTM news clippings ; photos
UPM (6,190) - Theses; journal articles; conference
papers; inaugural lectures; UPM news clippings
UM (2,250) - Theses; journal article; conference
papers; pre-prints; research reports; proceedings
13
Malaysia
Singapore
Development & Maintenance Responsibility
Institution
Library*
Collaborator
Outsourced
NTU
.
Software Enhancement
NUS
.
.
.
.
.
.
ICT + Info. Studies
Division
ICT
ICT
-
-
Document Scanning
ICT
-
SMU
UPM
UTM
UKM
UM
ICT
Comp Sci. Dept
Design & Development
* IT/ICT Department of the Library
14
DL Document Management Policy
Malaysia
Singapore
Documents to be included/ excluded
Retention period of documents in the active collection
Documents to be archived, how long? by whom?
Responsibility for uploading, maintenance, deletion, etc.
Institution
Policy Status
NTU
Under development
NUS
SMU
UPM
UTM
UKM
UM
Under development
Under development
Under development
Only inclusion/exclusion
Under development
Inclusion/exclusion, archiving
15
Malaysia
Singapore
Use of Taxonomy for Document Categorization
Institution
Taxonomy
NTU
In-house
SMU
NUS
UM
UTM
UPM
UKM
Hybrid (internal + external)
No
In-house
LC Subject Headings
No
No
16
Staff Training
Institution
Training Method
SMU
NUS
On-the-job training; self-learning;
participation in DSpace community
Recruiting trained staff; self learning
Customization vendor training
UPM
UTM
UKM
UM
On-the-job training
Vendor training; on-the-job; self-learning
Vendor training; on-the-job training
On-the-job training
NTU
17
Digital Library Access Policy
Malaysia
Singapore
Institution
NTU
NUS
SMU
Restricted
Users
-
Internal Users
External Users
All items
.
.
All items
Selected items (e.g
Thesis abstracts)
Selected
Items allowed by
copyright owners
Selected items
UPM
UTM
UKM
-
All items
Metadata only
-
All items
Selected items
-
External library
members only
UM
-
Library members
only
All items
-
18
Compliance with Copyright
Malaysia
Singapore
Institution
Check against
SherpaRomeo
NTU
.
NUS
.
SMU
.
UPM
UTM
.
.
UKM
.
UM
.
Clearance from the
Copyright Owner
 Journal publishers
 Theses - undecided
 Students for theses
 Staff for reports
to check with
the publisher
After the
Embargo Period
.
-
 Staff
-
 Journal publishers
-
 Students for
theses
 Staff for reports
 Students for theses
 Staff for reports
 Univ. publications
19
Problems Encountered
1. Limited DL software capabilities
NTU, SMU, UTM, UM, NUS
2. Unavailability of adequately trained staff
NTU, UKM, UM
3. High maintenance cost (customization, system
migration)
UKM, UTM
4. Limited staff training opportunities
UTM
20
Problems Encountered
5. Lack of motivation among stakeholders to
submit their publications
NUS
6. University bureaucracy and rigid polices
UTM
7. Coordination problems with other collaborators
(ICT Dept.)
UTM
21
Malaysia
Singapore
Promotion and Use Monitoring
Institution
Promotion
Use Statistics
Usability study/
evaluation
NTU
Website, part of
lib. orientation
No
No
NUS
Website, library
orientation
No. of visitors
No
SMU
Website, library
orientation
No
No
UPM
Library
orientation
Website, library
orientation
No. of visitors/
downloads
No
No. of visitors/
downloads
Part of library
satisfaction survey
UKM
Part of IL skills
No
UM
Part of library
orientation
No. of visitors/
downloads
No
UTM
No
22
Lessons Learnt
Establish a team of well-trained staff before
starting the project
– NTU, NUS, UPM, UKM
Seek prior commitment of the top management
(budget, staff, other resource)
– NTU, NUS, UTM, UM
Understand users’ needs + conduct user study
– NTU, SMU, UKM
Before populating the DL, develop policies and
procedures
– NTU, SMU, UKM
23
Lessons Learnt
Properly assess DL packages + vendors
– NTU, UKM
Some open source packages are better than
proprietary systems
– UKM
Make DL part of the university wide system to
facilitate submissions
– NTU
24
Conclusion
Although all universities have established their
DL, their collection size is quite small
There is a need to promotes & encourage faculty
and researchers to submit their scholarly works
Proper needs analysis and usability studies
should be conducted
DL policies and procedures need to be developed
early
Universities in the region need to collaborate
(software enhancement, staff training, resource sharing,
etc.)
25
Digital Library Initiatives in Higher
Education in Malaysia & Singapore
Shaheen Majid
26