Proposed Grant Project, 2008-2010

GOLD/GALILEO ConferenceAugust 1, 2008

Tyler Walters, Georgia TechToby Graham, University of Georgia

The Problem• Much of USG’s intellectual product never appears in a permanent

printed form

• Exists as disorganized pockets of digitally born objects & media scattered among individual hard drives, departmental servers, and removable storage media across an institution

• While USG’s digital scholarly output reflects substantial investment of resources, assets and effort, it; Lacks curatorial stewardship; May be inaccessible; Exists on unsustainable hardware, software, or individual support; Needs future-proofing migration strategies.

Crisis in Scholarly Communication• Cost of print and electronic journals increasing at rate that greatly

outpaces the general rate of inflation putting enormous pressure on university budgets

• Publishers charge exorbitant subscription fees for research conducted with public funds

• Proponents of open access argue for Web-based models that are free to users, particularly for research conducted at public expense

Types of Content• Electronic theses and

dissertations• Research and technical reports• Pre-print research• Post-print research• Working papers• Conference papers• Open access journals• Service publications• Research proposals

• Research data sets• Organizational documents• College and university archives• Organizational reports• Institutional planning and

evaluation documents• Learning objects• Other resources that reflect the

quality and diversity of the USG . . .

Institutional Repositories• Enhance access to institution’s intellectual output

• Provide stewardship for digital scholarship

• Advance open access approaches to scholarly communication

Institutional RepositoriesAs a trend- 210 registered IRs in the U.S. - 949 worldwide

Demonstration of an IR:

Georgia Tech’s SMARTech Repositoryhttp://SMARTech.gatech.edu

GALILEO Knowledge Repository• Proposing a system-wide approach to Institutional Repositories

• Concept developed by Regents Advisory Committee on Libraries (RACL) in August 2004

Demonstration of GKR test sitehttp://gkr.gatech.edu

GKR: The Project Basics2-yr project to finalize several components toward establishing a

comprehensive statewide repository

• $1,664,650 with $830,703/IMLS, $833,946 inst. Share

Institutions / Libraries involved:

• Leads: Georgia Institute of Technology University of Georgia

• Participants: Georgia State Univ., Georgia Southern University, Medical College of Georgia, Valdosta State Univ., Albany State Univ., Coastal Georgia Community College

• North Georgia College and State University (SC survey)

GKR Project Components• Build a repository of standardized metadata harvested from IRs within

the USG (GT and GKR Technical Committee): Existing: GT, UGA, GSU, GA Southern (coming)

Hosting service for discreet IRs at four USG institutions (GT)• Establish other IR-related services: copyright research (UGA);

digitization (UGA); content submission (GT/VSU); and preservation (GT)• Collaborate with UGA Press to provide open access delivery of 100 out-

of-print books• Partner with NGCSU to conduct an assessment survey of the USG

faculty’s usage and perceptions of IRs• Document and make available the GKR organization model to others

interested in establishing statewide IRs

GKR Searchable Metadata RepositoryOpen source software employed: • Searching – Lucene• User interface creation – Manakin (in DSpace 1.5)• Repository application – DSpace • Database – postgreSQL• Harvesting protocol – OAI-PMH• Metadata scheme – Dublin Core• GKR’s collections mapping software to support searching and

browsing across IRs Brings together scholarly works of similar academic units at different

institutions into one searchable, browsable DSpace academic community in metadata repository. Will be made available as open source software.

GKR’s IR Hosting Service (DSpace)• Service maintained by GT Library technology staff • Host sites for: MCG, VSU, ASU, CGCC• Storage server with 3.5 TB of space• Some local control for each hosted institution:• Assisted by Web Developer and GRA at GT (IMLS-funded) • Will collaborate with hosted sites’ staff:

“front-end” design and technical development, including user interfaces, style sheets, branding graphics, and the community/collections structure

• GKR approach to hosting IRs is rare among statewide repositories• Overcome problems w/ consortial implementations using single IR • Supports unique interface designs with distinctive branding and local

institutional community and collection structures

• Figure 1: Metadata is harvested from repositories using OAI-PMH, then a user searches across the metadata

• Figure 2: Once a user receives results, viewing an item will take them to the repository where the object resides

