Annette Bailey
Assistant Director for Electronic Resources and Emerging Technology Services
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The LibX project was launched in Fall 2006 to provide libraries worldwide with the ability to integrate librarians and their services into users’ webflow, providing help with information seeking and discovery at the point of need. In early 2013, the leading faculty on the LibX project developed a real time visualization of user activity in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s discovery system. This presentation will discuss how disruptive organizational change at the University Libraries and strategic collaboration across the University has lead to rapid, successful technology innovation that benefits the development and adoption of new services in libraries.

 http://libx.org/

]]> http://www.cni.org/topics/information-access-retrieval/collaboration-to-innovation/feed/ 0 http://www.cni.org/topics/economic-models/itcornell-is-it-what-we-imagined/ http://www.cni.org/topics/economic-models/itcornell-is-it-what-we-imagined/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:45:51 +0000 sharon http://www.cni.org/?p=13371 ]]> Dean B. Krafft
Director of Library IT
Cornell University

In the fall of 2010, Cornell University began implementing a “reimagined” model for delivering information technology (IT) services on campus, based on a set of recommendations developed with significant input from Bain & Co., a global consulting firm. Cornell is now three years into the process of creating a much more integrated and collaborative IT organization, and the university is starting to reap some major benefits from doing things very differently.

This talk will describe the significant changes that have taken place in IT service delivery, IT governance, and providing IT software solutions at Cornell, from the perspective of both the Cornell University Library and the campus as a whole. In some cases, Cornell adopted the recommendations of Bain and the original re-imagining process, and in other cases, it deliberately chose different approaches. The presentation will include an analysis of the organizational, cultural, and operational changes that have taken place in IT over the past three years, outlining both the successes and the remaining challenges. Finally, the talk will include a brief look at Cornell’s recently completed IT Strategic Plan, which seeks to “guide prudent reallocation of our IT investments from utilities to academic differentiators” while providing stable and efficient utility IT services. The IT@Cornell model of “intentional interdependence” within the university and seeking the best services and collaborations available from the outside world should be of significant interest to many educational institutions facing similar IT challenges.

http://www.cni.org/topics/user-services/reimagining-it-at-cornell-university/
http://www.cornell.edu/reimagining/it-review.cfm
http://www.it.cornell.edu/cio/index.cfm

Maurice York
Head of Information Technology
North Carolina State University

Realizing the vision required converging physical and virtual spaces. Unlike library spaces that support undergraduate study, research-focused physical spaces require complementary virtual spaces. Thus, infrastructure is a core enabler. The building’s data center design, IP and AV fiber networks, HPC and high-performance storage (integrated with campus infrastructure), are all designed to support extensible use of spaces and to minimize operational staff support. As the most technologically advanced building on campus, Hunt has quickly become the test bed for new technologies on campus. As the physical infrastructure settles into operation, new service areas are emerging. A core service offering will be “project cloud” space, which will enable students and researchers to easily “check out” computing power and transfer large projects in and out of the library’s environment. Technology staff have been retrained and redeployed to support the new capabilities, and an academic technologist added to consult with researchers and match their needs with the building’s capabilities. Since all library services must be scalable, technology staff effort is focused on identifying good pilot projects that can serve as prototypes to be converted into templates for future projects.

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/huntlibrary
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/18/2553438/ncsus-hyper-modern-new-james-b.html

Presentation Slides (PDF)

As part of an ongoing plan to transform an underutilized science and engineering library into a lively incubator for student-faculty collaboration and innovation, staff at the University of Nevada, Reno decided to launch a bold initiative: build a 3D scanning and printing “makerspace” and make it available to the entire campus. The service has been wildly successful with 3D printers running 24 hours a day. Furthermore, positioning the library as a place that facilitates knowledge creation beyond text based tools and resources has been a game changer. Students are highly motivated to learn new skills in order to take advantage of new technologies (Lynda.com gets heavy use); they experiment and iterate quickly to perfect their designs. Even better, students from engineering are now rubbing elbows with people from fields such as biology, computer science, geology, and even art. Like the printing press and the personal computer, 3-D printers have been hailed as a revolutionary device that will ultimately transform the way the world operates.

