Monthly Archives: February 2010

Thank you LIS staff!

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It takes a village to raise a web presence and at Midd over 295 people helped create the new College website. Many of those were LIS staff. Almost every person in LIS touched a part of our new LIS web presence, a truly collaborative effort! Individuals, teams, work groups and areas across LIS pulled together to make it happen – all in a very short time frame with reduced budgets and staffing resources.

LIS staff created content and navigation using three different platforms, Drupal, Mediawiki and WordPress, to create a web presence to meet the diverse needs of our user community and to also represent all of us in LIS.

People who worked on the Drupal platform to create the LIS web pages, Help and Support, Library, and LIS Landing, include Joe Antonioli, Kellam Ayres, Mary Backus, Jim Beauchemin, Doreen Bernier, Bryan Carson, Alex Chapin, Sue Driscoll, Brenda Ellis, Peggy Fischel, Adam Franco, Daniel Frostman, Arabella Holzapfel, Jess Isler, Richard Jenkins, Jeffrey Lahaie, Mike Lynch, Carrie Macfarlane, Rachel Manning, Ian McBride, Barbara Merz, Ben Molberger, Chris Norris, Joy Pile, Hans Raum, Jeff Rehbach, Mack Roark, Danielle Rougeau, Mike Roy, Lynn Saunders, Terry Simpkins, Marcy Smith, Joe Toth, Elin Waagen, Joseph Watson, Andy Wentink and Liz Whitaker-Freitas.

Countless others, including some LIS student employees, have helped create content and documentation in WordPress and Mediawiki. They include Adam Franco, Alex Chapin, Andy Wentink, Arabella Holzapfel, Barbara Merz, Ben Molberger, Brenda Ellis, Brendan Owens, Brendan Smith, Brian Foley, Bryan Carson, Carol Peddie, Carrie Macfarlane, Cynthia Slater, Cynthia Watters, Daniel Frostman, Danielle Rougeau, Dean Cadoret, Doreen Bernier, Elin Waagen, Liz Whitaker-Freitas, Gary Weiss, Hans Raum, Ian McBride, Jim Beauchemin, Jean Simmons, Jeff Rehbach, Jess Isler, Joe Antonioli, Joe Toth, Joseph Watson, Joy Pile, Judy Watts, Kellam Ayres, Linda Knutson, Lisa Terrier, Lynn Saunders, Mack Roark, Marcy Smith, Peggy Fischel, Marlena Evans, Marty New, Mary Backus, Mike Lynch, Mike Roy, Michael Warner, Nancy Reynolds, Nate Burt, Patty Hornbeck, Petar Mitrevski, Phil Gullion, Rachel Manning, Richard Jenkins, Shawn O’Neil, Shel Sax, Steve Bertolino, Sue Driscoll, Terry Simpkins, Todd Sturtevant, and Travis Stafford.

If I have omitted anyone – please excuse the oversight – and let me know!

In addition, I’d like to thank Mike Roy, Mary Backus, Terry Simpkins, Carol Peddie, Jeff Rehbach and Shel Sax for their support of the work of the Web Team, critical to the success of both the process and the end result. A special thanks to Jeff Rehbach, our fearless and supportive team sponsor.

This post would not be complete without a HUGE thanks to the members of the LIS Web Team – Jess, Ian, Jim, Liz, Carrie, Doreen, and Barbara for their tireless dedication to the project. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to work and learn with them.

The web team could not possibly have orchestrated this project without the support and hard work of so many! The LIS web presence is a work in progress and will continue to evolve and grow with the help of all LIS staff, and our work together will give our users not only the best possible web experience, but will also be a shining indication of all the good work that we do in LIS.
A BIG thanks to you all!

The Middlebury Blog Network

The “Blogging at Middlebury” blog has been renamed “The Middlebury Blog Network” and is now using the Translucence theme.  As well, it has been reconfigured to aggregate selected posts from the Midd blogosphere.  Blog owners interested in having their blogs listed on this site currently need to contact Joe Antonioli.

Library Spotlight

The front page of the new library site (at http://midd2.middlebury.edu/academics/lib today, and at go/lib later tomorrow) has a “Library Spotlight” section that will feature news and tips for library users. The content will come straight from the LIS blog.  Anything here that’s tagged “Library Spotlight” will show up there too.

If you know something that library users would want to know too, please post it to the LIS blog and add the “Library Spotlight” tag to your post.  The neat thing is that you’ll be getting the word out to LIS staff and library users all at once.

Use the “Library Spotlight” tag for information such as:

  • new library resources, collections, web sites, search techniques, go shortcuts, etc.
  • hidden library treasures and answers to common questions
  • changes in library hours, services and facilities

Thank you in advance!  The more “Library Spotlight” posts there are, the better the library site will be.

LIS Wiki Gets a Facelift

Not to be outdone by the College website’s extreme makeover tomorrow, the LIS Wiki got its own facelift today.  To help our readers find what they need, it now  features audience-specific collections of links to wiki content. Anyone still can search the wiki, but readers who prefer browsing now have a new option.

The LIS Website Team compiled these links with your help–thank you!  If you don’t see your favorite wiki content in the audience-specific lists, please log in and contribute.

If you have feedback or questions, or if you need help with editing the wiki, let us know!  Post a response here in the blog, or write to liswebteam@middlebury.edu.

discussion of video and copyright

This is from one of the lists that I am on, and seemed worthy of broader distribution via the LIS Blog.

The Association for Information and Media Equipment has recently challenged one of our institution’s copyright compliance regarding the posting of video on university servers for instruction. As we understand it from the press, this challenge has resulted in the institution no longer posting the video for fear of legal action.

This situation echos previous instances when content owners have threatened our institutions with litigation for infringement, for example the various institutions whom the American Association of Publishers approached regarding e-reserves and course management systems a few years ago. It differs from the peer to peer aspect of copyright significantly because, apart now from HEOA compliance, our colleges and universities did not have liability as conduit service providers, i.e. the allegedly infringing material was not being served from our servers, we acted only as I.S.P.s. Thus, this current matter is serious. Not only does it threaten exorbitant legal expenses and damages in both dollars and reputation, by touching instruction it threatens the exercise of our missions.

Steve Worona, on EDUCAUSE’s behalf, has begun a blog to educate people about this matter and stimulate discussion in the community. http://www.educause.edu/blog/sworona/UCLAVideoStreamingDamnedDammed/197444

Please take a moment to learn more about this matter, as we are learning about it, and most especially talk with your colleagues at home and around the community. It may be that higher education must approach the issue from a range of positions (standing firm on fair use, understanding better the opportunities and limitations of the Teach Act, proactively and collectively arranging for licensing are some examples that jump quickly to mind) but what is absolutely critical is that we do so as a community, working to help each other to preserve our missions.

Photo Op!

Dear LIS staff,
Is your contact information up to date in the College Directory? Need to add a new picture – or update the one you have? If so, stop by Circ – I’d be happy to take your picture and show you how you can upload it to the College Directory. It’s easy and quick! Privacy settings can be adjusted to allow your picture to display to the world or only to the campus. Our new web pages go live at the end of this week – is your personal contact information ready?