Last week I was down on DSpace. Today I logged back into it for the first time in a few days, and now I can't remember what all the fuss was about. I entered the rest of my collection - no problems. Got the workflows going - no issues. Everything seems fine. I still prefer Drupal (I like setting my own taxonomy and prefer the appearance), but I'm warming up to DSpace. A couple things do strike me as odd, however. For instance, when submitting a new item it gives three choices (more than one title, previously published, etc.), but why not a simple default with just one title? At first glance, it didn't appear that any of the choices applied to my simple collection of images. Also, must one click the license approval after each item is entered? There must be a work-around for this, because granting the license for each entry would be incredibly tedious for large collections.
Now my questions, which shall go unanswered for the time being. I am enjoying the practice with digital collections, and now think I may pursue a career as a digital archivist post-graduation. What is not clear to me is exactly what degree of expertise is required to compete for these positions. I feel like DigIn is providing a good foundation, but I seriously doubt I'll exit the program ready to install/create/manage production digital collections. Is that the goal of the program? What prospects exist for those of us interested in moving toward a position where we can contribute to a project like digitalMETRO? One of the authors of that initiative graduated from DigIn - an encouraging sign. However, his job title and expertise (as evidenced by digitalMETRO) lead me to believe he has additional computer experience. If so, what did he know, and when did he know it? Because, right now, I fear that my interest and basic understanding will be established, but I'll still lack the skill set to compete for digital archivist positions.
This line of questioning probably sounds naive - "Of course, you'll need more experience before you can be a full-blown digital archivist. Take a job with a digital component, learn that, and move up!" Is that how it's done? Maybe some of this insecurity will begin to vanish when I start looking in earnest for jobs next spring. But for the time being, I'm a little worried that my experience/skills will forever be lacking when compared to people with long-standing computer experience.
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