FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DISCOVERY AND REUSABILITY OF DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

This paper describes findings and outcomes from the Toolbox Digital Repository project (http://toolbox.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.htm) undertaken in 2002 that was concerned with the design and development of a digital library to support the discovery, access and reuse of the vast number of digital resources developed for online learning settings as part of the National Flexible Toolbox Project. The importance for processes and strategies supporting resource discovery in development stages has emerged from the work as an area needing attention. Digital resources use metadata to facilitate their discovery and recovery. Our project has identified the provision of metadata as an important component of resource development that at this stage appears universally weak and in need of some guidance and support. This paper describes the areas where this process was found to be weak and has suggested some strategies that can be applied at the local level to overcome the problems that were identified.