The question is: who should assume responsibility for the next steps in development of technologies for teaching and learning? The Strategic Plan implies that it will be faculty, but also says "...we must rely on support staff to assist faculty with the specific technological requirements of course development... staff must be provided opportunities for significant blocks of dedicated time for such research and development activities." The creation of the Instructional Technology Laboratory is an important step towards creating an office intended to serve the needs of faculty in course development, but the ITL doesn't have the staff, the resources, or the explicit mandate to also manage the development and integration of the broader technologies of digital library development.
The general problem is information management, and EVERYBODY has that problem. I see it through the lens of the burgeoning digital library, which must incorporate and organize and distribute a broad range of media, and support the information-using activities of teachers and learners in classrooms, offices, labs, dormitories --and in extramural locations and collaborations as well.
Reference to 'digital library' is absent from the 1998 Strategic Plan because the concept was barely on the horizon, and appears in the 2001 Jedrey Report only by implication in the recommendation that the Library staff be increased to "ensure the effective use of technology in support of library services and of digital initiatives such as the creation and delivery of digitized information resources".
The digital library is distributed: it is accessible anytime and anyplace, and its ubiquity will change teaching and learning. The digital library is also emergent: it is being built by its users, as they contribute and interlink their work, their interests, and their applications. The details must be invented, by combining technological possibilities with the developing imagination of instructors and support staff. Librarians have vital roles to play in development and organization, but the digital library is not the sole province of librarians --indeed, the building of digital libraries requires a range of skills that necessitates collaboration.
The enabling technology is provided by the Relational DataBase Management System (RDBMS) model. Relational databases are ubiquitous --library catalogs, Development, Alumni and Admissions files, Registrar and Payroll operations, and Physical Plant inventories are all implementations of the RDBMS model, and are in effect all parts of a college's digital library, though some are accessible to limited sets of users. End users have no need to understand how RDBMS are configured or how they work --user interfaces hide the mysteries and facilitate entries and queries. The day-to-day operations of academic departments are beginning to make use of RDB applications (to carry out the library's serials review and manage electronic journal subscriptions, to construct and maintain departmental directories of graduates, to collect and analyze research data), and elementary skills are turning up in staff members. Skip Williams is the primary contact for database development and deployment, and Computer Science students provide a potential source of expertise.
Tasks that go beyond 'course development' and into the R&D arena: