Table of Contents:
- TDL Spotlight: TDL releases updated ETD management system
- TCDL 2010: Deadline for submissions is March 31
- Vireo Users Group Meeting set for May 19
- TDL travels to WebWise 2010
- UNT unveils UNT Digital Library
- Texas Water Digital Library enlists researchers across the state
- Featured Resource: TDL Helpdesk
- Southwest Collection/Special Collection Library at Texas Tech
- Upcoming training opportunities
TDL Spotlight: TDL releases updated ETD management system
Following several weeks of testing, the Texas Digital Library has officially launched Vireo 1.0.1, the latest version of its electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) submission and management software.
By March 22, the TDL had provided upgraded versions of the software, plus updated DSpace institutional repositories, for every TDL-hosted instance of Vireo. The rollout of Vireo 1.0.1 affects both institutions who have been actively using and testing Vireo and all other schools who may use it in the future. As a result, institutions that choose to begin pilot testing or using Vireo will have a production-ready instance of the software immediately available to them.
Additionally, existing ETD records in “live” Vireo installations have been migrated to the new, upgraded versions.
Vireo 1.0.1 includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version, including:
- The capability for automated deposit of theses and dissertations into an institutional repository (via SWORD)
- Automated harvesting of ETDs (via OAI-ORE) from member repositories into the TDL federated repository
- Full compliance with metadata standards
- User interface enhancements
In February, the TDL development team held a demonstration of the Vireo 1.0.1 release at the TDL headquarters at UT Austin. Lab instances of the new version were then made available for testing by all TDL member institutions.
The Vireo 1.0.1 project was led by Jade Lindquist. Other team members included Otto Fox, Dan Galewsky, Scott Phillips, William Sidney, and Dan Zappone, as well as chief technology officer Peter Nürnberg. Alexey Maslov of Texas A&M University Libraries was also a key contributor to the project.
For more information about the Vireo 1.0.1 release, please visit the TDL Wiki, or watch the demo of the new release at https://meeting.austin.utexas.edu/p68505730/. ◊
TCDL 2010: Deadline for proposal submissions is March 31st
The deadline for abstracts for the 2010 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries is fast approaching. Interested parties are invited to submit proposals for a poster session and/or workshop and forum sessions by March 31.
If you would like to participate in either of these exciting opportunities, we invite you to submit your abstracts online at the TCDL 2010 website. More information can be found in the Call for Participation located there.
TCDL 2010 will take place May 17-18 at the AT&T Education and Conference Center at UT Austin. The conference theme is Collaboration, and the registration fee is $50.
For more information about TCDL 2010, see the TCDL 2010 website or follow us on Twitter (Username: TCDL2010). And don’t forget to join the TCDL 2010 Crowdvine network to meet and interact with other attendees before the conference begins. ◊
Vireo Users Group Meeting set for May 19 at UT Austin
Does your thesis office use Vireo to manage the submission, approval, and publication of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs)? Is your institution considering the implementation of an ETD policy and process for the first time?
The Texas Digital Library is offering an opportunity for existing and potential users of its Vireo ETD management system to gather and discuss the software, as well as other issues surrounding ETD management, at a Vireo Users Group Meeting to be held on the UT Austin campus on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 (the day following the TCDL 2010 conference). The meeting will be led by Laura Hammons (Thesis Office Director at Texas A&M University) and Jason Thomale (Metadata Librarian at Texas Tech University). There will be no cost for attending.
Further details about registration, location, and agenda are forthcoming. Any questions about the meeting can be directed to the TDL program coordinator at info@tdl.org.
About the Vireo Users Group:
The Vireo Users Group exists to engage the TDL’s growing Vireo user base by sharing development and production updates regarding Vireo ETD software and to provide opportunities for Vireo users to work together to improve user experience. The group works in close cooperation with other organizations, including the Texas ETD Association, to accomplish these goals.
For more about Vireo, please visit the TDL website. ◊
TDL travels to WebWise 2010 to present Vireo
When WebWise 2010 convened in Denver March 3-5, Texas Digital Library co-director Mark McFarland was in attendance.
McFarland traveled to the conference, held at the Colorado Convention Center, to showcase Vireo, the TDL’s submission and management system for electronic theses and dissertations. He discussed the system at a project demonstration session on Thursday, March 4.
The WebWise Conference is an annual event that “brings together representatives of museums, libraries, archives, systems science, education, and other fields interested in the future of high quality online content for inquiry and learning.” It is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provided the TDL with grant funding for the development of Vireo. (IMLS Grant #: LG-05-07-0095-07)
The theme is of the 2010 WebWise Conference was “Imagining the Digital Future.”
In addition to McFarland, other TDL members and friends attended WebWise 2010, including John Hawthorne of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and Michele Reilly of the University of Houston.
For more information about Vireo, view a brief introductory presentation or read about it on the TDL website. You can also learn more about the IMLS grant that funded the development of Vireo and the TDL’s Federated Statewide ETD Repository. ◊
University of North Texas unveils UNT Digital Library
Congratulations to the UNT Digital Projects Unit on the release of the UNT Digital Library, an exciting entity that centralizes all of the library’s digital collections in a unified repository.
The UNT Digital Library builds on work done by the Digital Projects Unit in creating a rapid development framework for digital libraries that was used in the development of the updated Portal to Texas History, released in 2009. This project uses the same framework and applies it to the libraries’ other collections, creating a unified space for providing access to content.
Among the institutional groups hosting content within the UNT Digital Library are the UNT Press, the UNT Music Library, and the UNT Libraries. The repository holds everything from electronic theses and dissertations to original performances and artwork, as well historical posters, rare books, and journals.
The UNT Digital Library was built using all open-source components and open, standards-based protocols, and most of its contents are freely available to the public. You can find out more by visiting the UNT Digital Library. ◊
Texas Water Digital Library enlists researchers across the state
Share information. Make it easy for others to find. Build knowledge and insight faster. That’s the idea behind the collaborative work of the Texas Digital Library.
Last month, the Texas Digital Library (TDL) embarked on a new collaborative project in partnership with several prominent water researchers. With these partners, the TDL is developing a resource for sharing Texas water data called the Texas Water Digital Library (TWDL).
The TWDL will federate water research currently dispersed at various Texas universities. It will electronically harvest these resources from cooperating institutions (using OAI-ORE technology) and deposit them in a TDL-hosted DSpace repository, creating a single place for researchers to search for water data from every part of the state.
The Texas Water Digital Library serves as a model for the kind of cooperative efforts that the Texas Digital Library facilitates. The mission of the TDL is to provide services to faculty at member institutions that will facilitate collaboration with their peers as they conduct and disseminate their research. The TWDL uses two of the services – a digital repository and the OJS peer-reviewed journaling system – provided by TDL and represents the kind of collaboration that TDL intends to foster and support.
The creation of the TWDL involves cooperation among key researchers at several Texas universities, including Dr. David Maidment, the director of the Center for Research in Water Resources at UT Austin; Dr. B. L. Harris, Director of the Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M; and Dr. Ken Rainwater, Director of the Texas Tech University Water Resources Center.
Participants in the project met in February to begin discussions about how best to provide resources. Future meetings to advance the project are in the works, and the TWDL planners will provide an update on the project at the Texas Conference on Digital Libraries in May. ◊
Featured Resource: the Texas Digital Library Helpdesk
If you have a question about how a TDL service works or you’re having technical difficulties, where do you turn? The TDL offers a number of resources to help users get the most out of TDL services, but members shouldn’t forget the invaluable help offered by the TDL helpdesk.
TDL users can access helpdesk support via a web form or e-mail during regular business hours. The helpdesk is staffed by Lance King of Texas Tech University, who works closely with the Austin and College Station technical staff.
The helpdesk fields all types and levels of queries, including questions about logging in and using a service’s features, as well as major technical concerns. Issues that require technical work beyond the scope of the helpdesk are escalated to the development team in Austin and College Station.
Next time you have a question you can’t find the answer to, don’t hesitate. Let TDL know your question, and the helpdesk staff can answer. ◊
Helpdesk e-mail: support@tdl.org
Helpdesk web form: http://main.tdl.org/support/helpdesk
Availability: Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Cultural DNA: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech focuses on music, sports
The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, a part of the Texas Tech University Libraries, which includes the main Library and the Architecture Library, considers the digitization of music and sports as one of its most important historical preservation endeavors.
The Crossroads of Music Archive is built on the understanding that music makes the most quintessential of human statements about our existence in the world. It is, in a very real sense, our cultural DNA. While music both pleases and satisfies us, it is important to scholars for other reasons. It is first and foremost a living history, recording the events of our lives, many of which it helps to create.
Some of the collections housed at the archive include the Don Caldwell tape collection, the Tommy and Charlene Hancock family archives, Joe Ely’s first demo and items from Sonny Curtis of the Crickets and renowned musician Terry Allen. Through exhibits, performances, publications and access to its collections of information and artifacts, the Crossroads of Music Archive makes that cultural DNA available to scholars, students and the public at large.
Similarly, the Sports Initiative recognizes that athletic competition has long been seen as a metaphor for life, private and public. The playing fields of our youth mirror the complexities and hurdles of our individual lives, just as the drama and spectacle of sports mirror the profound changes taking place in American life. From collections focused on six-man football to the explosion of women’s collegiate athletics to the ranks of professional competition, this initiative has positioned the SWC/SCL to play a vital role in collecting and preserving athletic history so that future generations may experience the heritage of American sport.
The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library is today’s leader in preserving the history of the Southwest and is long known for holding the world’s largest collection of ranching records, as well as for its substantial natural history and water resource collections. Housed in one of the finest facilities in the nation, its collection numbers some 2,000 manuscripts, more than 1 million photographs, 75,000 noncirculating books, 4,000 oral histories and several thousand films. ◊
Contributed by Traci Havins and Andy Wilkinson, Texas Tech University Libraries
Upcoming training opportunities for TDL members—sign up now!
The Texas Digital Library will offer the following courses in April and May:
April 22, 2010 – DSpace Customization
An intermediate-level course for system administrators and repository managers. The course teaches skills for customizing the look-and-feel of DSpace repositories, as well as the display of repository data.
May 27, 2010 – DSpace Systems
An advanced-level course for system administrators responsible for maintaining DSpace installations. The course covers topics such as backup and restoration, data protection, user authentication, and batch import procedures.
Both courses are full-day sessions (9 AM to 4 PM) and will take place in the Dutton Avenue Office & Parking Facility on the Baylor University campus. Registration for each course is $50.
For more information about TDL training, please visit the Training section of the TDL website. ◊