21st Century Literacies
Howard Besser
Associate Professor
UCLA
Sheila Afnan-Manns
Project Coordinator, UCLA/Pacbell Initiative for 21st Century Literature
UCLA
This session updates the latest activities of the UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies. The presenters will discuss activities over the past year, including construction of workshops and curriculum for education and information specialists. This session will describe plans underway for two new projects:
- a policy initiative to bring stakeholders together to identify a set of digital divides and to agree on indicators for what would constitute narrowing each divide.
- a project to build adaptive systems that will deliver the same set of back-end content to different user groups in ways optimized for that particular group (including different interfaces, vocabulary mapping, level of discourse, etc.).
Academic Integrity: Is it Attitude or the Internet?
Diana Oblinger
Senior Fellow
EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research
Academic integrity was an issue well before the Internet. However, today’s combination of term paper mills, student attitudes that cheating is OK and increases in academic dishonesty are causing colleges and universities to look for new ways to stop plagiarism. This presentation will review current concerns about cheating, some tools that are designed to detect plagiarism and approaches that campuses are finding successful in ensuring academic integrity.
Access Strategies for Digital Video and Digital Rights Management
Grace Agnew
Assistant Director for Systems & Technical Services
Georgia Tech
Mairead Martin
Director, Advanced Internet Technologies
The University of Tennessee
Digital video objects share many characteristics in common with other digital media, including the need for intellectual property rights and privacy protections. However, as a consecutive medium, digital video (and audio) have unique properties, such as the ability to create component videos and objects, through book marking and file decomposition, and the ability to create composite objects, such as a complete videoconference session through concatenating individual videoconference streams. This presentation will provide an overview of the current status and future directions of the Video Development Initiative (ViDe), using Dublin Core and MPEG7 for improved asset management, as well as a new initiative to develop a Rights-Core language to use for the management of intellectual property and privacy, with an initial focus on digital video but intended to be extensible to any digital objects. For more information, please see: http://www.vide.net/conferences/.
The ARL E-Metrics Study: Statistics Manual and Project Update
Charles R. McClure
Francis Eppes Professor & Director
Florida State University
Rush Miller
University Librarian and Director
University of Pittsburgh
This presentation will introduce the recently released manual of statistics and measures describing network use, users, and services. The manual was developed by a study team at Florida State University, Information Institute for the Association of Research Libraries E-metrics project. The session will also discuss key issues and preliminary findings regarding work currently in progress related to models for describing the academic library’s role in contributing to institutional outcomes. The session will conclude with a discussion of the final activities in this project and possible next steps.
handout (in PDF format) 12K file size
handout (in PPT format) 264K file size
Attributes of a Trusted Digital Repository: Meeting the Needs of Research Resources
Robin Dale
Program Officer
RLG
Meg Bellinger
President
Preservation Resources, OCLC
This session discusses the recent draft report produced by the joint RLG/OCLC Working Group on Attributes of a Digital Archive. Charged with articulating the requirements for the “deep infrastructure” called for in the 1996 seminal report, Preserving Digital Information, this working group has created a draft report that moves the research resources community further toward the goal of providing our digital cultural heritage with the same degree of assurance for the long-term as the non-digital resources. Adapting and building on the emerging international standard of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model, the draft identifies attributes and responsibilities of trusted repositories, as well as a mechanism to gauge and hold trust – a framework for a program of digital repository certification. The session will also solicit comments for inclusion in the review process and outline the way forward; including timetables for the production of the final report and follow-on initiatives.
handout (in PDF format) 224K file size
Authentication and Authorization from Library Public Workstations
Suzanne E. Thorin
Ruth Lilly University Dean of University Libraries
Indiana University
Phyllis H. Davidson
Director of Information Technology
Indiana University
Mark S. Bruhn
Information Technology Policy Officer
Indiana University
Because of an increasing number of security “incidents” or breaches in which there is no way to determine the individual responsible, many academic libraries are under growing pressure from their campus security offices to provide the means to authenticate patrons who use public workstations. The Indiana University Bloomington Libraries experienced this pressure nearly three years ago, and now require authentication for public workstations in 20 campus libraries. We have devised ways to give access to the libraries’ collections (including electronic collections) to the general public, as well as to all faculty, staff and students of Indiana University. To date we have had no security breaches (during the past two years), and very few complaints from patrons regarding the sign-on process.
