About NASIG

Content of the workshop will include discussion of RDA instructions used in the cataloging of serials; identification of RDA elements applicable to the FRBR entities work, expression, manifestation, and item; identification of roles played by persons, families, and corporate bodies in connection with serials; and creation of records for different categories of serials.

Presenter:  Judy Kuhagen.

Judy Kuhagen

This hands-on workshop will introduce beginning as well as seasoned catalogers in the creation of original MARC records for e-books using the RDA and the AACR2 content standards.  Introduction to guidelines and plenty of practical exercises will be provided.

Presenters:  Marielle Veve, Wanda Rosinski

Marielle Veve

Wanda Rosinski

Presenter:  Amanda Yesibas.

Amanda Yesilbas

Are you interested in becoming a department head?  Or have you recently been appointed as a department head?  Many library schools and libraries provide little if any training on how to be an effective department head.  To help you prepare for what lies ahead, Micheline Westfall, Kay Johnson, and Molly Royse will share the insight gained from 40 years of combined experience in middle management.  Topics will include HR (hiring, disciplinary actions, performance evaluations), budgeting, time management, leading meetings, mentoring, networking within the library and on campus, maintaining a good work/personal life balance, and other tidbits you should learn about your library and the university.  

Presenters:  Micheline Westfall, Kay Johnson, Molly Royse.

Micheline Westfall

Kay Johnson

Molly Royse

Full Conference Registration includes Receptions (Thursday and Friday), Breakfast (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and Lunch (Friday and Saturday).

In 2008, the University of Southern Indiana began a new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program offered via distance education.  Prior to its beginning, USI librarians collaborated with nursing faculty to identify ways to support the program.  As a result of these discussions and using grant funding provided by the nursing department, the library added relevant electronic journals and open access journal collections.  The online journals included titles that had previously been available in print as well as new online-only journal titles.  Providing electronic access to the journals would enable distance education students to easily use these materials.  In addition to existing full-text databases, the library also made available two open access journal collections, including Bentham Open Access Journals and PubMed Central Open Access Journals.  The library also expanded its interlibrary loan (ILL) services by providing an article delivery (AD) service on a trial basis to all students enrolled in the program living more than 50 miles from campus.  This three-year study sought to answer the question, “How well do the library’s new and existing resources and services support DNP student research?”  The methods used by this study included a citation analysis of references listed in formal papers, an examination of usage statistics generated by the electronic resources supporting the program, a student satisfaction survey, and a review of students’ use of ILL and AD services.  The citation analysis provided data indicating the sources used (number, type, currency, etc.) by the students and the library’s ability to supply them.  Reviews of the usage statistics for the online journals and databases provided a comparison of how the use of these resources has been affected by the DNP enrollment.  The student satisfaction surveys have given feedback on the students’ opinions and behaviors regarding the resources and services made available by the library.  Taken together, these data have given a clearer picture of the library’s ability to support the program and a basis upon which to evaluate future needs and possible changes.

Presenters:  Peter Whiting, Philip Orr.

By comparing year-over-year usage before and after implementation of discovery services, libraries are able to quantify the impact discovery is having on usage of their resources.  Early results reported by Michigan’s Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in June 2010 followed by University of Houston (UH) in May 2011 show web-scale discovery having a transformational effect—astronomical growth in the usage of their electronic resources.  GVSU continues to look at the numbers, but is also measuring the impact of discovery at their library by the discussions that the introduction of this new “digital front door” has prompted.  Learning more about how students and faculty approach and use library resources and the importance (or non-importance depending on the audience) type of resource plays in the research process is serious food for thought.  This session will focus on new analytics and the availability of additional metrics; determining how best to help researchers of all kinds; and the choices that libraries consider as they enter and navigate in this new world of web-scale discovery.

Presenters:  Jeffrey Daniels, John Law.

Jeffrey Daniels

John Law

Program description forthcoming.

Presenters:  Andrea Ogier, Althea Aschmann, Michael Sechler.

Andrea Ogier

Althea Aschmann

Michael Sechler

As more and more libraries acquire content in electronic format, libraries are purchasing and implementing ERM systems to manage their online content. But what about the information needed to acquire and manage the content? This information is typically stored, if stored at all, in spreadsheets, documents, shared drives, wikis, home-grown databases, someone else’s email, post-it notes, etc. In other words, information for which quick retrieval is essential is stored in a variety of locations that may or may not be accessible to all who need access to the information. This program will discuss the need for an ERM System administration record and provide examples of modified ERM System records used to store administration information such as checklists, FTE counts, funding models, license negotiation clauses, and systematic downloading response procedures. Findings from an online survey that assesses such a need will be presented.

