CNI: Coalition for Networked Information

Building “Full-Stack” Collaboration on a Digital Foundation: ‘Explore Chicago Collections’ and the Chicago Collections Consortium

Scott Walter
University Librarian
DePaul University

Sarah M. Pritchard
Dean of Libraries
Northwestern University

Charles Blair
Director, Digital Library Development Center
University of Chicago

Tracy J. Seneca
Digital Services Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago

In November 2015, Chicago Collections launched its foundational digital project, Explore Chicago Collections, a “one-stop shop” for citizens, students, and scholars with an interest in primary source collections related to the City of Chicago and its people. Explore Chicago Collections provides access to more than 104,000 digital images and more than 4,000 finding aids to archival collections held at Chicago Collections member institutions, including academic libraries, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and other cultural heritage institutions. Explore Chicago Collections was built using the open source eXtensible Text Framework (XTF), with a customized front-end. Additionally, Chicago Collections built and released “Metadata Hopper,” an open-source Django application that provides a multi-institutional administrative and management interface for XTF. The initial release of Explore Chicago Collections is not only “foundational” in the sense that work continues on the development of the portal, but in the sense that shared access to primary source content and expertise provides the foundation for a swiftly-expanding array of service programs, including, to date, a cooperative reference service, public exhibition, and public lecture series. Chicago Collections members will discuss the design of this “full stack” approach to collaboration among cultural heritage institutions across a metropolitan area and describe some of the programs and services currently under consideration for the next phase of its development.

http://chicagocollections.org/
http://explore.chicagocollections.org/
https://bitbucket.org/uiclibrary/portal-admin/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-museums-chicago-collections-history-ent-1105-20151104-column.html

A Campus Master Plan for Research Storage: A Case in Progress

David Millman
Assistant Dean for Digital Library Services
New York University

Scott Collard
Head of Specialized Research Services and Social Sciences, Libraries
New York University

Lynn Rohrs
Project Director, Digital Repository Services for Research
New York University

New York University (NYU) recently undertook a project to step back and take a holistic view of its approach to providing and supporting research storage solutions through all stages of the research data lifecycle. The Libraries and IT jointly collaborated on an internal and external review of this area, identified existing gaps and opportunities, and based on its findings made recommendations for the steps needed to create an interconnected environment of technology and support solutions. This presentation will discuss the methodology used for conducting the review as well as the planned methodology for implementing the recommendations currently underway. This includes outlining our proposal for four “service bands” that are designed to satisfy all stages of the research data lifecycle as well as the transitions between stages; the strategy behind the careful selection and composition of the work groups; the plan for concurrently developing detailed user stories and policies while designing the architectural and technical plans; and the methods for synergizing the efforts.

Connect. Collaborate. Contribute: A Model for Designing and Building a Research Commons

Alison Armstrong
Associate Director for Research and Education
The Ohio State University

The key to the successful launch of Ohio State University Libraries’ (OSUL) newly opened Research Commons (RC) is partnership development. Our tag line, “Connect. Collaborate. Contribute.” has served as an action plan and rallying cry. OSUL was determined from early on to create a suite of co-located services that taken together would advance researchers’ agendas in the areas of lessening pain points, promoting interdisciplinary team work, showcasing output, and highlighting impact. Using the research lifecycle of planning, conducting, publishing, and measuring impact as the conceptual underpinning for services and partnership development, conversations around campus began early in the design process to identify key constituents and to create user stories, especially in areas where new services were being developed such as data management, geographic information systems, and digital humanities. Partners who came onboard early in this process now have a consistent presence in the Research Commons and also serve as advocates for our space and services to researchers at different levels and in different disciplines across Ohio State. This presentation will highlight how creating a network of partners, integrating feedback, and exploring use cases drove the iterative development and deployment of services, spaces, and technology that facilitate purposeful discovery and innovation.

Co-Authors: Joshua W. Sadvari, Research Commons Program Manager & GIS Specialist; Meris Mandernach, Associate Professor and Head of Research Services

https://library.osu.edu/researchcommons/

Presentation (PDF)

da|ra: Solutions to the Challenges of Data Registration, Access and Exchange

Karoline Harzenetter
Research Associate, Social Sciences Data Archive
GESIS, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

Kerrin Borschewski
Research Associate, Social Sciences Data Archive
GESIS, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

To ensure the access and exchange of scientific information without a common documentation standard is an enormous challenge considering the rising amount of decentralized research data production. For the reliable provision and transfer of research data, a central registry is needed to ensure open data access. Data registration implies connecting research data with its providing institutions and enabling a precise identification of data in order to allow for research, location, citation and linking. The German registration agency for social and economic data (‘da|ra’) has been providing such a registration service, and added value, since 2011. da|ra is jointly run by the GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and ZBW Leibniz Information Center for Economics. da|ra pursues the goal of long-term, persistent identification and availability of research data via allocation of digital object identifier (DOI) names. This presentation serves to introduce the policies and services of da|ra, as well as the current follow-up project ‘da|raSearchNet’, an integrated search index that enables users to do research inside an up-to-date database of references in one place with links to data holdings. We will discuss the system’s graphical user interface architecture for both DOI registration and for research data searches. We will also present conceptual and technically supported solutions for the complex maintenance, administration and extension of the metadata database, and describe our technical solutions for metadata sharing.

http://www.da-ra.de/en/home/
http://www.gesis.org/en/home/
http://www.zbw.eu/en/
https://www.datacite.org/

Presentation (PDF)

Digital Curation in Art Museums: Promising Practices and Opportunities for Education and Research

Joyce Ray
Digital Curation Program Coordinator and Museum Studies Faculty
Johns Hopkins University

In October 2015, the Johns Hopkins University Museum Studies and Digital Curation programs convened a group of cultural heritage professionals for a summit on digital curation in art museums. With support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, participants met over two days to discuss trends in digital curation, its integration into the art museum community, and current challenges to its full implementation. Topics included innovative projects, infrastructure, staffing and workflow needs, digital curation tools, curatorial considerations, internships, research opportunities, and local and international collaborations. This presentation summarizes the issues and recommendations that emerged for the key principles, roles and responsibilities that digital curation should play in art museums, as well as innovative models for internship projects and research that can advance the museum mission and contribute to the implementation of digital curation practices in art museums. The summit report will be published in spring 2016.

http://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/certificate-programs/digital-curation-certificate/program-resources

http://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/certificate-programs/digital-curation-certificate/

Contact Us

21 Dupont Circle
Suite 800
Washington, DC, 20036
202.296.5098

Contact us
Copyright © 2022 CNI

Keeping up with CNI

CNI-ANNOUNCE is a low-volume electronic forum used for information about the activities and programs of CNI, and events and documents of interest to the CNI community.
Sign up

Follow CNI

A joint project