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Minutes for the June 3, 2011 Meeting of the
Information & Technology (IT), Academic Libraries, & Special Libraries
Special Interest Groups (SIG)
&
Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) General Partner/Member Meeting
ACURIL XLI - May 30 - June 4, 2011, Tampa, FL

Co-Chairs, IT SIG- Judith Rogers (University of the Virgin Islands), &
Laurie Taylor (University of Florida)


Attendees:
Nicholas Graham, Nicholas.graham@nlj.gov.jm
Brooke Wooldridge, bwooldri@fiu.edu
Larent Birba, Laurent.birba@martiniqu.univ-ag-fr
Lusiola Castillo, luscastillo@yahoo.com
Mark Sullivan, marsull@uflib.ufl.edu
Maureen Newton, doccentre@caricom.org
Ann Pajard, ann.pajard@martinique.univ-ag.fr
Laurie Taylor, laurien@ufl.edu
Gwyneth George, gwyng3@yahoo.com
Simmone LaRose, ugbclibrary@vahoo.com
Barry Baker, barry.baker@ucf.edu
Judith Rogers, irogers@uvi.edu
Lillian Semeleer, 1semeleer@bibliotecanacional.aw
Astrid Britten, a.britten@bibliotecanaciona.aw


Minutes

Judith Rogers called the meeting to order at 1:35pm. Judith Rogers then provided a brief
introduction to the IT SIG in terms of scope, content, opportunities, and special projects,
including the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC). Judith Rogers explained that the
dLOC General Partner/Member Meeting is one of the areas included within the IT SIG
meeting.

Judith Rogers then requested that Brooke Wooldridge, dLOC Coordinator, provide
updates on the dLOC project. This began the dLOC General Partner/Member Meeting.

Brooke Wooldridge provided further background on dLOC. Many dLOC members were
in attendance. For others, Brooke Wooldridge explained that dLOC is a cooperative
digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean
providing free, open access to digitized versions of Caribbean cultural, historical and
research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections. Brooke
Wooldridge provided updates on the dLOC:
* Newsletter, which is new and online (http://dloc.com/UF00102954)









* Usage, with over 400,000 hits per month and usage continuing to grow
* Members, with 22 current members and 2 member applications pending

Brooke Wooldridge then requested that Mark Sullivan, the dLOC Programmer and
frequent trainer, and Laurie Taylor, the dLOC Technical Director, assist with providing
technical updates. Mark Sullivan shared that the usage increase was due to his recent
work in optimizing the dLOC Web site for search engines. The usage statistics have all
non-human (computer robot) hits removed, so the usage statistics count people using the
Web site. With this work, Mark Sullivan also conducted additional optimization for speed
and memory efficiency. Laurie Taylor shared that much work had also been done to
provide contextually relevant links from other Web sites to dLOC by writing and adding
links to pertinent Wikipedia entries, blogging about collection items and providing links,
creating contextual guide pages (e.g.; a Web page on dLOC that provides background on
the importance of CARIFESTA and then links to resources on CARIFESTA), and
creating thematic collections (e.g.; online exhibits and collections that are developed
using selected and curated items in dLOC).

Mark Sullivan explained other behind-the-scenes work, including that the way dLOC
does searching has changed. dLOC has been updated to use Solr/Lucene for full-text
searching and indexing. Solr and Lucene are both enterprise-level, open source
technologies. As dLOC has grown to include so many items, pages, and languages,
dLOC needed to upgrade to the top industry standard technologies for searching and
indexing. All searches are now faster and more accurate. dLOC now has search facets
for added ease and search terms can be seen in context with the search terms and
surrounding text showing in the search results. Mark Sullivan explained that the next step
will be for dLOC to pair the in-text display of the search terms with page image
highlighting of the search terms to further increase dLOC's overall ease of use.

