Tag Archives: LIS

Please welcome Joe Langevin to ITS

We are pleased to announce the recent addition of Joe Langevin to the staff of ITS.  Joe joins us in the role of Senior Programmer Analyst on the Administrative Systems team in Enterprise Applications.  Joe spent the previous 15+ years working as a Senior Technical Consultant for Ellucian and Sun Guard Higher Education.  During this time Joe provided consulting services to over 150 schools in the areas of Banner Student, Advancement and Self Service.   Prior to his time at Ellucian Joe spent 10 years as a Senior Project Analyst at the University of Vermont.

Some of you may also know Joe from his time here at Middlebury.  As an Ellucian employee Joe participated as a consultant and programmer to guide Middlebury’s original implementation of the Banner Student module.

Please take an opportunity to say hello and introduce yourselves to Joe.  We’re very excited to have Joe on our team and look forward to the benefits of the vast experience he brings to our organization.

Announcing the new LIS Help & Support site — the gateway for great help

AnnounceThanks to the hard work of the LIS Education and Training team, LIS now offers a help gateway that collects great resources from all corners of our department and makes it easy for you to find what you need.  You’re also quite likely to discover some new tools and ways to learn about technology and library resources along the way.  Don’t take our word for it — visit go/lishelp and see for yourself.  Here are just a few things you can do:

  • Search LIS web pages and wiki lore to get answers to your questions.
  • Submit a HelpDesk ticket to request assistance or search the FAQ database for answers.
  • Find who in LIS can help you.
  • Use quick links to access “how to” information tailored to different audiences.
  • Check systems status.
  • Learn how LIS can help you acquire more technology and library skills.

 

 

Research Data Managment Implemenation Workshop, March 2013

A Research Data Management Implementation Workshop was held on March 13-14, 2013, with Alison Darrow (SRO) and Wendy Shook (LIS) attending selected webcasts.

SELECT * FROM rdminotes WHERE comment != ‘soapbox’

Take away points:

  • There is a lot of energy behind data management, and many good standards and tools being developed, but the field is in a constant state of flux.
  • Despite that energy, there is significant frustration.  Funding agencies are providing objective outcomes, but not implementation guidance.  They are waiting to see what consensus comes from the field, while users and providers are looking for some kind of direction or expectation from funding agencies to get them started. (I’d like to point out that this is a tremendous opportunity for the data management community to contribute to standards and best practices!)
  • There is emphasis on big data, in part due to volumes produced and dollars consumed, but that emphasis leaves smaller implementations feeling isolated, even though small data are valuable assets that require as much attention as big data do.
  • A variety of data management models were discussed, each with staunch proponents, but I expect the reality to be custom approaches taking the most useful element of each model.

An excellent collection of position papers are available at https://rdmi.uchicago.edu/page/submitted-experience-and-position-papers

 

Oberlin Group of 17 Digital Library Unconference

The Oberlin Group of 17 Digital Library Unconference was held on May 21, 2013, at Mt. Holyoke College.  With over 30 participants from 14 of the OG17 schools, there was lively discussion on topics including digital library planning and scope, organization and staffing, platforms and tools, data management and preservation policy, digital scholarship/digital humanities, outreach, and archiving born-digital records.

The format of the meeting eschewed the traditional speaker followed by a few questions in favour of a lightning round describing current projects at representated colleges, then brainstorming topics to be further discussed in a series of “break-out” sessions. The format felt more collaborative and productive than simply presenting information.   Discussions were deemed successful enough to warrant follow-up meetings.

Attendees from Middlebury: Wendy Shook, Rebekah Irwin, Bryan Carson.

New DVD/CD Display Case at the Circulation Desk

We have recently added a DVD/CD display case on the Circ Desk, near the TV. The purpose of this case is twofold; to showcase recommendations by LIS student employees, all other students (& anyone who is interested), and secondly, for others to get some great tips. Top picks are for movies, documentaries, TV shows/series, and music. Everyone can participate, and we encourage your interaction. Alongside the display case is a testimonial (with optional photo) about a specific selection. This is a great way to unveil several “hidden gems” within our vast DVD stacks. We have newly-released titles you may not expect, films like Oscar-nominated Midnight in Paris, Beginners (Oscar winner for supporting actor Christopher Plummer), Moneyball, Tree of Life. Additionally, we enjoy featuring many of our timeless classics.

Bringing out behind-the-desk CD collections is particularly fun because they are unavailable for browsing, other than via Midcat. We have Paul McCartney’s new release, “Kisses on the Bottom,” along with jazz greats Coltrane, Davis, and genres in classical, hip-hop, bluegrass, fusion, Latin-inspired, country, etc. There is a seemingly endless number of CDs from A (as in Alison Krauss) to Z (as in Frank Zappa) and everything in between.
If you are passionate about your music and film/TV favorites, please let us know.  We welcome your recommendations since we are always on the hunt for good stuff. And do come by to view our special features from the case.

Does tagging content make it easier to find with search? No.

I’ve received this question from several people now. Below are two videos from Matt Cutts who works on Google’s Webspam team explaining how tagging content mostly does not affect their search results. This also means that tagging largely will not affect how results appear on Middlebury’s site, since we use Google to provide our search results.

Tags

Tag Clouds

This does not mean that you shouldn’t tag content at all. Tags can still be useful for humans who want to find other posts and pages on a topic. However, if you want your page to be easier to find, your time is better invested in making sure that the content is well written, structured and relevant to a particular topic.

Help us improve the LIS Website!

The LIS Website team has set up four quick tests to see if we’ve placed links to resources and information in the right place on the page and used the correct labels. For each test, you’ll be asked 5 questions like, “Where would you click to find out when the next Cookie Night will be?” You can click anywhere on the screenshot and can leave multiple clicks for each question. To add a comment to one of your clicks like, “I’d click here, but only because I know to find Cookie Night information on the blog…” you can click the plus (+) sign above and to the right of your placemark.

We’ve created one test for each of the four areas of the LIS Website. Each test has a different set of five questions. A test should only take 1-2 minutes to complete. Thanks for your help!

LIS Homepage

Library Homepage

Helpdesk Homepage

Curricular Technology Homepage

Thank you LIS staff!

thank-you-sign-251x388
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!