Ayla Stein Kenfield, Repository Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a member of the D-CRAFT project team that was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grant.

Kenfield and her team are developing D-CRAFT or the Digital Content Reuse Assessment Framework Toolkit to help cultural heritage, research, and knowledge organizations assess reuse of digital objects and collections. Kenfield says, “Most assessment of digital repository materials focuses on metrics such as clicks, downloads, and citations, which the D-CRAFT project team distinguishes as ‘use.’ Reuse requires active interaction, such as enhancement or transformation of the digital objects. Defining reuse distinctly from use is a core part of the project.”  

The D-CRAFT project, which started in July 2019, will complete two phases of work to develop the toolkit with community feedback, launching the toolkit and providing training on its use. The project will take 2.5 years to complete, ending December 31, 2021. It builds off of the output of the IMLS-funded Developing a Framework For Measuring Reuse of Digital Objects grant project. The Digital Library Federation (DLF) Assessment Interest Group (AIG) Reuse Working Group developed this grant in response to the recommendations outlined in the DLF Assessment Group’s white paper, which Kenfield contributed to, “Surveying the Landscape: Use and Usability Assessment of Digital Libraries.”

Kenfield has published and presented on digital repository assessment, metadata development for data repositories, and digital library system migration, making her contributions to the D-CRAFT team quite valuable.

The project website includes details of the conferences in which team members will be presenting at as well as access to project updates, blog posts, and publication announcements.