 Presentation

Carly Strasser
Data Curation Specialist
California Digital Library

There is a large gap between the data management skills needed by modern researchers and their current abilities, and there is not yet a clear way to bridge this gap. In an effort to address this lack of skills, several institutions collaborated to create the DMPTool. Collaborators included the California Digital Library, DataONE, the Digital Curation Centre, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of California at Los Angeles Library, the University of California at San Diego Libraries, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library and Office of Cyberinfrastructure, and the University of Virginia Library. The result is a freely available web service with two principal goals: 1) allow researchers to quickly and easily produce a quality data management plan, and 2) inform researchers of relevant resources and support services across the community and within their institution. The tool clearly identifies what funders want grant applicants to address, and it allows users to edit, save, share, print and download their data management plans.

Following on prior Coalition for Networked Information briefings, this presentation will begin with an overview of data management planning for newcomers, with emphasis on the DMPTool. The session will include an update on current data management policies and, and it will also include discussion of the present landscape of data management planning. The history of the project will be described (a collaborative effort of eight institutions), its uptake and success, and plans for new functionality, grant funding, and governance. A brief demonstration of the DMPTool will be provided to seed a facilitated discussion on the future of the DMPTool, what services it could and should provide, and how these services and materials will better enable good data stewardship practices among researchers.

 http://dmp.cdlib.org/

Teresa Walker
Head Integrated User Services, Library
University of Tennessee

Martha Kyrillidou
Senior Director
Association of Research Libraries

Mary Ellen K. Davis
Executive Director
Association of College and Research Libraries

Kara J. Malenfant
Senior Strategist for Special Initiatives
Association of College and Research Libraries

How Libraries Contribute to Student Success: Findings from LibValue
(Fleming-May, Kyrillidou, Walker)

What do we know about the ways libraries contribute to student success? The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) LibValue grant is a three-year effort testing different methodologies articulating the value of the library and return on investment. One of the areas of investigation is the contribution of the library to student success. This session will highlight two areas that relate to student success: the physical space of the library and teaching/learning environmental interventions. The results of two perspectives will be discussed, one from the commons surveys and the second from the surveys of instructors and students. Both perspectives highlight the importance of a positive environment that inspires studying and the articulation by students of positive outcomes.

Presentation (Walker)

Assessment in Action: ACRL’s Newest IMLS Grant-Funded Project (Davis, Malenfant)

The Association of College and Research Library’s (ACRL) Value of Academic Libraries initiative has ambitious plans for the next few years. This briefing will provide an overview of the new Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded project “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success” (AiA). The grant funding will support ACRL, in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and build on their IMLS 2011 Collaborative Planning Grant, which convened two invitational summits. In the first year of this three-year project, 75 campus-wide teams from all types of institutions will be selected to develop and implement action-learning projects that examine the impact of the library on student success. Each participating institution will identify a team consisting of a librarian and at least two additional team members as determined by the campus. The librarian team leaders will participate in a one-year professional development program that includes team-based activities carried out on their campuses. A blended learning environment and peer-to-peer network will support the librarian team leaders. As part of AiA, they will document and share their work so that others in the wider academic library and higher education communities can benefit.

http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/
http://www.ala.org/acrl/AiA
Presentation (Malenfant)

Gary Strong
University Librarian
University of California, Los Angeles

Valorie Hollister
Director of Community Programs
DuraSpace

Last year the Association of Research Libraries/Digital Library Federation (DLF) E-Science Institute was created to help research libraries develop strategic agendas for e-research support, with a particular focus on the sciences. The Institute consisted of a series of interactive modules that took small teams of individuals from academic institutions through a dynamic learning process to strengthen and advance their strategy for supporting digitally dependent research, such as e-science or computational linguistics. The coursework included a series of exercises for teams to complete at their institutions, and culminated with an in-person workshop. Local institution assignments helped staff establish a high level understanding of research support background needs and issues. The first cohort of the Institute included seventy institutions and was well received.
Demand has continued to grow, so the DuraSpace organization is partnering with DLF to continue the Institute into the future. The second cohort is now underway, concluding with a Capstone event immediately following this Coalition for Networked Information meeting. The Institute has been improved based on feedback from the first cohort and is poised to help libraries of all types (large academic, college, corporate, public, government, etc.) develop approaches to digital research support, individually and collectively.