Beyond LibQUAL+: Assessing Service Quality in the Information Technology and Digital Library Environments
Fred Heath Dean and Director
Texas A&M University
Duane Webster
Executive Director
Association of Research Libraries
Julia Blixrud
Director of Information Services
Association of Research Libraries
Results from the first year of the LibQUAL+ implementation funded by FIPSE indicate that libraries are eager to experiment with and adopt a total market survey tool for describing and measuring library service quality. The participation of 43 libraries during the spring 2001 implementation has doubled the number of participating libraries originally planned for the first year of the FIPSE, U.S. Department of Education, three-year grant awarded to the ARL/Texas A&M joined ‘new measures’ effort. Next steps include: (a) scaling the LibQUAL+ tool implementation to more than 100+ libraries in spring 2002; (b) adapting the tool for the Information Technology (IT) environment for interested participating campuses; and (c) investigating the applicability of the method and tool to the digital library environment through the recently awarded NSDL/NSF grant to the Texas A&M/ARL research team. For more information, please see: http://www.arl.org/libqual/.
Big Questions in Academic Libraries
Mary Reichel
University Librarian, Appalachian State University and President
Association of College and Research Libraries
Joan K. Lippincott
Associate Executive Director
Coalition for Networked Information
Mary Ellen Davis
Executive Director
Association of College and Research Libraries
Academic libraries face many issues as they move into an increasingly digital future and a changing higher education environment. However, many academic librarians are consumed by day-to-day efforts at achieving and maintaining quality services. In an effort to enlarge the viewpoint of librarians, the Association of College and Research Libraries, along with other organizations, is initiating efforts at identifying and analyzing the major issues, or “Big Questions” facing academic libraries. This is envisioned to be an ongoing effort that would result in a regularly updated list and exposition. This session will provide a forum to articulate the “Big Questions” as well as to discuss how the profession could create an ongoing, collaboratively developed, forum for response.
Broadband Connectivity in Wireless Country – The Gates Foundation and OnSat Communications Network Native American Access to Technology Project
Richard Akeroyd
Executive Director, Libraries & Public Access to Information Program
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dave Stephens
Chairman
OnSat Network Communications, Inc.
Chris Jowaisas
Manager, Network Deployment
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Robert A. Freling
Executive Director
Solar Electric Light Fund
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with OnSat Network Communications to provide an innovative, cost-effective combination of satellite and local loop wireless solution for connectivity for Native American tribes in the Four Corners area. Many of the 165 sites receiving public access computers through the grant program had no access to basic wire service, and in some cases no power was available. The current program is providing high-speed connections through satellite to each of these sites, using solar power donated by the Solar Electric Light Fund for off- grid locations. The briefing will include a description of the Native American grant program and technical details of the satellite and wireless solution. Also included will be a discussion of issues and solutions related to the technology, social context, and long-term sustainability of the project.
handout (in PDF format) 30K file size
Building an Integrated Agent-Oriented Catalog
Kristin Antelman
Head of Systems and Networking, Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona
Nathan Denny
Applications Systems Analyst, Senior, Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona
With the addition of digital resources, libraries are faced with the significant challenge of providing users with a comprehensive catalog of their collections. Integrated library systems can be a clumsy tool for managing both electronic and traditional resources, leading many libraries to maintain separate databases to support web interfaces to electronic resources. This program describes a project at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Library to create a virtually integrated catalog implemented as a multi-agent system. The integrated catalog simultaneously searches the online catalog (via Z39.50) and the electronic resources database (in XML/RDF), delivering a properly collated and customizable result set to the user. The electronic resources database is structured on the IFLA-recommended work/expression/manifestation data model and uses Dublin Core plus locally defined descriptive and administrative metadata elements. The agent model system is comprised of four components: user interface, expert, data source, and profile agents. The agents communicate with each other using http-transmitted messages. The model provides an open framework to create a single virtual catalog from distributed data sources.
