In this issue:
- Director’s Message: Strategic Planning Update
- Mark your calendars for 2012 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries
- TDL Training Program announces Spring 2012 schedule
- Tech Teams Update: DSpace and Vireo upgrades, software development, staff announcements, and more
- Next TDL Forum is February 15
Director’s Message: An update on TDL’s Strategic Planning process
TDL Colleagues:
TDL Director Mark McFarland
As we begin a new calendar year, I want to update you on our on-going Strategic Planning efforts for the TDL. Specifically, I’d like to discuss some of the main elements of the Strategic Plan developed by the Governing Board, as well as the crucial next steps we will take toward achieving the goals the Strategic Plan lays out for us.
You will be able to read the entire Strategic Plan on the TDL website by the end of the week, and we will be discussing the Plan in more depth at the TDL Forum call on February 15 (see story on page 4). For now, I will call out a few key elements.
Our Mission and Vision
First, the TDL’s stated mission in this document is to “enabl[e] each of its member libraries to advance a program of digital initiatives in support of research, scholarship, and learning in Texas.”
And our vision for the future, summed up in the form of a “big audacious goal,” is to become “the library of first choice for research, scholarship, and learning in Texas.”
Strategic Initiatives
In order to achieve this vision, the Strategic Plan lays out four ambitious initiatives aimed at:
- growing scholarly content hosted by TDL;
- marketing TDL services effectively to our member institutions;
- developing collaborative special collections; and
- mining the talents and skills of members to augment the talent and expertise of TDL staff.
Achieving our vision
Now that we have these goals before us, what’s next? First, the TDL staff and Executive Committee have created an Action Plan to focus staff and member efforts on doing what it takes to bring about our desired future.
Second, in the weeks ahead, TDL Vice-Chair Dana Rooks will be forming member-directed committees devoted to each initiative, to ensure that TDL’s members are the ones directing the work at hand.
We recognize that becoming the “library of first choice” will require the combined, dedicated efforts of the librarians, staff, and faculty at our member institutions, as well as TDL staff. As we continue through this process together, TDL welcomes your input and engagement and we will keep you updated on our on-going progress.
Sincerely,
Mark McFarland
TDL Director
Mark your calendars for the 2012 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries
The Texas Digital Library is pleased to announce that the 2012 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries will be held May 24-25, 2012, at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, Texas.
The theme of TCDL 2012 is “Connections,” and it will focus on ways that libraries are connecting with users through digital services.
Conference committee chair Sarah Sutton, Serials/Electronic Resources Librarian at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, hopes the conference will be a valuable event for those who attend.
“I hope that TCDL 2012 attendees will make connections,” she said, “I hope they’ll make connections with each other that will enhance their libraries’ collections, connections with their constituents that will enhance their constituents’ access to scholarship and make their constituents’ scholarship more accessible, and connections with the Texas Digital Library that will provide the attendees with the tools to accomplish the former as well as advance the TDL.”
Additional members of the Conference Committee are: Amy Rushing (Vice Chair), UT Austin; Jim Brewer, Texas Tech; Jeanne Hazzard, Texas State; Billie Peterson-Lugo, Baylor; and Leslie Reynolds, Texas A&M.
The TCDL 2012 program will feature a general track and a second track focused on technical issues. The TDL also anticipates that working groups and committees will hold meetings on May 23 before the main conference begins.
The committee will release additional information about the conference, including a call for papers, in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned to the TDL website for more information.
TDL Training Program announces Spring 2012 schedule
The Texas Digital Library will be offering five classes this spring as part of the TDL Training Program.
Following a model introduced in Fall 2011, training will be hosted at various member campuses throughout the semester.
All classes are FREE for members, but registration is required. You can register for the classes below at the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DJSZNDB.
| DATE | LOCATION | COURSE | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 29, 2012 | Texas A&M University| Evans Library Annex Room 116 | Intro to Metadata | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| March 14, 2012 | Texas A&M University-Kingsville | James C. Jernigan Library (Room TBA) | Online Conference Management with OCS | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| March 15, 2012 | Texas A&M University-Kingsville | James C. Jernigan Library (Room TBA) | Creating and Managing Electronic Journals with Open Journal Systems | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| April 10, 2012 |
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas | UT Southwestern Medical Center Library (Room TBA) |
Introduction to DSpace | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| April 11, 2012 |
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas | UT Southwestern Medical Center Library (Room TBA) |
ETD Submission & Management with Vireo | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
For more information about the TDL Training Program please visit the TDL website.
Tech Teams Update
The Tech Teams Update highlights the work of the TDL technical staff, which includes software development, systems administration, systems integration and analysis, and technical support staff.
In December, the Texas Digital Library complete the upgrade of all TDL DSpace repositories to version 1.7.2 of the repository software.
Nine institutional repositories hosted by the Texas Digital Library were upgraded to DSpace 1.7.2. Additionally, the Texas Water Digital Library repository, which federates water research at several Texas institutions, has been upgraded.
- Following the completion of IR upgrades to DSpace 1.7.2, the team began work to implement upgrades to active Vireo installations to Vireo 1.2.1.
The newest version of Vireo primarily fixes an issue with the birth year field in the student submission section; it will handle entry errors in the birth year field more elegantly and allow administrators to edit the field.
Staging implementations for each active Vireo installation were undergoing testing by member institutions as of January 30.
TDL will continue to be in contact with Vireo admins to as implementation progresses.
- Software development staff kicked off work on Vireo 1.8, which will upgrade the version of DSpace underlying Vireo to version 1.8. Additionally, with this iteration, TDL will begin to match the version name for Vireo with the DSpace version it relies on.
-
Senior software engineer Joe DeVries
Now fully staffed, the systems administration staff focused on infrastructure improvements that will improve uptime, availability, and maintainability of TDL systems.
- In December and January, the TDL technical staff resolved 23 support requests that came through the TDL Helpdesk and other channels. The most common requests during this period came from students with questions about submitting their dissertations through Vireo. Other requests included login errors, requests for help in configuring or using DSpace, or requests for new services.
- TDL software developer Joseph Devries took on the new role of Senior Software Engineer in December. Joe joined TDL as Senior Systems Analyst in April 2010 and has recently worked on several key TDL projects, including on recent sprints involving the Texas Learning Object Repository and Vireo.
Next monthly “TDL Forum” will be February 15
A monthly conference call hosted by TDL Program Coordinator Ryan Steans, the “TDL Forum” gives members an interactive way to keep in touch with the activities of TDL staff.
The Forum provides an opportunity to hear about TDL activities and to ask questions and engage with staff and each other on a regular basis. Additionally, the February call will feature a discussion related to TDL’s Strategic Plan for 2011-2014.
The TDL Forum is generally held on the third Wednesday of each month at 10:30 AM and lasts for roughly 30 minutes.
The next Forum will be held February 15 at 10:30 AM. Information for joining the call is available on the TDL website at http://main-migrate.tdl.org/news/events/forum/. Presentations from previous Forums are also available on the website.