Presenter:  Deberah England.

Deberah England

Negotiating license agreements with publishers and other vendors can be intimidating.  Yet a lack of confidence is your worst enemy when sitting down with a publisher or vendor to negotiate contract terms.  This session will help attendees learn the skills they need to negotiate with confidence and authority.  Drawing upon fifteen years of work in e-resource negotiation, the session leader will discuss methodologies that drive success, such as setting effective negotiation meeting agendas, developing negotiation strategies, and employing negotiation teams.    The session leader will also consider how the judicious use of language and pertinent data can influence the negotiation process.

Presenter:  Claire Dygert.

Claire Dygert

Serialist as publisher - a great duet? Serialists’ lives at academic libraries revolve around publishing, publication patterns and terminology, and technology. Join us for a session with two serialists who use skills honed in their respective serials departments to see how those skills adapt to the world of e-publishing. In this session, the presenters will discuss their roles in e-publishing and their respective university presses and library publishing programs. How have their libraries reorganized to provide resources for supporting these new roles? The daily work of an e-publishing librarian will be reviewed, including an overview of working with Digital Commons and OJS (Open Journal Systems), two e-press platforms. The presenters will also discuss funding and sustainability of the programs and working with open access and subscription titles.

Presenters:  Char Simser, Wendy Robertson

Char Simser

Wendy Robertson

This program will provide information about how Mississippi State University Libraries deconstructed two of their “big deal” eJournal packages and reverted back to individual subscriptions. The presenters will explain the reasons why the “big deal” packages were no longer viable for MSU and the methods we used to deconstruct two of our largest and most used publisher packages. The new individual subscription model takes effect January 2012, therefore, the presenters will have 6 months of tangible consequences, comments, and repercussions to present and discuss with the audience.

Presenters:  Mary Ann Jones, Derek Marshall.

Mary Ann Jones

Derek Marshall

Discovery is a key component of a library’s services, and user expectations are high. Even if a web-scale discovery system isn’t in the cards, there is plenty a library can do to improve discovery for their users. Librarians at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have been engaged in an ongoing discovery improvement project encompassing the website, catalog, database lists and more, all based on extensive user feedback. The presenters will share successful strategies for evaluating and improving discovery, no expensive software or programming skills necessary.

Presenters:  Chris Bulock, Lynette Fields.

Chris Bulock

Lynette Fields

Mobile technology is in a great state of flux and competition and the bar keeps getting set higher.  What models of service are leading the pack?  Should libraries be providing mobile devices or rather, should libraries be providing content for any kind of device and leave the choice of device to our patrons? This session will explore the most recent trends so that attendees can get a sense of the marketplace and what might work best in their own context.  Many libraries are experimenting with handheld readers such as Kindle, Nook and iPads, and at the same time testing out various platforms to deliver e-content (such as Overdrive and 3-M Cloud Library).  

Presenter:  Eleanor Cook.

Eleanor Cook

In June 2010, the University of Vermont (UVM) Libraries was awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project (VTDNP) as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) developed by NEH and the Library of Congress. The Project’s goal is to select, digitize, and make available up to 100,000 pages of Vermont newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from the collections of the Vermont Department of Libraries and the University of Vermont. The digitized newspapers will be made freely available to the public via the Library of Congress' Chronicling America database. The UVM Libraries work collaboratively with partners at the Vermont Department of Libraries in Montpelier, and the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury, who form the core of the Project planning and management group activities. We have also formed a state-wide Advisory Committee to aid in the selection of titles. The NDNP is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, and state projects that are collaborating in a national effort create a freely accessible national digital resource of historic newspapers from all fifty states and U.S. territories. Birdie MacLennan and Tom McMurdo will present an overview of VTDNP from planning stages and implementation, to creation of metadata and the transformation of microfilmed newspapers into online searchable content … from "reel to real". Following the presentation there will be discussion and a question and answer period.

Presenters:  Tom McMurdo, Birdie MacLennan.

Tom McMurdo

Birdie MacLennan

The existence of standards in library work is a crucial aspect of interoperability, efficient workflows, and effective use of development and implementation resources for vendors and libraries. Libraries are fortunate to have at their disposal a wide range of standards in any department - metadata management, electronic resources, data services, etc.   Participants in the standards process often present disparate motivations for their input, as well as distinct expertise and points of view - however, a broad representation of interests is mandatory to ensure that the standards output will enjoy broad adoption and ongoing support.  Common ground and good timing are further ingredients which ensure full value for effort expended.    This presentation will discuss how standards and best practices are initiated, reviewed, created and marketed at NISO, using several new projects begun in 2011 and older standards "workhorses" as illustrations.