handout (in PDF format) 14K file size
Computer and Network Security On Campus: New Visibility for an Old Problem
Daniel Updegrove
Vice President for Information Technology
University of Texas, Austin
Steve Worona
Director of Policy and Networking Programs
EDUCAUSE
Even before the events of September 11, fingers were increasingly pointing at campus-based computers and networks as a disproportionate source of Internet abuse. Since September 11, computer security has figured heavily in anti-terrorism legislation, and new requirements from Federal funding agencies aim directly at securing computers bought and operated under research grants. We can expect society’s interest in how we run our campus networks only to expand.
In July, 2000 EDUCAUSE formed a System Security Task Force to help colleges and universities focus on their computer security problems by identifying a variety of approaches which, while not perfect solutions, nonetheless provide cost-effective improvement. This session will report on the current activities and plans of the Task Force, and will highlight our biggest problems and most promising solutions.
Connexions: Education for a Networked World
Ross Reedstrom
Executive Director, Gulf Coast Consortium for Bioinformatics
Rice University
The Connexions Project is a new approach to authoring, organizing, and delivering educational materials that fully exploits modern information technology. In contrast to the traditional process of textbook writing and publishing, Connexions fosters communities of authors, instructors, and students, who together fashion continually updated “modules” from which courses are constructed. Preliminary trials with Rice University faculty and students over the past year have been so successful that our electrical and computer engineering department has resolved to implement a holistic new Connexions-based curriculum. The ideas and philosophy embodied by Connexions have the potential to change the very nature of textbook writing and publishing, producing a dynamic, interconnected educational environment that is pedagogically sound, both time and cost efficient, and fun.
Connexions exploits the flexible information organization and rapid communication capabilities of the Internet, World Wide Web, and XML. The Connexions environment rests on the unique combination of four fundamental concepts:
- Modules of information that are topic or “concept” based and encoded in XML, with MathML used for mathematics content.
- Web-based navigational aids to explore the “connexions” between topics.
- Course Composition tools for instructors to weave modules together into customized textbooks.
- Collaborative development of modules by a large community of authors.
The result is a coherent system for course development, organization, and delivery that mutually benefits students, instructors, and authors.
handout (in PDF format) 48K file size
Delivering Online Library and Museum Exhibits: Overview of the SmartWeb Project
Gabrielle V. Michalek
Carnegie Mellon University
In 1999 Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon received funding from IMLS to develop, document and disseminate prototypes for a new form of collaboration between libraries, museums, and other collection holders. The goal of the project was to produce more effective educational outreach to the public in the form of SmartWeb exhibits designed to deliver information online to a diverse user community. This presentation will provide an overview of project goals and discuss the importance of the project in making quality information available to users. In addition, the session will describe difficulties, challenges and lessons learned from the project, including some of the steps that were necessary in working with the various departments e.g., computer science, museum, computer engineer, researcher, archivist, scanners, etc.
Digital Libraries & the Classroom: Testbeds for Transforming Teaching & Learning
Stephen M. Griffin
Program Director
National Science Foundation
Norman Wiseman
Head of Programmes
UK Joint Information Systems Committee
Alice Colban
JISC Secretariat
UK Joint Information Systems Committee
Rachel Bruce
Infrastructure Programme Manager: Information Environment
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) Office
The United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United Kingdom Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) are establishing a joint program of activities in US and UK universities. Four exemplar projects of up to 1.5 million / US$ 2.1 million each over three years will be funded to demonstrate how the education process for undergraduate students can be transformed using innovative applications of emerging information technologies and Internet resources. The objective of this joint NSF/JISC program is to bring about a significant improvement in the learning and teaching process by fusing state of the art digital and Internet-based services, rapidly expanding global digital content of all forms and emerging applications in undergraduate education. The call for proposals is expected to be published in early December.