This presentation will include an overview of the challenges facing universities and libraries in dealing with digital research and especially data, the E-Science Institute approach of Strategic Agendas, a case study from a member of the Institute’s first cohort (University of California, Los Angeles), and an overview of the current Institute managed by DuraSpace.

http://www.arl.org/rtl/eresearch/escien/escieninstitute/index.shtml
http://duraspace.org/e-science-institute

Susan Gibbons
University Librarian
Yale University

Damon Jaggars
Associate University Librarian for Collections and Services
Columbia University

Molly Tamarkin
Associate University Librarian for Information Technology
Duke University

In 2009, JSTOR began partnering with institutions in a pilot program to provide access to their alumni. A range of participants was selected for the pilot, including public and private institutions, universities in the US and abroad, and theological seminaries. After nearly three years of collecting quantitative and qualitative feedback on the efficacy of the pilot, and based on an enthusiastic response from pilot partners, the Alumni Access program is being made accessible to all JSTOR participating institutions.

In this discussion, librarians who participated in the pilot will discuss how this tool was used for engaging with alumni, and what was learned about the level of interest in access to scholarly resources after graduation.

Next steps for the Alumni Access program, and how this fits within JSTOR’s larger aims of extending access to scholarship, will also be discussed.

http://about.jstor.org/service/access-alumni
Presentation (Tamarkin)

Deanna Marcum
Managing Director, Ithaka S+R
Ithaka

Over the past year, Ithaka S+R has conducted studies of the changing research methods and practices of scholars in two major fields: history and chemistry. At the spring 2012 Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) meeting, researchers shared background information about this new program of work. This presentation will include the comprehensive findings regarding the needs of scholars in these fields to facilitate discussion about implications for the CNI community.

For history, even when research methods remain fairly traditional, new practices are transforming the needs of historians. For chemistry, thinking about the needs of the laboratory group and not just the individual chemist may open up new avenues for research support. This session will include recommendations for possible service models to address these needs, and it will also include extended discussion about the feasibility of these service models and others that may build on our findings.

Presentation

Declan Fleming
Chief Technology Strategist
University of California, San Diego

Lois Widmer
Chair, Digital Services and Shared Collections
University of Florida

Libraries around the country have evolved digital library infrastructure, workflows, and service from startup, grant-funded initiatives into core functions that define a research library in the 21st century. This shift has challenged our thinking about offering new services, moving projects into programs, and evaluating initiatives which may or may not deliver the expected outcomes. At the same time, researchers and other campus entities are looking to libraries as supporters and collaborators for research in the age of “big” research (meaning distributed, collaborative, and resource intensive research, and often referred to as e-research, e-science, research cyberinfrastructure, digital humanities, big humanities, digital scholarship, data science, etc.). Libraries now have many opportunities to leverage the infrastructure and programmatic support for digital libraries to serve also as a core component of the larger scholarly cyberinfrastructure.

This panel will discuss the challenges that three university libraries have experienced with institutionalizing digital library infrastructure and how they continue to adapt their services to meet a changing set of requests and needs from across their institutions. Each member of the panel will present a brief background of their institution and the unique collections and services which have shaped their institution’s thinking about digital library services. An overview of new initiatives each library has chosen to support and how they fit into the overall strategic direction of the institution will also be presented. Finally, all speakers will discuss challenges and opportunities in areas such as technical infrastructure, scaling of services, training and retention of professional staff to support both technical and nontechnical aspects of running repository infrastructure and services at scale.

http://ufdc.ufl.edu
http://digital.library.unt.edu
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/digital
http://rci.ucsd.edu/data-curation/index.html