Corson attends 2012 Best Practices Exchange

Iowa Library Services Program Director for Specialized Library Service, Barb Corson, attended the 2012 Best Practices Exchange conference in Annapolis, MD earlier in December. The conference brings together archivists, librarians and technical experts who work for states from around the country to discuss digital archives of state documents and records. About 150 attendees discussed software, best practices, policies, and advances in this important service. States vary widely on their progress in this area, but Iowa is doing very well in comparison to other small states.

Corson gave a presentation to her colleagues at the conference about Iowa Library Services’ two digital databases, Iowa Heritage Digital Collections http://www.iowaheritage.org/ and Iowa Publications Online http://publications.iowa.gov/. She discussed the history of the two archives, how they were created and maintained at minimal expense, the types of software used for each, the growth and the market penetration.

Corson said, "It's energizing and enlightening to gather with others and learn from their ideas, mistakes and successes."