This session will also describe the JISC DNER strategy which has been developed to deliver an information environment for researchers and learners. The information environment vision is ambitious and is being delivered via a number of development programs over the next few years. Researchers, academics and students increasingly expect to access information on-line. The range of material available is far from comprehensible. Considerable development work is required to make it easier to find relevant on-line resources of quality, to ensure their long-term availability and to build sustainable business models. One of the biggest challenges facing the JISC over the next five years will be the design and building of such an environment, in an international context.
handout (in PDF format) 8K file size
handout (in PDF format) 9K file size
Experiments in Digital Publishing: Two Digital Library Initiatives at Dartmouth College
John R. James
Director of Collection Services
Dartmouth College
This session will describe two collaborative projects in digital publishing at the Dartmouth College Library, outlining the goals for the projects, describing progress, and discussing challenges and lessons learned.
- Working with faculty in Linguistics, the Library is currently launching a refereed online journal, which will take advantage of digital technology to improve and enhance scholarly communication in linguistics. The journal, Linguistic Discovery, will have a data focus and will include audio and video content. The journal will be delivered via the WWW, displayed in HTML (with article content converted from Word) and will offer PDF versions of the content. The intent of the project is to utilize the capabilities of the digital environment to provide scholarly information, including audio and video content, in the field of linguistics research. An additional goal of the project is to develop an e-publishing model that will facilitate future journal publishing initiatives at Dartmouth.
- In collaboration with faculty in History, the Library is publishing online a facsimile of a recently discovered 15th century manuscript in the field of astronomy. The web site for the project will contain a reproduction of the manuscript, “The Defense of Theon,” written by the leading astronomer of fifteenth-century Europe, Johannes Regiomontanus, and searchable transcriptions linked to the page images. Phase I of the project will provide online access to an important document in the history of astronomy to scholars worldwide. Subsequent phases of the web project will add an expanded electronic edition of the “Defense of Theon,” selected portions of the text being attacked by the “Defense” (George of Trebizond’s “Commentary on the Almagest”), English translations of selected passages of both texts, and a pedagogical introduction to late medieval astronomy intended by undergraduate audiences.
The GPO/OCLC Web Document Digital Archive Pilot Project
George Barnum
Electronic Collection Manager
Government Printing Office
Pam Kircher
Product Manager, Digital Archive
OCLC
The Web Document Digital Archive Pilot Project, a joint effort between OCLC, Inc. and the Government Printing Office, will create a toolkit for archiving digital documents, and an OAIS-compliant digital repository for archived objects. The first phase, which will run in the second half of calendar year 2001, will test a set of modifications to the OCLC CORC interface specifically for creating preservation metadata, and will experiment with a base set of preservation metadata elements. The second phase, scheduled for early 2002, will test spider/harvest/capture capability, and will initiate an OCLC-operated digital repository. OCLC began this work in response to a GPO call for “an archive and the tools to use it.” Two additional partners have been added for the initial phases, and more will be sought.
Integrating Enterprise Software with the Library
Charles E. McMorran
Director Technical Services
Queens Borough Public Library
In 1998 the library chose to abandon its legacy finance and HR packages and to go with an enterprise software solution. Through an arduous process, SAP, a German firm with the greatest international market share of enterprise systems, was chosen. Suddenly the library was introducing software that had the potential for running all business functions of the library from training and development through to properly maintaining the filters of an A/C unit at a branch. Following implementation of the financial system, the acquisition module of the ILS was abandoned with SAP materials management software being used in purchasing all library materials. This briefing will address the process of implementing SAP purchasing module specific to the library needs.
