I am hoping subscribers to this list are not annoyed by requests from
students for help from the real world (because, I, too, could benefit
from someone else's practical experience).  I am an MLS student at
Syracuse University.  The goal of one of my projects is to understand the
issues involved in the decision to make digitized images of objects from
a museum's collection available to the public.  I have found wonderful
sights on the World Wide Web, Gopher sights, CD-ROMs, and, of course,
kiosks.  I have also found many articles which discuss the databases,
but very few that detail the process of making the decision to compile
such a database.
 
My specific questions are about cost analysis/resource allocation,
funding, and stakeholders. Also, what the immediate and ultimate goals of
public availability of a database would be.
 
Could anyone direct me to literature on the subject, or offer some of
his/her own experiences?  I would be *very* interested in working with
someone who is currently considering such a project.
 
Please feel free to respond to me directly.  I will compile the results and
forward them to anyone who expresses an interest, or to the whole list if
appropriate.
 
Thank you,
Janet Hlozik Taylor
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