GeorgiaTech

GeorgiaState

University of Georgia

GKROAI-PMHHarvestedSearchableMetadata

GT HostedRepositories

Albany StateCoastal Georgia

Georgia SouthernMedical Coll. of Georgia

Valdosta State

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User

Que

ry

Re

sults

GeorgiaTech

GeorgiaState

University of Georgia

GKROAI-PMHHarvestedSearchableMetadata

GT HostedRepositories

Albany StateCoastal Georgia

Georgia SouthernMedical Coll. of Georgia

Valdosta State

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User

Que

ry

Re

sults

IR-related ServicesWhy? To Reduce Barriers to Recruiting Scholarly Content

1. Copyright research2. Digitization3. Content submission4. Preservation

*Services resulted from the USG-wide GKR stakeholder meeting of November 30, 2007, in Athens, GA, with web and phone access across the state

Copyright Research Services• Copyright services identified as a need during GKR stakeholder

session

• Partnership with the UGA Press

• Provide guidance and assistance in resolving intellectual property concerns regarding IR submissions

Digitization Services• GKR stakeholder session identified need for conversion services

• For potential IR contents currently in print-only form

• The Digital Library of Georgia will selectively digitize materials for GKR participants

UGA Press Initiative• University presses are currently in a period of uncertainty and

transition

• Future of university publishing is the subject of national dialog

• GKR will pilot an approach for digitizing and providing openWeb-based access to back listed titles from the UGA Press

Content Submission Services*GKR sites responsible for collecting and submitting their IR content,

however, many do not have staff to do so*

•Services will include: Interpreting/Applying GKR Metadata Guidelines (modified DC) Resolving content submission issues in DSpace Submitting content and metadata when needed

•GT and UGA libraries’ cataloging/metadata staffs provide these services to other GKR sites needing assistance

•Valdosta MLIS: 2-4 student interns as content submitters Students earn 3 credit hours, gain valuable work experience GKR / VSU MLIS relationship unique in statewide repositories

Digital Preservation ServicesMetaArchive Preservation Network http://metaarchive.org

– Decentralized Approach (question “one copy, one institution” approach)

– Built on LOCKSS (supports “distributed digital replication” approach).

– Closed Archive (No direct public access. High accessibility = high costs)

– Automated format emulation tools– Low Cost (Planned minimal expense, low

barriers to adoption for mid-size insts.)– Flexible, adaptable multi-inst. model– LC / NDIIPP partnership (1 of 8 initial)

USG Faculty IR Interest SurveyLeveraging an Existing Initiative:

• GKR sponsoring a USG-wide faculty survey to assess perceptions, experiences w/ IR use, author’s rights issues, OA publishing activity

• Survey by Jennifer Campbell-Meier (NGCSU Library). Ph.D. work, Communication & Information Sci., Univ. of Hawaii

• Results analyzed with GKR Outreach and Evaluation Committee Used to improve GKR the technologies, services, marketing

• Learn about perceptions held by academicians about IRs and Open Access models and build business strategies to address them

• No surveys of IR use at statewide level Will inform GKR’s development / Serve as model survey

The GKR Model• Last deliverable…

1. Document the GKR organizational model2. Document the GKR technical model:

o guidelines for searching, harvesting repository metadatao technical specifications for GKR technologies

• Communicate, disseminate to statewide and consortial organizations via: GKR web site Presentations at meetings and professional conferences Articles and announcements through library publications

IMPACT: GKR• Increase USG visibility, prestige through global exposure to its digital

scholarship and research• Promote information sharing and discovery of research among the 35 USG

institutions from a single web site• Improve access to learning for the citizens of Georgia at large• Create outlet for new forms of instructional media and scholarship, including

open access scholarship• Provide stewardship for the least permanent (i.e. non-published) elements of

the USG’s intellectual works• Demonstrate effectiveness of USG insts. and their faculty for assessment and

accreditation purposes through enhanced access to their scholarly works• Advance scholarly communication by expanding use of IRs to more collections

and univs, and explore open access for univ. press content

Thank You!

Contacts:

• Tyler Walters, Georgia Tech Library & Info Center– tyler@gatech.edu / 404-385-4489

• Toby Graham, Digital Library of Georgia, University of Georgia– tgraham@uga.edu / 706-583-0213