Integrity of “Publications” on the Web & Demands for Post-Publication Revision
Clifford Lynch
Executive Director
Coalition for Networked Information
Many web sites (including CNI’s) make large amounts of archival material — documents, mailing list archives — available. Now that this material is indexed by search engines, it has become not only more visible but also more vulnerable to a continued stream of challenges. For example, there seems to be a developing industry scanning the web for sites that hold text which may contain phrases having some status as trademarks, and then sending threatening letters demanding that the text be removed or altered, or demanding license fees. Fundamentally, organizations are trying to use the web as a way to disseminate “fixed” editions; yet we are seeing pressures and challenges that do not respect this fixity. This breakout is intended as an opportunity to discuss and compare experiences about the current situation, to share strategies for responding to these demands for revision or redaction, and to explore the implications of such demands for the integrity of documentation.
Knowledge Bases for E-Libraries
Abigail Grotke
Library of Congress
The Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) is developing a searchable knowledge base of content and questions and answer sets created and edited by CDRS members. The KB will be a valuable tool in a suite of services created to assist reference staff in the answering of frequently asked questions and hard-to-find answers. This session will provide an overview of the use of knowledge bases in e-reference programs, and will demonstrate the creation of a KB from the ground up, including the discussion of one unique and important feature of the CDRS KB—the development and implementation of an editorial process to ensure quality and timeliness of data.
The knowledge base update page can be seen at <http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/kb.html> and the general “How Does CDRS Work?” information can be seen at <http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/howdoes.html>.
Mellon Digital Archives Project
Don Waters
Program Officer, Scholarly Communications
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Dale Flecker
Associate Director for Planning & Systems in the Harvard University Library
Harvard University
Anne Kenney
Associate Director, Department of Preservation & Director of Programs, CLIR
Cornell University
Nancy McGovern
Coordinator, Digital Imaging & Preservation Research
Cornell University
With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, seven institutions (Cornell, Harvard, MIT, the New York Public Library, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Yale) are engaged in an initiative to create digital archives of electronically published journals. The planning phase of these projects is nearing an end. Presenters in this session will provide an update on the overall progress of these efforts and insight into some of the specific approaches being considered. The session will focus on a number of the key issues with which the project teams are grappling including features of the technical architecture of e-journal archives, the collaborative agreements with publishers needed to create such archives, the economic models needed to sustain them, the complementary roles of subject-based, publisher-based, and other forms of content organization, and the conditions, or “trigger events,” under which the archives can provide access to the contents of the journals.
handout (in PPT format) 92K file size
handout (in PPT format) 340K file size
METS: Metadata Encoding for Digital Library Objects
Jerome McDonough
Digital Library Development Team Leader
New York University
Merrilee Proffitt
Program Officer
Research Libraries Group
The Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) provides a generalized framework for encoding descriptive, administrative and structural metadata for digital library objects. Developed as a Digital Library Federation initiative, METS provides an XML encoding format for digital library objects that was designed for application as a Submission Information Package (SIP), Dissemination Information Package (DIP) and Archival Information package (AIP) within the Open Archival Information System reference model. This session will provide background on the initiative, an overview of the XML scheme which defines the METS syntax and related technical efforts in the METS initiative, and discuss future development of the standard.
handout (in PDF format) 10K file size
MultiMedia Research and Learning with HyperFolio
Nicholas Matelan
Chief Technology Officer
LearnTech
Lois Matelan
Sr Producer
LearnTech
Jerome Yavarkovsky
University Librarian
Boston College
HyperFolio is a versatile knowledge management/collaboration, research and web-authoring tool. It is simple to use, has a 60-minute learning curve, and is effective for those who are tech-savvy as well as those who are tech-fearful. Via simple drag ‘n drop, one collects assets (text, links, audio, video, images) from any website or your own applications into a small HyperFolio collection box that sits on the desktop. These assets can then be keyworded and filed for later repurposing. All media items are operational on or offline (video, audio, etc.). Expand the collection box and organize your items on the worksheet adjacent to the collection area. A simple design palate provides background colors, text fields, arrows, boxes, etc., with which you can create a multimedia document to share via e-mail, live presentation or as a web page. An easy bibliography tool (in MLA, APA or Chicago) gives credit for media sources to encourage adherence to copyright standards. Scrolling over any object with your mouse reveals the source URL, a function that cannot be disabled, another way to assure compliance with intellectual property/plagiarism issues, and easy access to the original site.