Mark Sullivan explained that the dLOC Toolkit, which partners use to digitize materials
and load them online, has now been integrated into the online dLOC system. With this,
partners can do all processing online or they can continue to use the locally installed
toolkit. Mark Sullivan has made many enhancements to the METS Editor, which is the
next version of the Toolkit and was developed based on feedback from partners to ensure
optimal support for partner needs. Mark Sullivan explained that this suite of tools
supports all activities for dLOC and for the University of Florida Digital Collections and
the comprehensive suite is called "SobekCM". Ann Pajard asked if this software was
openly available for download for use or if the source code was available. Mark Sullivan
explained that SobekCM is open source software and is fully available for download for
the programs and the source code through links on the dLOC Web site and SourceForge.

Mark Sullivan and Laurie Taylor covered additional technical enhancements, including:
* Map searching, a new view where users can search using a map for all items with
that area/location. This was developed for viewing aerial photographs of land use
and digitized maps in connection with their real world location. Users can also see
all items with coordinates, including newspapers which have the coordinates for
the city of publication.









* Special header for Partners: when dLOC partners login using myDLOC, they can
now see special features just for partners for their collections, including statistics
and reports, as well as top items in their collections.
* myDLOC: the existing myDLOC patron and partner tools are further enhanced
with functionality for online metadata editing and multiple levels of permissions
have been made to support partner workflow needs
* Highlighted items: the dLOC homepage now has a rotating image banner with
highlighted items from the collections
* Online help continues to improve with excellent and comprehensive metadata
help pages. A brief guide for only 12 items is also almost complete, as a solid
primer for creating and editing metadata.
* Online exhibits: a number of new and upcoming online exhibits resulted in
improved support for online exhibits with their intricate design needs. These
exhibits are being used by partners to promote collections and partners with
schools, scholars, and the public.

Judith Rogers then explained that a financial update was needed. Judith Rogers and
Brooke Wooldridge explained that the current TICFIA grant cancelled. The grant was
awarded for 2009-2013. Instead of ending in 2013, the grant is cancelled as of the end of
this fiscal year, on September 30, 2011. This is very unusual and was unexpected. The
grant covered the funding for the Brooke Wooldridge as the coordinator, computer
servers, travel, and general infrastructure for the project.

Because dLOC is a permanent program needing permanent funds and supplemental grant
funds might not always be available, conversations on permanent funding began in
December of 2008. Many good ideas have been developed and are being followed. The
difficulty now is that the funding was cancelled 2 years early. The dLOC Executive
Committee has agreed and will be asking partners and other possible advocate-members
to contribute according to a scale that has been developed and will be distributed to the
members.

The dLOC Executive Board wanted to stress that the commitment fundamental to the
dLOC model has not changed. All content in dLOC will remain open access and
freely available for the world. dLOC is and will remain a partner and content-
contributor organization. dLOC partners contribute content and this new funding
option will allow partners with or without content to contribute financially. The ideal
situation includes dLOC content and financial contributing partners, but dLOC members
can contribute financially even if they do not have content to contribute.

The funding structure provides 2 requested funding levels for institutions, with different
contributions for partners in the US and the Caribbean to reflect the different funding
structures. The requested levels are:
* $1,000 or $10,000 for US institutions
* $250 or $2,500 for Caribbean institutions









Attendees recommended adding an additional level for institutions that could provide
further support, but perhaps not the largest current request. The added levels result in
these options:
* $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 for US institutions
* $250, $1250, or $2,500 for Caribbean institutions

For the long-term, Florida International University as the dLOC Administrative Host, has
agreed to find a way to try and absorb the costs. It takes at least 3 years for them to
institutionalize a project like dLOC, so dLOC is asking contributors to commit to
contribute for 3 years.

Of the dLOC Executive Board institutions, 5 have already committed to contributing for
3 years.

There was additional discussion on future options, after the 3 year stabilizing period had
been complete. There was discussion and support for the funding model and request
letter, with the additional level added. The discussion was then concluded.

