The Texas Digital Library (TDL) was established to assemble and provide for the benefit of society the combined technological advances and cultural and creative resources of six major research university systems in Texas—Texas A & M University System, the University of Houston System, the Texas Tech University System, the University of Texas System, the Texas State University System, and the University of North Texas System, as well as other Texas colleges and universities. While headquartered at the University of Texas Libraries at The University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Digital Library will operate in cooperation with the campuses of all the university systems in Texas.
Five working groups — Computing Infrastructure, Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD), Metadata/Cataloging, Repositories, and Web Oversight — are addressing this year’s objectives for planning project infrastructure and developing policies for content submission and management. Work group activities for October included:
- ETD — identified a final model for TDL’s Common Submission System (CSS), and continued work on refining core requirements for the first round CSS.
- Metadata — began review of an initial draft of Rights Expression Language, and continued to work on literature reviews for Preservation and for Compound Objects. Recommendations on Rights Expression Language and Preservation are anticipated in Spring 2007, with recommendations for Compound Objects expected in September 2007.
- Repositories — drafted an initial version of general TDL repository policies, identified several successful Learning Object Repository (LOR) projects, and began design discussions for a Faculty Archive Repository (FAR). Repository policies and guidelines for implementing LOR and FAR at partner institutions are expected in February 2007. A TDL Bridge Group was established at the University of Texas at Austin to assist with the work of the Repositories Working Group by providing supporting research and critical commentary for the working group’s projects.
- Web Oversight — drafted a communications plan for TDL, began development work on expanded functionalities for the TDL web site, and continued work on the Drupal content management system.
Project co-directors John Leggett and Mark McFarland continued efforts to disseminate information about TDL and recruit new members, visiting the University of Texas Distance Learning Center, the University of Houston, and Angelo State University, where they toured the Texas State Data Center (TxSDC), formerly the West Texas Disaster Recovery and Operations Center. Upcoming campus visits include the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Texas at Dallas.
Program plans are taking shape for the Second International Conference on Open Repositories to be held in January 23-26, 2007, in San Antonio. Information about the conference schedule, as well as registration and reservations is available at http://www.openrepositories.org.
Upcoming: Second International Conference on Open Repositories, January 23-26, 2007, San Antonio. http://www.openrepositories.org