Hi everyone:
Planning for the 2CUL Technical Services Integration (TSI) is proceeding apace, and we have quite a number of developments to report since our previous update.
- We have appointed a 2CUL Remote Desktop Support Committee that will be responsible for establishing, documenting, and maintaining the network connections that will allow Columbia and Cornell technical services staff to work together and in each other’s systems. This committee is made up of Gary Branch and Amy Blumenthal at Cornell and Gary Bertchume at Columbia. Members of this group have been busy with the recent Voyager upgrades at their respective institutions, but now that the dust has settled on the upgrades, the team is ready to begin work on its charge. For more information, see charge.
- A 2CUL TSI Administrative Team is also now in place. The aim of this group will be to address those aspects of the 2CUL Phase 2 effort that relate to technical services integration but exceed the scope of the TSI Steering Committee and its functional teams. For specifics, see the Administrative Team charge. Kate Harcourt and Bob Wolven represent Columbia in this group; Jim LeBlanc and Xin Li represent Cornell. Gail Anderson (Columbia) and Lyndsi Prignon (Cornell) will serve as library human resource liaisons to this group.
- Other TSI teams are in the works: a Monograph Ordering Team (membership and charge pending), an E-Resources Troubleshooting Team (membership and charge pending), a Licensed E-Resources Interfaces Working Group (membership and charge pending), a CJKT Staffing Team (that’s “T” for Tibetan – under discussion), and a Metadata Team (on the immediate horizon). We expect to be charging and appointing a number of other function-specific teams over the next several weeks. We’ll announce these groups as they are officially launched.
- Columbia’s Sarah Elman has been serving on the search committee for Cornell’s Director of Cataloging & Metadata Services position. Cornell’s Boaz Nadav-Manes and Jason Kovari have been asked to serve on pending search committees for eBook specialist and web archivist positions, respectively, at Columbia.
- Columbia has provided Cornell access to their RDA wiki and RDA training materials. Columbia has also established a shared listserv for discussion of RDA issues. Columbia’s Robert Rendall will be conducting RDA Serials Training at Cornell in mid-February.
- Alex Thurman, Columbia’s web archivist, is tentatively scheduled to speak at one of Cornell’s Metadata Working Group meetings in the spring; also in the spring, four members of the TSI Steering Committee (Adam Chandler, Kate Harcourt, Jim LeBlanc, and Robert Rendall) will be giving an informal presentation on 2CUL TSI during Cornell’s Career Development Week – more on this latter event, which will be available to Columbia staff via Polycom – as the time approaches.
- POOF! (Pre-Order Online Form), the automated acquisitions software developed at Cornell, is now in production at Columbia and has replaced the OOF (Online Order Form) formerly in use there. POOF! has been in production at Cornell since 2011.
- A 2CUL support staff position has been created at Columbia to work for both institutions on continuing and electronic resources. The intent of the position is to establish an infrastructure to support integrated 2CUL operations.
- Kate Harcourt, Robert Rendall, and Jim LeBlanc will be meeting with Debra Andreadis and others at ALA Midwinter to discuss the technical services integration at Denison University and Kenyon College Libraries a few years ago. Yes, someone has actually done this and is willing to talk about it! The TSI Steering Committee is also planning a conference call with representatives from these two institutions in mid-February to continue the conversation begun at ALA. For more on the Kenyon/Denison initiative, see the article (also accessible from the “Articles” page on the 2CUL TSI wiki).
- Not a TSI endeavor per se, but Jesse Koennecke (along with Breck Witte, Director of Columbia’s Library Information Technology Office) led contingents of select Cornell and Columbia staff on a visit to Princeton University Library on January 14/15 to view Princeton’s test installation of Ex Libris’s Alma system. Other 2CUL technical services staff who went on this field trip include: Ilona Bicsak, Sarah Elman, Lois Purcell, Alan Schaplowsky, Pam Stansbury, Susan Summer, and Deb Warfield. It is likely that a decision on whether to pursue implementation of a 2CUL Alma system will be made soon. Obviously, implementation of a shared LMS will affect TSI big-time – and positively, we hope!
- Finally, a reminder about the 2CUL TSI wiki. That front page won’t change much, but do feel free to click on some of the links – that’s where the action is. The pace at which we’ll be issuing these progress reports will increase as the overall TSI effort expands, but the more detailed background material, meetings notes, etc. will live on the wiki. With the exception of the “Restricted” section, these wiki pages should be accessible to all 2CUL staff.
Please feel free to consult with your supervisors, if you have any questions or concerns about TSI, or with any member of the TSI Steering Committee: Kate Harcourt, Colleen Major, or Robert Rendall at Columbia; Adam Chandler, Boaz Nadav-Manes, or me at Cornell.
- Jim LeBlanc (on behalf of the TSI SC)