Presenter:  Nettie Lagace.

Nettie Lagace

The biological and medical research chronically suffers from the low reproducibility of experimental studies since the traditional text format of science journals cannot provide an adequate description of details and nuances of complex experimental procedures. This creates a critical “bottleneck” problem of knowledge transfer for research and education. Addressing this challenge, a new generation of science journals employs video online to provide a systematic visualized publication of experimental studies. Visualization through video greatly facilitates the understanding and learning of experimental procedures enhancing knowledge transfer and productivity in research and education. The video-based publication in the rigorous academic format requires a new set of concepts and technical approaches to production, publication and dissemination processes. As the publisher of Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), the first video journal for biological sciences indexed in MEDLINE and PubMed, I would like to provide an overview of the growing field of video publication and discuss its technical challenges, implications for scholarly communication and acceptance in the academic and library community.

Presenter:  Moshe Pritsker.

Moshe Pritsker

Libraries collect and use many different types of statistics, but effectively managing them is a challenging opportunity for libraries to understand statistical trends through analysis. Panelists Susan Payne and Stephanie Wical conducted a survey of academic libraries in order to understand what statistics libraries currently collect; what tools and measures they use and for what purpose; and to uncover best practices. New tools have been developed that help manage statistics but questions remain. How do we compare statistics across vendors? What measures are libraries using and why? Have libraries discovered effective ways to manipulate and present their data? How do libraries value and prioritize uses of statistics that they collect? Is it possible to analyze statistics to paint a compelling picture to justify collection development decisions or planning? Lastly, how can we begin to assess how successfully we use statistics for various purposes? This presentation  explores these questions as well as several case studies that highlight examples of real libraries and how they manage statistics. It is our hope that this talk will help engage library staff in a discussion about how to most effectively manage library resources.

Presenters:  Susan Payne, Stephanie Wical.

Susan Payne

Stephanie Wical

Mobile technology has become an essential part of an academic library as growing numbers of users take advantage of the ever increasing number of materials and databases available online.  Creating mobile websites and adding mobile versions of databases/catalogs in addition to APP’s to the academic library website is viewed as an essential component for users on and off campus.  Creating, testing, releasing and collecting usage statistics are all important aspects of developing the best mobile site possible.  This presentation will discuss how mobile technology has taken on a role in the academic library today and how it is effecting and changing the way research and library instruction can be distributed to users.

Presenter:  Kathryn Johns-Masten.

Kathryn Johns-Masten

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Libraries will discuss its experience writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a serials vendor from a "before and after" perspective. Justin Clarke, from Harrassowitz, will provide a vendor-neutral view of agencies' experiences in responding to RFPs, including timeline, expectations, and requirements requested in an RFP.

Presenters:  Micheline Westfall, Justin Clarke.

Micheline Westfall

Justin Clarke

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Libraries has struggled with providing access to its e-book collections. Processes are worked on collaboratively among different library units: Systems, Cataloging, and Electronic Resources & Serials Management. The speakers will share the problems they have faced, decision points, and their solutions to finding and loading MARC records for e-book collections. The audience will be encouraged to contribute their solutions as well.

Presenters:  Valeria Hodge, Maribeth Manoff

Valeria Hodge

Maribeth Manoff

Librarians have long known the challenge of describing and curating disparate and various collections.  In the age of networked information, we’ve seen major changes to the expectations of how bibliographic data serves users as well as an influx in standards and various ways to model and create bibliographic data. This presentation will dive into the Summon schema and show examples that highlight the balancing act faced in modeling varied and rich data for a unified index that drives a simple search interface. We’ll also discuss some of the inner workings of the unified index approach to web-scale discovery.

Presenter:  Laura Robinson.

Laura Robinson

“Workflows are intended as a “step-by-step” route through the instructions, and can be devised by individuals and groups at all levels (libraries, consortia, cooperative programs, etc.) to suit local needs and preferences for workflows and recording of options. The RDA Toolkit will support the creation, maintenance, and sharing of workflows.” -- http://www.rda-jsc.org/docs/5rda-fulldraft-workflow-book.pdf     The presenters created an RDA workflow for serials cataloging based on CONSER Standard Record (CSR) Metadata Application Profile. The CSR-RDA workflow is openly shared in the online RDA Toolkit and also available on the CONSER website. The presenters will discuss the process of creating this workflow, the considerations taken by CONSER in determining core RDA elements for CS records.