Museum/Library Collaboration: Making Digital Objects Accessible
Nancy Allen
Dean and Director
University of Denver
Heritage, the Gateway to Colorado’s Digitization Projects, has been developed as a means of increasing access to the unique resources and special collections in digital format offered by Colorado’s cultural heritage institutions. Through IMLS funding, 48 museums and libraries in Colorado collaborated on 30 projects to create digital objects from their special collections. Resource discovery in a distributed networked environment was a major challenge, so the Colorado Digitization Project developed Heritage, a union catalog of metadata. Heritage uses Dublin Core but can receive records from a variety of systems in a variety of formats. Through Heritage, the people of Colorado can now access a virtual collection representing Colorado’s heritage.
National Digital Information Infrastructure & Preservation Program
Cliff Cohen
Director for Operations, Library Services
Library of Congress
In December 2000 Congress directed the Library of Congress, working jointly with the Department of Commerce, NARA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in cooperation with a number of other entities such as CLIR, NLM, NAL, OCLC, and RLG, to develop a National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. This briefing will bring the audience up to date on progress in creation of this national program.
The National Gallery of the Spoken Word
Mark Kornbluh
Executive DirectorH-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine
Michigan State University
Jerry Goldman
Professor
Northwestern University
Funded under DLI2 as collaborative research project to explore the full range of issues involved in making spoken word resources available and useful over the web, the NGSW has made substantial progress on a number of fronts. This project briefing will discuss our implementation of OAIS and adaptation of METS in designing a large-scale interoperable open-source multimedia digital archive. We will also provide an update on strategies for searching audio resources and demonstrate both tools for linking audio to text and interfaces for effective delivery of aural resources.
handout (in PDF format) 8K file size
NCIP — The Stitch in Time
Pat Stevens
Manager, Product Planning & Special Projects
OCLC
Patricia Renfro
Deputy University Librarian
Columbia University
Mary Jackson
Consultant
Association of Research Libraries
Today’s information seekers demand prompt gratification. Google and other Internet search engines provide quick access to a wealth of information. What about the wealth of materials available on library shelves — how do we bring that to the user’s desktop? How do we provide the same ease and convenience of online retail vendors to the library environment? The NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol, currently available as a Draft Standard for Trial Use, uses the power of current web technology to bring a key component of the library infrastructure, it’s circulation system, into the web environment. IT links those circulation systems into a larger information delivery infrastructure. The panel will discuss the protocol and three application areas including Web Self Service, Direct Consortial Borrowing and Circulation ILL Interchange.
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD): Strategic Directions
Joan K. Lippincott
Associate Executive Director
Coalition for Networked Information
Eric F. Van de Velde
Director of Library Information Technology
California Institute of Technology
The NDLTD has become a worldwide initiative under the leadership of an international steering committee and the support of an active group at Virginia Tech. Its program areas include a wide range of issues that address various aspects of the development of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs): standards and methods for document preparation, metadata, union catalog, preservation, education and training of students, and digital libraries. In addition, NDLTD has sponsored a major annual conference and has promoted the development of ETD programs in higher education institutions through campus visits, an informative website, and preparation of training materials. A guide to the development of ETDs and ETD programs is being published with the support of UNESCO.
