I've been going through some old files on my computer, and I found a great article I'd saved from the 2008 Campus Technology magazine: DAM-ing the Digital Flood, about the importance of a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system to track all kinds of digital media. It's 2 years old now, but still relevant to anyone looking into managing digital assets.
Of course, since this article was published, I know of several departments at the U of M that implemented DAM systems. The Library at Twin Cities campus used D-Space, and other systems, for example.
The article really focuses on two points:
1. When considering DAM software, pay attention to how digital objects are counted in licensing.
When scanning a book, is each page considered a separate object, or the whole book itself? A misunderstanding here could be very costly.2. If you don't engage your user community up front, you'll run into problems.
You need to get your users motivated and engaged. Provide the training necessary to use the DAM software most effectively. And note that implementing a DAM may change your workflow dramatically.