Presenters:  Les Hawkins, Hien Nguyen.

Les Hawkins

Hien Nguyen

This session will focus on the benefits and challenges of implementing CORAL (Centralized Online Resource Acquisitions and Licensing), an open source ERM developed at the University of Notre Dame. CORAL offers libraries the option to reorganize their electronic resource management workflow and to collect information about their electronic resources into one central place without having to commit funding for a new library software from the ever shrinking library budget. CORAL currently includes four modules: licensing, resources, organization, and usage statistics. In addition to the challenges that are faced in any ERM implementation such as data collection, data preparation, staff buy in, etc., this session will address issues specific to using an open source software in an academic library.

Presenters:  Andrea Imre, Erik Hartnett, Derrik Hiatt.

Andrea Imre

Eric Hartnett

Derrik Hiatt

With a tightening economy and no relief in sight, it is essential for all players in the information chain to show and create value/return of investment (ROI) for their customers/users. The publisher needs to create/show value to the library/end user, the library to its end users and dean/director, and the agent to both the publisher and the library/end user. Quantitative tools, such as simple usage statistics, are no longer enough and do not present a wide enough picture on which to base collection decisions. Nor are budgetary issues alone a worthwhile indicator. This presentation will feature how all players in the information chain (librarian, publisher and agent) are creating and showing value/ROI for their business partners in order to stay relevant in this new economy. Panelists will discuss evidence-based decision making tools to evaluate collections, enhanced content for end user consumption, agents’ marketing campaigns to assist publishers with renewals and many other tactics that provide value for their end users/business partners. The panel will take up new ways to create further synergies and encourage audience interaction to gauge feedback on the current practices and needs of each sector of the information chain to prove value, not only in terms of economics, but also in the social, environmental, and educational contributions to their respective consumers.

Presenters:  José Luis Andrade, Gracemary Smulewitz, David Celano.

José Luis Andrade

Gracemary Smulewitz

David Celano

The current budgetary climate is forcing libraries to be more selective about e-resource purchases and renewals, and often to consider cancellations. The Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has developed a model for assessing the value of our e-resources to our community of patrons that relies on a combination of metrics including content coverage, usage, patron needs and feedback, and costs. The model is applied to both renewals/cancellations and potential new purchases. In this session, the model will be described in detail including an explanation of each metric used, the sources of data for each metric, and the weight each metric carries in the overall decision making process. The session will also cover the determination of the level at which a decision is triggered by the model. Metrics used in the model include: -usage statistics for both e-resources and individual titles within resources (sessions, searches, full text downloads) -costs per use -increases/decreases in usage over time -overlap comparison -user feedback -interlibrary loan requests Some metrics are used for both renewal decisions and new purchase decisions and while others are used in only one type of decision. The session will end with a discussion of how a similar model may be implemented in other libraries.

Presenter:  Sarah Sutton.

Sarah Sutton

Given the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 scholarly journals in existence (Morrison, 2009), the long-term sustainability and growth of a subject-specific publication can seem tenuous. Such longevity becomes even more precarious when the publication does not have an electronic counterpart. This is the challenge facing Canadian Military History, a journal that has been attracting both scholars and enthusiasts for over twenty years. In an effort to broaden their readership, increase visibility, and streamline workflows, CMH enlisted the services of the Laurier Library and WLU Press to transition to an online format through Scholars Commons @ Laurier, an institutional repository using Berkeley Electronic Press’s Digital Commons software. This case study offers an illustration of the challenges faced and the strategies used to overcome them, including issues surrounding copyright, access, and digital publishing.     Morrison, H. (2009). Scholarly communication for librarians. Oxford: Chandos.

Presenter:  Caitlin Bakker.

Caitlin Bakker

The College of New Jersey Library had intended to implement an institutional repository since 2008. Many options were approached to secure resources for the new digital repository initiative but to no avail.  It was not until early 2011 that we had a long awaited breakthrough when a team of three faculty librarians received a MUSE (Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience) grant to implement a pilot IR for the open access initiative to take off. The College MUSE program is established to promote and support campus-wide faculty-student scholarly and creative collaborative activity. This was the first library MUSE project. Two students majoring in Computer Science were recruited to help install IR + (recently developed and released as open source by University of Rochester) and customize the codes to enhance local access and data entry. This presentation will describe the implementation process, how our students collaboratively working with the IR+ software developer to add new features for data migration as well as lesson learned. Planning and actions taken to sustain the initiative including digital rights management and outreach within and outside the campus academic community will also be described.

