Posts by Michael Roy

 
 
 

Director of Library of Congress Center for the Book Discusses Library’s History at Middlebury’s Ilsley Public Library

September 27, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Middlebury ~ John Cole, founding director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, will discuss the Library’s history and mission in a talk at Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury on October 6. His talk, “The Library of Congress: The Ups and Downs of Jefferson’s Legacy,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7:00 p.m.

Thomas Jefferson believed that a library shared by a nation’s citizens was necessary to a democracy. Cole will explain how Jefferson’s belief, despite challenges, has again become central to the mission of the Library of Congress, which is now one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive research libraries and institutions.

Cole is founding director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.  He has published widely about books and libraries in society, as well as about the history of the Library of Congress.  His most recent book is On These Walls: Inscriptions and Quotations in The Library of Congress.

The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Middlebury are held at Ilsley Public Library.

Upcoming Middlebury talks include “What Did the Voters Really Say?” with former ABC News correspondent Barrie Dunsmore on November 3; “Potential U.S. Responses to Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions” with former Iranian ambassador to the UN Mansour Farhang on December 1; and “F. Scott Fitzgerald: American Dreamer” with Dartmouth professor Barbara Will on January 5.

A complete listing of First Wednesdays Middlebury talks is here http://www.vermonthumanities.org/index_files/firstwedmidd.htm

The Vermont Department of Libraries is the statewide underwriter of First Wednesdays. Ilsley Public Library is sponsored by Friends of Ilsley Public Library.

For more information, contact the Ilsley Public Library at 802.388.4095 or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or info@vermonthumanities.org, or visitwww.vermonthumanities.org.

The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermonters-of every background and in every community. The Council envisions a state in which every individual learns throughout life-a state in which all its citizens read, reflect, and participate in public affairs.

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Summary of Staffing Changes within LIS

September 10, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

In the past 18 months, LIS has gone through a set of major staffing changes.  25 people  have left LIS, seven have been promoted within LIS,   four have jointed LIS from other parts of the College, and three have joined us from elsewhere. In addition, there are 5 positions that are still open.   Collectively, we have lost over five hundred years of experience!  Our FTE level has dropped from an all-time high of 104 to 83.5. For those who are interested in how we are now organized, you can find an organizational chart at http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/technology/lis/about/organization . We’ve also listed below the names and titles of the promotions and new hires.

Promotions
Kellam Ayres to Circulation Services Coordinator, Reserves
Steve Bertolino to Reference & Instruction Librarian
Charlie Conway to Media Services Specialist 2
Dan Frostman to Circulation Services Manager
Jess Isler to Reference & Instruction Librarian
Mike Lynch to Area Director, Central Systems & Network Services
Carrie Macfarlane to Head of Reference & Instruction
Petar Mitrevski  to Tech Media/Services Manager
Scott Witt to Media Services Specialist 2

New Hires from within Middlebury
Joe Durante, Technology Specialist,  from Dining
Kim Gurney, Circulation Services Specialist, from Facilities
Danielle Madison, Media Specialist,  from Facilities
Janine McDonald , Circulation Services Specialist, from Career Services

New Hires from elsewhere
Danna Gianforte – Area Director, Enterprise Applications
Dennis Hadley – Senior Technology Specialist
Matt LaFrance – Web Programmer
Positions Still to be Filled
Collection Development Acquisitions and Cataloging Manager
Database Administrator
Senior Technology Specialist
Network/Security Administrator
System Programmer Administrator
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Postponing the Evaluation

August 30, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

We have decided that we need more time to prepare before we have a public conversation about whether or not we should implement Google Apps for Middlebury College. As you can find on this blog, we have developed a set of preliminary analyses of the issues that surround this potential shift, but we believe that in the interest of using everyone’s time effectively, it would be better to postpone broader conversations about this possibility until we have spent more time clarifying the significant differences that exist between these platforms, and have also factored in recent developments from Microsoft and others that provide interesting alternatives that were not part of our initial evaluation plan. Please feel free to engage the materials already posted (via comments) to this blog and stay tuned for an update on our plans to engage the community in this important conversation.

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Area 51 notes – July 8, 2010

July 23, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere
Present: Mike Lynch, Mike Roy, Shel Sax, Terry Simpkins (notes), Mary Backus
CurrTech Team: BCarson SDriscoll AChapin JPile joined us for agenda item #1
The CT team met with us and reviewed their recommendations, along with the results of their focus groups surveys, particularly regarding the online discussion component, the audio/video components, and the potential use of MiddMedia to store media files.
Their primary recommendation is the creation of a “course hub” for faculty/students.  Course sites could be automatically created from Banner info., and the hub would provide a single site that provides access to the various components that comprise the materials used in online course management (i.e., whether wiki, blog, LMS, etc.)  It would incorporate easy functionality to add a syllabus, with added capability for functionality such as assignments, course readings, etc.
The hub would based on Drupal, which people already know and LIS already supports.  This would be a minimal level of support, and other platforms (MediaWiki, Moodle, Wordpress, etc.) would be readily connectable to (through) the Course Hub.
There was a lot of discussion centering around whether this is basically rebuilding Segue.  The team argued that they are not recommending building a specific LMS (learning management system) such as Segue, but rather building linkages between existing systems.
Ultimately, the ADs requested more info from the CT team:
a) Undertake due diligence about ready-made solutions
b) Talk to SunGard Banner people about their product roadmap and if there are plans to incorporate any of this functionality within Banner directly
c) Sketch out steps to estimate timeline – partially (at least) done – including support requirements & costs.
d) Functional comparison of Moodle/Sakai/Blackboard/GoogleApps
e) Engage BL/LS/MIIS (currently awaiting survey results, etc.)
f) Engage faculty, perhaps involving liaisons or others to assist with gaining feedback.
There was a question from the Security Team.  With the departure of Jeff Rehbach (whom we miss) we are losing our go-to person for policy-related questions. Should the security team be viewed as a group that will be writing the security-related policies? If so, do they need any (legal or other) training?  The ADs thought that, yes, the ST should look at existing security-related policies for deficiencies (as well as thinking about policies that we need to create as part of our efforts to improve security), review other policies at other institutions as needed, and make recommendations for changes.  If they identified professional development opportunities to support those tasks, LIS would do what we can to support that.
We discussed the change management form and process.  Mike R will write a blog post explicating the reasons/thinking behind the process.  The ADs tend to be the ones to call about when the change management process is appropriate and when it’s not.  We reaffirmed that the purpose of the process is not simply to layer bureacracy onto the change process, but to respond and mitigate problems that might (and have) occurred.
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Area 51 notes – June 24, 2010