For dLOC Partner updates, Brooke Wooldridge then introduced Lusiola Castillo from the
National Library Service of Belize. Lusiola Castillo explained that they have completed
digitization of over 90 books and are working on calendars, stamps, photographs, and
more. They are looking at over 20,000 items in their collections for digitization. Their
physical collection holdings date back to the 1700/1800s and they are focusing on the
most fragile materials. dLOC is the third project they have worked with for digitization,
beginning with El Dorado and UNESCO and Memory of the World. For those projects,
they weren't putting materials anywhere and "now we can safely say we are digitizing
materials. We do get support from dLOC. With El Dorado and Memory of the World,
we didn't get the same support, although I don't know if that's because we weren't
pushing for it. Now we have one person working on it and we do get support from
dLOC."

Brooke Wooldridge mentioned that the newsletter includes spotlights that partners have
written locally.

Brooke Wooldridge then introduced Maureen Newton from CARICOM. Maureen
Newton explained that she would be retiring, but that CARICOM will continue to be an
active member of dLOC with many staff trained on the project and with dLOC integrated
into their workflows: "My heart still remains with the project and it will continue. I can
guarantee that the staff will continue to work on it. Their hearts are with it too. The secret
is building the project into the workflow. It's part of our workflow and will continue."

Brooke Wooldridge introduced the new dLOC awards. Each award represents work done
by individuals and the local institution supporting them. The awards are:

Best Design Lourdes Santamaria-Wheeler, University of Florida









Innovation Nathalie Gardere, US Embassy in Haiti

Persistence Pedro Jose Urefia, Pontificia Universidad Cat6lica Madre y
Maestra
Dulce Maria Nufiez de Taveras, Pontificia Universidad Cat6lica
Madre y Maestra

Marisol Floren, Florida International University
Digital Humanities Leah Rosenberg, University of Florida

Winsome Hudson, National Library of Jamaica
Best Service Laurie F. Taylor, University of Florida

Governance Judith Rogers, University of Virgin Islands

Community Liesl Picard, Florida International University
Outreach
Kate Ramsey, University of Miami
Best Metadata Maureen Newton, Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Emerging Scholar Adam Silvia, Florida International University
Digital Archivist Vidyaratha Kissoon, Caribbean Information Resource Network
Angelique Nixon, Caribbean Information Resource Network
Collaboration Margo Groenewoud, University of the Netherlands Antilles
Instruction Mark Greenberg, University of South Florida
Barbara Lewis, University of South Florida
Most Accessed Top Five Titles (all over 100,000 Cumulative Hits)
Diario de la Marina & Nouvelliste - University of Florida
Aruba Esso News - National Library of Aruba
Panama Canal Spillway: el Canal de Panama Spillway -
University of Florida and the Panama Canal Museum
Jamaica Journal - Institute of Jamaica

This is the first year for the dLOC Awards. Moving forward, these will be awarded each
year at ACURIL so please send recommendations for awardees and additional award
categories to Brooke Wooldridge. This concluded the dLOC General Partner/Member
Meeting.

Judith Rogers explained the current IT SIG business. Mark Sullivan has offered to chair
and this was supported so Judith Rogers will recommend him as the chair, possibly with
co-chairs. Judith Rogers requested input on interest for the coming year and on ways to
keep the communication and collaboration active during the year. Ann Pajard suggested
using various tools for communication throughout the year and there was discussion on
tools and opportunities. Ann Pajard recommended possibly using a blog to share
experiences on digital, technology, and other work we're doing. Judith Rogers explained
that email addresses are collected at every meeting and that the sizable list of emails can
be used to communicate about anything the IT SIG wants to do. Judith Rogers noted that









she conducted a webinar in a prior year and the interest was outstanding. She tried to
reach the English, Spanish, and French at once, which was much harder to manage. It
would be easier to do separately, which could be good but diversity and collaboration are
good as well and so the needs for this and other projects must be supported.

After questions, answers, and discussion completed, Judith Rogers adjourned the
meeting.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Judith V. Rogers & Laurie Taylor
Co-Chairs, Information Technology SIG