Ohiolink Update Vol

OhioLINK Update Vol. 15 • Fall 2009 Even in Tough Economic Times Special Issue Reinventing OhioLINK - progress report e first reported on the need and economics for students, Notwithstanding reduced state appropriations 4) minimizing at a statewide level the long- to the programs within the ETD, a coordinated to reinvent OhioLINK in the W term capital and operating costs of storing, effort will maximize the effectiveness of the Fall 2006 Update. http://www.ohiolink. preserving and providing improved access to resources we do have. edu/about/update/fall2006/fall06.pdf. Much current and future library materials, thought has gone into this need since then. 5) implementing centrally new software tools ELECTRONIC ConTENT LICENSING - This Update reports on our progress. for information management and access that REFINANCING AND REPRIORITIZING can be utilized at all campuses, The OhioLINK state appropriation for fiscal A NECESSARY STRATEGIC 6) coordinating library operations across Ohio 2010 (began July 2009) is reduced 13% from to expand cost efficiencies and savings, and the original fiscal 2009 appropriation. With INFORMATION UTILITY FOR OHIO 7) collaborating with other Ohio information The current state, national, and international electronic content licenses (ECLs) representing dependent groups (e.g. public libraries, K-12, financial crisis highlights the need for Ohio the majority of OhioLINK operating expenses, and business incubators) to enhance the to successfully develop the University System OhioLINK’s $8.1 million share of $35.0 Million quality of education, research, and economic of Ohio (USO) http://www.uso.edu/ . Ohio in statewide ECLs must be reduced by $1.6M. development beyond OhioLINK’s core must have a globally competitive educational That reduction also provides for a reserve fund constituencies. system to fuel its economic development. In and support of the strategic initiatives to carry turn, for the USO to succeed it requires access us successfully into the future as noted in this to the world’s scholarship, research, and ORGANIZING FOR SUCCESS Update. information. OhioLINK’s goals are to provide The Strategic Plan for Higher Education that access. http://www.uso.edu/strategicplan/ calls for an The OhioLINK library community is working integrated Educational Technology Division cooperatively to minimize the loss of access (ETD) built around a shared technology to key resources by absorbing the reductions infrastructure. The Ohio Board of Regents, in OhioLINK ECLs shares. Given the overall OhioLINK, OARnet, and Ohio Learning Network, weakness in current library budgets there all serving higher education, have common will be limitations. Fortunately, 2010 fees will or overlapping missions and technology average flat versus 2009. This will help libraries needs. Likewise organizations such as decide to what extent they can increase their eTech Ohio serving the K-12 community $27.9M 2009 share of the statewide licenses. have similar agendas and needs. These organizations are pooling and re-organizing Beyond these necessary short-term actions, their information technology staff into new the OhioLINK community must determine groups sharing common skill sets to better the most important content additions to serve all constituencies. This will result in more support the goals of the USO. Group action efficiency by combining the separate systems will continue to be the most cost efficient administration staff into one group and doing means to do so. We are looking across the the same for the software development staff. breadth of academic disciplines for the most valuable resources we can make available to Simultaneously, the now separate computer faculty and students. As part of this effort we server and storage systems are being migrated are evaluating the key information resources to a single large scale Shared Infrastructure that are needed to support the 2008 Ohio (SI). The SI is significantly larger in capacity Research Scholars programs. We will produce than the multiple platforms currently in place. a blueprint of resources that will most Its initial capacities include 500 terabytes of effectively support the USO’s Strategic Plan. We can do this by; storage, 2 petabytes of backup tape capacity, 1) providing Ohio researchers comprehensive and 16 high performance HP Proliant blades. electronic access to the historical and latest DIGITAL RESOURCE CoMMONS The SI will dramatically expand our collective global scientific research at economically (DRC) – To A STATE REPOSITORY ability to serve the needs of Ohio’s educational affordable and sustainable rates, The DRC is already the largest DSpace communities and at the same time be more 2) providing the necessary array of electronic repository in the US and the second largest efficient to support through the use of library services and resources to support in the world. Offering institutionally branded common technology and single organization. the full range of core curricular needs from repository web sites joined together through vocational programs to preparation for a four- federated searching, it enables all Ohio higher Another positive consequence of an ETD is year degree, education institutions to create, store, and our ability to pool financial resources. This 3) creating new models for electronic make accessible digital information without will facilitate the alignment of our staff and textbooks that improve the learning outcomes technology infrastructure to shared priorities. continued on page 2 Reinventing (continued from page 1) duplicative local repository platforms. To ensure that OhioLINK continues to along with modularity may expand flexibility provide the highest quality service at the and options. We will need to consider a We want to do even more with the DRC. In lowest possible cost through institutional wide range of options and design our own keeping with the strategy to leverage the use cooperation a redesigned OhioLINK system approach through this complex set of needs of common technologies, the ETD is beginning will: and options; the development of a Statewide repository that will extend the DRC and integrate (1) Interface with or be interoperable with 5) Any redesign of OhioLINK must meet the with eTech’s Ohio iTunes project. This new the systems of Ohio’s public and school diverse needs of our different libraries and repository will provide a shared platform that libraries in order to participate in statewide their institutions. The differences between serves both organizations and their clientele. resource sharing. The State Library, with the the very small and the very large libraries and Multiple services can be offered to a variety of participation of OhioLINK, is developing a the differences between libraries at two-year, constituencies but the underlying technical statewide resource sharing system (SWRS) undergraduate, and graduate institutions platform will be shared and supported more using an open source software vendor; must be acknowledged and taken into efficiently. consideration. (2) Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of REINVENTING OhioLINK AFTER 20 technical services and processes in managing The bottom line is that any new system YEArs – OhioLINK 2.0 both print and digital materials. The overall must be able to demonstrate productivity objective of any redesign is to cut costs When OhioLINK was created twenty years ago improvements and spending efficiencies. The which can be redirected to other essential it was a fundamental change in how libraries goal is also to foster increased collaboration operations. Shared or coordinated technical provided services and how their behind-the- and mutual growth within higher education service operations offers the potential to scenes operations were conducted. After and with other Ohio educational and consolidate operations, reduce the number years of isolated print-based operations, information-using communities. of local systems, and use newer, cheaper libraries were transformed into computerized technologies; institutions electronically connected to create OhioLINK 2.0 – A mULTIPLE STEP opportunities for cooperation. (3) Improve the flexibility of the system PROCESS by placing as few limits on scalability as The effort to examine these issues has been Twenty years ago OhioLINK took the new practically possible. OhioLINK’s current organized for the past year as the Catalog, concept of a local integrated library system system has reached limits, both technological Cataloging, and Integrated Library System (ILS) and exploded it into a successful and fiscal, which have effectively stalemated Architecture (CatArch) Steering Committee. As statewide resource sharing system. The ILS, OhioLINK’s efforts to add new libraries, we move to implement the recommendations which made the change to computerization especially Ohio public libraries; of the CatArch group to fundamentally possible twenty years ago, has now reinvent our core OhioLINK and library developed its own set of internal limitations (4) Increase the adaptability of the system ILS systems, the effort is now being called and constraints, hampering the ability of to meet future changes. This will be a OhioLINK 2.0. libraries to operate efficiently and to quickly developmental project, as opposed to a adapt to technological and societal changes. procurement of a replacement ILS system. Any recommended OhioLINK redesign project Additionally, with fiscal resources constrained Open source development or collaboration will be

Load more