Reengineering the Institutional Repository to Engage Users
Jun. 1, 2011
Location: Online Only
Reengineering the Institutional Repository to Engage Users
All too many institutions jumped on the institutional repository bandwagon, only to find they had installed it… and no one came. So what do you do about a service in which you’ve already invested time and effort (and committed hardware), that your users couldn’t care less about? Do you invest more time and effort into marketing? Do you throw more and more person-hours into meetings with faculty, either in groups or one-on-one? Beg, borrow, plead, “we’ll do it all for you”? Or do you stop and approach the problem in a different way, by trying to figure out how your users do their work, and what it is they really need and want (and why the current system doesn’t meet those needs).
This webinar will touch on the initial situation at the University of Rochester, explore the ethnographic methods we used to address that last question, and how we responded. We will delve into the issues of investment and effort ($) to break with the past and start again. For example, the migration process was no small task: we will be very forthcoming about this. We will also comment on what it takes to run an Open Source program (there is no free lunch, as we all know). Finally we will cover how our new repository has changed our interaction with faculty and graduate students, and expanded the role the library now plays in our faculty and graduate students’ everyday work practices.
We believe in laughing while you learn, so come prepared for a fun, informative session and lots of lively interaction.
Who Should Attend
Anyone with an interest in the topic can benefit from this session and is welcome to participate.
Course Level & Prerequisites
None
Presenters
Nathan Sarr is a senior software engineer at the University of Rochester. He is a graduate of the Software Engineering Program (2002) at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has worked on large scale payroll software and taught software engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology. He is the creator of the IR+ institutional repository software system and currently manages the IR+ software project.
Suzanne Bell got her MLS in a galaxy long ago and far away (actually the University of Buffalo), and has reinvented herself several times since. Since 1998, she has been the librarian for Economics and Data at the University of Rochester, and since 2003 has been the lead "Projects Coordinator" (a title she made up) for the University's institutional repository, UR Research. She also teaches a course entirely online for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is the author of The Librarian's Guide to Online Searching, 2nd ed.) In her life outside of work, she has been known to "sing choruses in public" with the Off-Monroe Players, Rochester's Gilbert & Sullivan Company.
Date & Time
Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 11am Pacific, noon Mountain, 1pm Central, 2pm Eastern
The session will last approximately 1 hour.
Credits &/or CEUs
None
Fee
Four webinars about institutional repositories will be offered as a series between January and June 2011. They are:
January 26: Copyright & Contracts; April 13: Repository Metadata; May 11: Utilizing IRs; June 1: Reengineering the IR to Engage Users. You may purchase any one of the sessions or the series of sessions. If you purchase the series after some of the sessions have been presented live, you'll be given the access information for the webcasts of those sessions in addition to the live access to future sessions.
| Participant | Each ($) | Series of 4 ($) |
|---|---|---|
| ALCTS Member (individual) | 39 |
120 (save $36) |
| Non-member (individual) | 49 |
160 (save $36) |
| International (individual) | 39 |
120 (save $36) |
|
Group Applies to group of people that will watch the webinar together from one access point. Group rate is the same for members and non-members. |
99 |
346 (save $50) |
All webinars are recorded and the one-time fee includes unlimited access to the webinar recording. All registered attendees will receive the link to the recorded session so if you are unable to attend the webinar at the time it is presented, you will have the opportunity to listen to the recording at your convenience.
Technical Requirements
ALCTS uses GoToWebinar to present its webinar sessions. Telephone, computer, Internet connection, web browser, USB VOIP microphone and headset are required. You may want to download the software before the day of the session. See the FAQ.
How to Register
To register, complete the online registration form or or register by mail for the session you would like to attend.
Contact
For questions about registration, contact ALA Registration by calling 1-800-545-2433 and press 5 or email registration@ala.org.
For all other questions or comments related to the webinars, contact Julie Reese, ALCTS Events Manager at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5034 or jreese@ala.org.
