STAFF RESOURCES |
The revised agenda was approved.
Grace Agnew introduced the E-textbook Discussion group, a subgroup of LRC that will be holding open discussions in the SCC on the following topics:
Current members of USC and LRC have been added to the group’s sakai site where relevant readings are posted. The E-textbook Discussion Group welcomes new members, who must commit to reading in advance of the open discussions. Recommendations on each topic and a final report to LRC are expected in June. Anyone from USC wishing to join the group should contact Grace.
Melissa Just reported on a 2-day MOOC (massive open online course) conference at UPenn sponsored by OCLC Research. Rutgers recently joined Coursera and will offer 3 courses in the fall. Panels covered a range of topics including teaching techniques, creating community, credit and certificates, fees, proctoring exams and biometric identity verification, accreditation, infrastructure needs, and the role of libraries. Three roles were discussed for libraries—copyright & rights adviser, content repository, and campus networker. Attendees were encouraged to take a MOOC to learn what the experience is like. Melissa postponed a report on the South by Southwest Interactive Conference.
Bobbie Tipton reported the ICOP (Instruction Community of Practice) met with UMDNJ instruction librarians. The group discussed instruction statistics, local and those reported externally. They are interested in investigating a scheduling system that would book rooms in and out of the library and also gather statistics, accommodating non-instruction meetings as well. Tibor mentioned that IIS has been looking at a module in Zimbra that does what BookRoom does now. It needs development and might also be customized to handle statistics.
Grace reported that the RFP for web scale discovery has gone out and is due April 1; demos will be scheduled for mid to late April. Integration teams are working on merging UMDNJ’s Voyager system with RUL’s integrated library system. Items, holdings, and serials check-in will be integrated by mid to late April. A portal strategy for Smith and RWJ users is being developed.
Melissa announced that the READ Scale Task Force kickoff meeting will be next Wednesday.
Tibor reviewed SCC server downtime which started Thursday afternoon last week. ETDs were up on Friday and the rest on Monday. IIS will do a forensics analysis to find out why the server went down and is building in further redundancy. The new beta website was introduced at an open meeting March 8, and an email sent to rul_everyone asking for comments. Its release is planned for June 1. UMDNJ integration and staff involvement with the website is underway.
Fernanda announced the Women in the Civil War lecture has been rescheduled and will take place Monday, April 8th, at noon in the Pane Room.
Cathy reported that letters to vendors about the RU-UMDNJ merger are starting to go out.
Joseph announced that DIG has suspended monthly meetings until July in order to allow its members to focus on priority projects related to webscale discovery and the UMDNJ integration
Melissa announced that 24-hour exam hours are moving from SERC to LSM this spring.
Harry Glazer (marketing) and web scale discovery will be on USC’s April agenda.
Next Meeting: Thursday, April 25th, 10:00 am