Presenters:  Cathy Wang, Yuji Tosaka.

Cathy Wang

Yuji Tosaka

As capricious and prone to unpredictable changes as serials in general library collections, government documents serials possess special features that make them particularly difficult to catalog and manage, from government documents-specific MARC fields and coding to SuDoc numbers and distinctive enumeration that can complicate holdings statements. Electronic government documents serials present another set of complex cataloging challenges involving GPO’s use of the single-record approach in serial records. Ensuring that cataloging records reflect the unique characteristics of government documents serials and yet “play well” with other serial records in the library ILS can be tricky, particularly if the cataloging of government documents serials is performed by staff outside the department. Each of the three presenters brings a specific perspective on these peculiarities: Fang Gao describes the cataloging of government document serials from the perspective of a cataloger working at the Government Printing Office's Library Technical Information Services Department--providing a voice from the source. Joseph Nicholson offers the point of view of the local cataloger who must make government documents' records conform to the guidelines of the individual library's online catalog. Stephanie Braunstein will moderate and share her frustrations, mostly having to do with providing logical and uncomplicated access to government information, as a Government Documents Department Head in a Regional Federal Depository Library that also happens to be a library in a major research library.

Presenters:  Stephanie Braunstein, Fang Huang Gao, Joseph R. Nicholson.

Stephanie Braunstein

Fang Huang Gao

Joseph R. Nicholson

I wish to present an overview of automated indexing and automated metadata creation, and then to present on a project I did for the Florida State University Law Research Center (formerly Law Library) in which I used computer created metadata for some of the indexing. First 30 min: I wish to present an overview of machine created metadata. Internet search engines use this almost exclusively. Some library projects, and some database companies use automated indexing. I will give an overview of these. Second 20 min: I will present on a search I built designed to retrieve pages from a looseleaf resource as the page appeared on a specific date over a 20 year period. This search is located at www.fsulawrc.com . I used scripting to extract most metadata, then with an assistant, completed missing metadata fields and audited for errors. I will present on the cost-effectiveness of automated metadata creation, given error rates and costs for human and machine produced metadata, and an overall assessment of the potentials for digital library projects. Third 10 min: Questions and answers. My overall goal is to assist catalogers in knowing what is possible, what is difficult, and what is easy in using techniques for automated metadata creation.

Presenter:  Wilhelmina Randtke.

Wilhelmina Randtke

Much of the demand today to add new journals comes from new multidisciplinary courses and programs. The usefulness of citation analysis as a tool for developing such collections is shown by the importance often placed on published impact factors. But not all libraries can afford access to the Web of Science’s Journal Citation Reports or Scopus, and many researchers have described weaknesses in those sources’ data. Google Scholar is helpful but it, too, has weaknesses. Critiques of these sources of impact factors will be briefly reviewed and a bibliography provided. But the most important reason to do an independent citation analysis is that impact factors reflect citations to journals from all disciplines. To determine the most-cited journals within a multidisciplinary field (e.g. communication disorders or forensic psychology) one should analyze only citations published within the topic area. Independently gathering citation data used to be a tedious process. But the inclusion of works cited in databases such as PsycINFO and ScienceDirect has made gathering data considerably easier, and citation management programs like RefWorks and Zotero speed the process of compiling and organizing citations. How to use these tools to relatively quickly assemble a sample of works cited in a specific topic area will be demonstrated. I’ll also discuss various methods of gathering a valid sample and issues to consider when determining sample size. (To identify a topic’s few most cited journals relatively small sample, but a larger sample is needed for reporting recommendations, and a robust sample is required to publish a list of important journals.) I’ll conclude with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of using do-it-yourself citation analysis for collection development or supporting new program development and offer suggestions for anyone interested in doing a project for the purpose of publishing the results.

Presenter:  Steve Black.

Steve Black

A great deal of the professional literature is devoted to developing content and faculty buy-in for institutional repositories. However, little is known about the end users of these repositories.    This is unfortunate since great content is of little value if no one uses it and knowing more about users and their needs leads to more relevant content. So, we need to ask ourselves: "Who exactly is using this stuff, anyway?" Since 2010, Utah State University has been surveying its IR users to answer this question.     DigitalCommons@USU houses 17,000 documents with full-text downloads of over 375,000. With this much content and activity, our 3-year old repository has matured to a point that we are beginning to shift our focus from just seeking content to understanding out users, their needs, and how we can better meet those needs.     In this presentation, we will share the results of our survey, discuss the implications of the results, and propose future directions of investigation.

Presenter:  Andrew Wesolek.

Andrew Wesolek