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The repository functions "on a shoestring," unfunded and reliant on contributions of time from librarians and library staff for its ongoing maintenance and development. In this article, the authors, three members of the HDS Steering Committee, describe the process of setting up and managing a digital repository: A volunteer workgroup of seven the Systems Librarian, a Systems staff member, the Chair of Access Services, a reference librarian, the Special Collections Librarian, the Special Projects Librarian and, in , the newly-hired Cataloging Librarian met weekly over the next 1.
The workgroup assessed the pilot in April and deemed it a success. The Library Dean agreed to make HDS a permanent library service and offered one-time funding for a server that would provide storage for continued growth. Currently, a volunteer Steering Committee of four librarians and a Systems staff member, assisted by a copy cataloger, maintain and manage HDS in addition to their other assignments.
Several levels of expertise are needed to run the repository successfully. The Systems Librarian and Systems staff member manage hardware, software, customizations, and file conversion; two catalogers handle metadata and thesis submission; the four librarians share the work of developing policy, creating documentation, submitting scholarship for faculty and staff who request assistance, and communicating with faculty, staff, and publishers.
Time commitments vary with the tasks to be accomplished, such as Systems involvement when software or hardware upgrades become necessary, cataloger participation at semester's end when theses are processed, and committee meetings when policy issues arise or outreach efforts are needed. While work on HDS ebbs and flows, we estimate that the ongoing time commitment of the Committee and support staff currently is equivalent to a.
For the pilot, the Systems Department made available a retired Sun Microsystems Enterprise server. Without a software budget, we limited our evaluation to free, open-source software and found M. Judging from their listserv 2 traffic, it had an active user base and support from open-source developers in the archive community.
Systems staff found DSpace relatively easy to implement and configure. After some experimentation with user-contributed modules, we decided to implement only those customizations available through the latest standard version of the DSpace code. Limiting customization to graphics, CSS style changes, minor changes to java server page JSP markup and standard configuration parameters allowed Systems staff to maintain a localized version of DSpace without the cost of more significant development efforts.
The technical effort required to support an institutional repository IR server, with these limited parameters of customization, was relatively easy to integrate into the workflow of the Library's four-person Systems Department. The Systems Librarian limits customizations of the standard DSpace interface to elements easily maintained through software upgrades.
We have added a more colorful homepage banner, an introductory welcoming message describing the benefits of HDS, and "Submit your Scholarship" menu items linking to instructional and FAQ pages. Early in the pilot phase we looked into the possibility of having the repository hosted by campus Information Technology Services.
The Systems Librarian briefed the campus Chief Information Officer CIO on the project and its technical architecture, which was determined to be compatible with long-term plans for campus computing. The CIO gave provisional assent to the concept of campus hosting. Details were left for later discussion; ultimately, further discussion became unnecessary when the CSU Council of Library Directors, then chaired by the Library Dean at Humboldt State, agreed in to initiate a system-wide, centrally managed repository: As with many academic repositories, a major focus is the stream of theses and projects produced by our graduate students we require that all student submissions be faculty-sponsored.
We hoped that HSU departments, and the centers and institutes sponsored by HSU, would welcome an archive in which to store work products. We considered allowing deposit of administrative records and course materials but concluded that these could become high-volume, labor-intensive commitments difficult to sustain without additional staff.
During the pilot and the year following, we focused our efforts on bringing about an institutional shift from paper to electronic thesis submission. The Graduate Council established a policy permitting voluntary deposit of theses in Humboldt Digital Scholar and revised the Application for Graduation form to allow the student to substitute HDS submission for the Library's circulating paper copy we continue to receive a paper copy for our non-circulating archives. With thesis-submission routines in place and working well, we turned our attention to faculty and staff content. As many academic repository managers have discovered, without an institutional requirement, faculty participation can be a challenge.
The February Census of Institutional Repositories in the United States reports that "operating repositories have had limited success in recruiting voluntary deposit of content" Markey et al. We review faculty, department, and non-academic unit web pages to identify potential participants. We sign up for alert services in aggregator databases to receive notice of new faculty publications.
Lonely Planet Includes index. E Regularity complete irregular Series statement On a shoestring. Extent volumes Isbn Lccn Media category unmediated Media MARC source rdamedia Media type code n Other physical details illustrations chiefly color , maps some col. Publication designation 1st ed. Label Europe on a shoestring Publication Footscray, Vic. Library Locations Map Details. Park Ridge Public Library Borrow it.
Carousel Grid List Card. The Shoestring Library offers hope, incentive, and direction to librarians who lack everything but passion. The book is organized around hints—more than of which are green alternatives—for administering a library in tough times. The book is divided into two parts, Support Functions and Physical Plant. The support section investigates such topics as how to best use volunteers and how to get free materials for your library. The physical plant section, amply supplemented with dozens of photos, helps a librarian identify and fix problems with dismal walls, ceilings, windows, shelving, desks, seating, and lighting, proposing low-cost or no-cost solutions to all these woes.
Instructions are practical and thorough, concentrating on reuse, re-purposing, and recycling, and each idea is reversible.
For quick access, chapters sport distinctive icons; time-management tips, for example, are distinguished by an alarm clock. Designed for institutions from preschools through college, The Shoestring Library proves that there is no expiration date on learning.
She divides her writing time between how-to articles and teen fiction.