This year, a strategic planning committee is reviewing the programmatic areas of the NDLTD and developing some scenarios for organizational models that will provide the best infrastructure for the continuing development of the NDLTD program. Two members of the committee will lead a discussion of the NDLTD and solicit ideas and concerns from session attendees as input into the strategic planning process.
Since NDLTD programs relate to many other efforts – dealing with educational innovation, enhancing campus (digital) library infrastructure, expanding access to (student-authored) content and research results generated on campuses, and technologies like the Open Archives Initiative – all are invited who might liaise with such activities.
NINCH — The Next Five Years
David Green
Executive Director
National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage
NINCH’s Executive Director will review and seek input on the current program of the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage, now in its sixth year.
With 100 organizational and institutional members from across the cultural and educational communities, NINCH has developed a strong roster of programs that respond to constituent needs. David Green will detail NINCH’s achievements and plans for the future. Areas of particular focus will be intellectual property, community tools, and resources and strategies that foster cooperation among researchers in the computer sciences and the humanities. A key component of our agenda is to stimulate the design and development of new scholarly tools and more robust digital environments. We hope to stimulate a discussion among audience members about NINCH’s future. What are the leading dynamics among humanists and computer scientists? What are the most pressing needs and where should the organization be directed in its next 5 years? How will the interests of technology and the humanities be served by this coalition?
NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI)
Ken Klingenstein
Project Manager, Internet2 Middleware Initiative, Chief Technologist
University of Colorado, Boulder
There is a well-known need for a standard set of infrastructure tools that can support high-end computing, practical digital library use, inter-institutional collaboration tools, and integrated video applications. In September of this year, an Internet2 team, which includes EDUCAUSE and SURA, was awarded an NSF cooperative agreement, jointly with the GRIDS Center, for development and implementation of Middleware infrastructure. In this talk, Dr. Klingenstein will provide an overview of the initiative and will outline the integrated objectives for the first year.
Open Borders: Northwestern’s Joint Library/IT Effort in Faculty Support
Diane E. Perushek
Assistant University Librarian for Collection Management
Northwestern University
Bob Taylor
IT Director, Academic Technologies
Northwestern University
With the blessing of the Provost and with joint planning from the Library and IT, Northwestern University renovated an entire floor of its main Library in 2001 and co- located the primary departments for direct support of faculty into a new, hybrid Center that has been nicknamed “2EAST”.
This joint effort brings together Collection Management, Academic Technologies and Digital Media Services into one cooperative space. We will discuss why this hybrid approach to faculty support makes for a good fit at a research university such as Northwestern. We will share overviews of faculty projects in Distributed Education and in Scholarly Technologies that are particular outcomes of this 2EAST initiative. And although it is still early in 2EAST history, we will reflect upon what we might do differently.
Open Linking and the OpenURL Standard
Eric F. Van de Velde
Chair, NISO Committee AX
Director of Library Information Technology
California Institute of Technology
Harry E. Samuels
Member, NISO Committee AX
Digital Library Projects Coordinator
Endeavor Information Systems
A URL takes requestors from a citation to a destination—provided, of course, the URL is still valid. Open Links are high-quality links that feature additional properties, such as:
- Persistence: Increase the probable lifetime of citations.
- Multiplicity: Produce a menu of services for each citation.
- Context-Sensitivity: Resolve a citation in a manner appropriate to the requestor’s context.
- Manageability: Create a log of citations according to requestor specifications.
This is achieved by means of link-resolution servers or resolvers that have the ability to accept identifiers and/or metadata from one resource and identify, locate, and link to related resources. The key to this process is the ability to package identifiers and metadata and to transport these packages. These web-transportable packages of identifiers and metadata are called OpenURLs.
Open Linking has been widely recognized as an important technology for libraries and scholarly research. To encourage the growth of more, and even better, Open-Linking services, NISO has put the standardization of OpenURL on the fast track. NISO Committee AX is developing a standard syntax for OpenURLs that will serve the scholarly-information community immediately and other communities in the long term. In this session, we will introduce Open Linking, OpenURL, and the work of NISO Committee AX. We will also discuss how you can participate in the standardization process.
