Office of the University Librarian
Monthly Report--March 2008
Library
Outreach and Campus Interaction
Paul Gherman, Roberta Winjum, and Tracy Primich attended a meeting with Biomedical Library staff to discuss the Library’s response to the NIH mandate that authors deposit their NIH-funded articles in PubMed Central.
Library-wide
Efforts and Events
Annex
Library administrators and the contractors continued working on the development of the Archives Annex building project and the associated construction cost estimates. In addition, Paul, Lisa, and Flo determined approximate rental charges for space in the building.
Communications
Suellen Stringer-Hye will chair the Communications Committee and the marketing subcommittee during the interim period before a new university librarian is named. Robyn Harris will oversee the Staffnews, the Library News Online, and other communications vehicles that were previously part of the Director of Communications position.
Fifty-two articles were published on the Staffnews in March.
Jody Combs, Bill Hook, Sue Erickson, Julie Loder, Suellen Stringer-Hye, and Flo Wilson met to talk about the outstanding issues surrounding the maintenance of database information on the Library’s website and how it is presented on the web. A variety of efforts, desired projects, and future developments have been identified and we believed some clarity was needed about the components of and the relationships among the discussions. We concluded that there are three major divisions of the discussions; next steps were identified and responsibility assigned.
The most immediate issue is identifying ways to update, add, and delete records from the database of databases. In some cases responsibility has been delegated, but in others it has not. Better definition of who can do what is needed. And authorization for updating should be further delegated after practices, procedures and training are defined. Julie and Bill will work together to make progress on this issue.
A whole set of questions exist surrounding SFX, the KnowledgeBase, MetaLib, and Primo with respect to how these tools can be used effectively for our needs in identifying and managing databases. Jody will watch over this issue as we gain better experience with the new Primo related tools and as there might be an expansion of ExLibris services through the probable acquisition of Verde as an ERMS.
Questions about the public interface to databases have been focused on how to improve the presentation to the public of what we have by subject. Earlier, and related to what we currently attempt to do, these have been ‘library subject guide’-like. More recently, such research guidance is increasingly taking on the form of being course specific. It may be that tools that we currently don’t have would work best for making progress on our goal of providing guidance to users. The first step here seems to be the definition of what we really want to be providing to users without respect to a particular existing or possible application. LITS can then assist others in figuring out the best way to proceed. Sue agreed to work with RSC, a subset of RSC members, or a project team to put together a needs statement, building on the work RSC has already done.
Public ServicesCensus Information Center/GIS/Data Services
Congratulations to Jacob Thornton who took first place in the “best data integration” category of maps submitted for the Tennessee Geographic Information Council annual conference in Chattanooga this month! Jacob was awarded a plaque in the shape of Tennessee at an all conference reception. For more information and a photo of Jacob and the award-winning map he created for Vanderbilt’s LifeFlight unit, please see the Staffnews article: http://staffnews.library.vanderbilt.edu/2008/03/28/staff-news-10/
Sue gave an Overview of ICPSR session for seven library staff members on March 31 in the Peabody Library’s Learning Commons.
Jacob instructed the LPO course The Social Context of Education (EDUC 3600) in how to find and download Census information through the American FactFinder website.
ILL/CCC/Faculty Delivery
ILL borrowing jumped in March and was up sharply from March, 2007. ILL lending remained high.
The “Delivery Request” button was added to Acorn for items that are checked out or in process. Faculty who are logged into their Acorn accounts may use the delivery button instead of the “Recall” or “Rush” button, and the plan is to replace those with “Recall and deliver” buttons as soon as possible.
Jim Toplon attended the OCLC ILLiad International Conference March 12-14.
Staff Development
Three brown bag webcasts were held in March: Update on Key Copyright Developments in the U.S., U.S. Internet Access Policy, and Leading Change. Staff also participated in Dreamweaver training and fire extinguisher training.
Technology Projects and Activities
Marshall has been invited to be a key advisor to a project to develop requirements for a next-generation library automation system for higher education. Duke University will serve as the lead institution. The group of institutions and institutional advisors has been invited by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to submit a proposal to fund the effort.
The April 1, 2008 issue of Library Journal included "Automation System Marketplace 2008: Opportunity Out of Turmoil by Marshall Breeding. This is the seventh year that Marshall has produced this major report on the library automation industry. See his blog post about the article.
On March 28th Marshall was interviewed by Tom Peters of OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) on topics ranging from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive to his writing and speaking activities on library automation. A podcast of the interview is available from the OPAL archive.
Television
News Archive
Marshall performed a number of programming tasks related to the TV News infrastructure. Much of the programming this month focused on functions related to institutional subscriptions. The data structures of the subscription system were redesigned to include separate status and payment elements for each subscription term. The search page was revised to allow for easier selection of subscription records. The administrative login for each institution was updated to allow viewing and printing of invoices for each subscription term.
Ron Zolkower, who worked as the Marketing and Billing Coordinator, resigned to take a position with the Nashville Predators. A going-away event was held for Ron on March 13th.
Marshall met with Beth Boord, Adele White, Paul Gherman, and others to discuss fundraising opportunities for the Archive.