July 23, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present:  M. Roy, T. Simpkins, J. Rehbach, S. Sax, M. Lynch, M. Backus, D. Bernier

The Education and Training Team submitted a proposal to clarify/modify the teams’ charge.  This proposal was discussed, noting some suggestions which the sponsor will bring back to the team.

The agenda for the next Managers meeting (July 8th) was prepared. Topics will be goal setting, strategic direction and stakeholders.

New Employees – At the July 21st All Staff meeting, new LIS employees will be introduced.  The second half of the meeting will be dedicated to new employee orientation.  Additionally, new employees and their managers will be invited to an AD meeting to discuss strategic planning, the LIS organizational structure and provide an introduction to LIS Teams.

Google Apps Evaluations – draft outlines need to be posted by July 1st and presentation dates need to be selected.  Mike R would like to submit a blog post early in July giving details about these presentations

Annual Report – AD’s have agreed to post annual report content by August 1st.

The transition of responsibilities when Jeff Rehbach retires was discussed.  Some items discussed were banner time approvals and proxy, IT strategic plan, disaster recovery documents, handbook responsibilities and DMCA.

Change Management Proposals – these proposals were reviewed prior to this meeting.  Process changes were discussed and the proposal template needs some modification.  Time sensitive issues need to be clearly noted.


The VPN proposal was approved, while the Exchange proposal still needs some additional information before approval is granted.  A meeting will be arranged to discuss with appropriate individuals.

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Area 51 notes – June 3, 2010

July 23, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present: Mike Roy, Jeff Rehbach, Shel Sax, Mike Lynch, Mary Backus , Carol Peddie, Terry Simpkins and Doreen Bernier

The ADs reviewed the weekly updates prior to the meeting. The following was addressed.
· Moodle, Papercut and network upgrade should all go through the change management process
· Phoenix project needs to be updated

Calendar

  • Assign LS/BL report writers –Andy Wentink and Joy Pile will be the report writers for Bread Loaf and the Language Schools. Services need to be evaluated and which reports are needed must be determined.  Terry and Mary will meet to outline reports.
  • May 30 review/Update LIS Strategic Choices/Goals – discussion moved to June 18th AD retreat


LIS Website Team Next Generation – this discussion was postponed for temporarily. Terry (sponsor) and Jess (leader) will refine the team charge and confirm team membership

Annual Report discussion. Work continues on the annual report, outline review needs to be finished by Monday, June 7th, with write-ups completed by August.

Ongoing support of community.middlebury.edu — defining limits of support when people have done custom programming (perl, php) on their sites: should this type of support be on our “not-to-do list”? We had a lengthy discussion on this topic. Mike would like to see a list of pages on this site, identifying the more complex sites. We need to think about having a good environment to support faculty with more extensive sites. Where should faculty have their sites located? We also need to offer options to provide support beyond our limits. Should we hire students to assist?

We reviewed the team agreements made during Fred’s team training workshop. No changes need to be made.

Lengthy discussion about the upcoming network upgrade. Some of the high points:

  • Funds for this project would not come out of our capital budget.
  • The current Cisco maintenance costs would stop.
  • Cabling labor would be included and documentation would be supplied by the vendor.
  • Currently Middsecure is hard to attach to and offers only moderate coverage.
  • When asked, students felt that providing wireless to dorms was not necessary. But, if we provide robust wireless, students will use it. Data should be gathered.
  • Who will prioritize the order of buildings and who will schedule it? (possibly SLAC and housing office).
  • How should the security team be involved?
  • A communications plan needs to be prepared.
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Notes from July Manager’s Meeting

July 23, 2010 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

We had a manager’s meeting this month. Here’s what we discussed:

1. Goal Setting Process

Mary Backus led a discussion on the goal setting process for LIS. Her presentation is available at http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dg3d3j83_10ck44mfgj . Milestones for the process are: Area and Team Goals due at end of July. Workgroup goals due at end of August. Individual goals reworked to fit into this new framework at end of September. Area and workgroup goals to be vetted by FLAC and SLAC in time for budget development process.

2. LIS Focus Document

Mike Roy shared a draft of the LIS Focus document that is revised on a quarterly basis. The document is open for comments on the LIS Blog at http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/2010/07/14/updated-lis-focus-document-draft/ .

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