A Public Repository for the Storage & Distribution of Biomedical Images
Paul A. Bain
Information Research and Development Specialist
Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Rick Rogers
Director, Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Microscopic imaging is fundamental to biomedical science. Nevertheless, there remains no portal through which large amounts of image data can be obtained without specific a priori knowledge about the data’s existence. Biomedical images are typically accessible only indirectly through periodical literature, and only a small portion of the data collected by experimenters is ever published. Moreover, published images are usually delivered in formats that exclude much of the depth of the original digital data. To address the need for large-scale distribution and storage of biomedical image data, we are developing a publicly accessible repository and retrieval system for original digital micrographs, the Biomedical Image Library (BIL). BIL will hold light, fluorescent, and confocal micrographs that have been produced in support of basic biological research. A central, comprehensive catalog will provide access to the library’s holdings. Users will query the catalog with text-based searching of keywords and controlled vocabulary (Medical Subject Headings) and will identify and retrieve material through structured, hierarchic metadata that preserve the scientific context of each image. Groups of images will be subdivided into an arbitrary number of contributor-specified nodes representing the various studies, experiments, treatment groups, and samples that make up any given project. Centralized infrastructure resources, Harvard’s Digital Repository Service and Name Resolution Service, will ensure long-term maintenance and persistent naming for all objects in BIL. We anticipate that access to images in the original digital format will be of particular benefit to researchers who may wish to reuse existing digital data sets for novel quantitative analysis. BIL may also serve as a repository of data supporting articles in print or electronic publications, allowing scrutiny of data that currently cannot be published economically.
The RLG Union Catalog in the Open Web Environment
James Michalko
President
Research Libraries Group
RLG intends to provide access to its union catalog in the open web environment creating a new information service accessible directly by all web users. Users brought to the union catalog will encounter and interact with a new information typology prepared from the information in the union catalog. The overarching goal is to provide bibliographic information in the form and via the paradigms that have been established and are now expected by the general population of web users. This could revitalize and enhance the standing of trusted information institutions (libraries, archives, and museums) in the new information community. Planning for this project is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. This session will review the project goals, the status of planning, the emerging service vision and the major issues that have emerged.
Shibboleth: Inter-realm Authentication
Ken Klingenstein
Project Manager, Internet2 Middleware Initiative, Chief Technologist
University of Colorado, Boulder
Shibboleth, a project of Internet2 Middleware architects working closely with IBM/Tivoli, is developing architectures, frameworks, and practical technologies to support inter-institutional sharing of resources that are subject to access controls. Shibboleth’s emphasis on user privacy and control over information release differs from other efforts in the access control arena and makes it of particular interest to higher education content providers. Shibboleth authentication will be achieved using the credentials and directories of the legitimate users’ “home” institution. The project has moved into the coding phase and the team is preparing pilot sites for implementation. Information will be provided on the most recent project plans and timelines and on campus-specific issues including preparation for using Shibboleth. <http://middleware.internet2.edu/shibboleth/>
UT’s Digital Media Service and The Studio: Partnership Approaches to Digital Media Creation
Barbara I. Dewey
Dean of Libraries
University of Tennessee
This presentation describes the creation of production and “studio” models for digital image deployment for teaching, learning, and creation of multimedia scholarship. Two new services developed at the University of Tennessee Libraries will be discussed — the Digital Media Service, a “drop off” production facility for digitizing all types of course material (print, audio, video, images, etc.) created in partnership with the Office of Information Technology/Libraries, and The Studio, a digital multimedia laboratory embracing a studio concept for multimedia access and production by students and faculty created with assistance from academic departments. Key aspects of planning and implementing both services will be discussed. Digital Media Service URL — <http://digitalmedia.utk.edu/> and The Studio — <http://www.lib.utk.edu/mediacenter/>.