Librarian Tips for DAM Managers

May 5, 2015 By DAM Guru in DAM Guru Blog Archive

An article series by DAM Guru Program library science professionals

It took the digital asset management software industry only about 15 years until we started to recognize that this radical new thing we created had actually been created long ago. From taxonomies to metadata to categorization systems and more, what DAM advocates proclaim to be the future of content management has actually long been its history too.

We built a bridge between traditional libraries and libraries of the future and promptly forgot to include the very people who could make that transition work best—the librarians, archivists and information professionals and other library science professionals whose training and experience are all about what we do.

Some argue that Digital Asset Management and Library Science are on a collision course of fate, where one becomes the salvation of the other, enabling both to prosper in the coming decades.

I say that collision has occurred.

DAM Guru Program #GuruTalk profiles have introduced us to DAM managers from a wide variety of backgrounds. One thing that most of these people have in common is that they have no library science training. Digital asset management technologies have made it possible for many of us (myself included) to learn about DAM on the job—or so we think. But just as using Microsoft Word doesn’t make one a writer, managing a DAM doesn’t make one an information professional.

This “Librarian Tips for DAM Managers” article series is authored by DAM Guru Program members who are trained information professionals. The authors present DAM topics from their library science perspectives, which just might fill in some educational gaps for the rest of us.

Thanks to series coordinator, Tracy Wolfe, and her fellow librarians for offering us these tips about what has worked and not worked for—you know—the past few thousand years or so.

David Diamond
DAM Guru Program Creator

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