Issue #10 - Fall 2014

Quarterly Update
OCUL’s quarterly catch-up... read about what’s new at Scholars Portal, announcements from our member libraries and future OCUL plans and initiatives

Thinking OCULy

A word about OCUL's collaborative strength from the OCUL Chair.

OCUL's Standing Committees

OCUL's new groups and committees structure is all about equity, clarity and robust collaboration at all levels. Learn about the role of the OCUL Standing Committees.
 

 

Many voices of the OCUL Communities

The what, who, why and how of OCUL's new communities of interest.

OCUL Communities Snapshot

Find out what the 11 new OCUL Communities are talking about and the many and varied projects in the works.

 

 


Thinking OCULy: A word from the OCUL Chair

Image: Collaborative Learning by Duke Innovation Co Lab.

 

The core of OCUL’s mandate has always been collaboration. From the early days of collective licensing to the establishment and steady growth of Scholars Portal services, OCUL has sought to work cooperatively, to pool resources and expertise, and to achieve efficiencies and innovations that would otherwise be out of reach at the individual institutional level.
 
Some of OCUL’s greatest strengths have been in seeing beyond our institutions and in understanding what it means to work collaboratively. OCUL’s collaboration is more than just sharing resources. It involves individuals and institutions contributing expertise, time and resources in whatever form they are available, to achieve a common vision and create new services. OCUL’s member institutions are adept at this type of collective work as demonstrated by some recent examples including the Accessible Content E-Portal, the Report on Accessible Media, and the Ontario Library Research Cloud.

Conscious reflection on the meaning of collaboration was very much apparent in the work leading to our current Collaborative Futures initiative. This project will consider the best approaches to managing information resources in the context of our collaborative strengths, technology opportunities, and the future and ever-changing education landscape.
 
We constantly ask: How should OCUL advance in the current conditions and in the educational and economic environment we expect to come? Where are the true cost and time efficiencies? Where are the opportunities for innovation, and responsive service delivery? And, perhaps most vitally, how can we work together to create a shared vision that will ensure Ontario’s university libraries are collectively and individually strong, and contributing to a world-class university sector?
 
OCUL committee and group structure recognizes both the need for a collective vision and the need to encourage new ideas and deliver results.  We see the value of fluidity and building infrastructure that can adjust to changing times. We also recognize the importance of fostering the involvement of as many people from within our libraries as possible.
 
The new OCUL Communities provide one such opportunity and are already establishing themselves as key to OCUL’s collaborative effort.  These groups are becoming sites of innovation and invigorating discussion. And best of all, this collaboration is being driven by many people throughout all OCUL’s member institutions.
 
As I begin my term as OCUL Chair I would like to recognize those who have contributed so much to OCUL over the years, and welcome those who have just joined us. On behalf of OCUL I would like to thank the former for their vision and commitment, and to encourage new colleagues to build on our ability to “think OCULy”. I look forward to working with everyone in our collaborative endeavor.

 Martha Whitehead

OCUL Chair and Vice-Provost and University Librarian, Queen's University
 

OCUL Directors

Six new, acting and interim University Librarians this summer means many new faces at the Directors' table. Welcome to these new Directors: Barbara Macdonald (Brock), Wayne Jones (Carleton), Brent Roe (Laurentian), Gord Ripley (Trent), Catherine Steeves (Western) and Catherine Davidson (York).

OCUL bade farewell over the summer to Margaret Grove (Brock), Margaret Haines (Carleton), Leila Wallenius (Laurentian) and Cynthia Archer (York).
 


21 heads are better than one

In the spirit of adaptability and accountability OCUL has recently undergone an update to its governance structure. The new structure aims to reduce overlap, clarify the reporting and decision making process and ensure the equity of voices and administrative support provided to OCUL groups. It also provides further clarity about OCUL’s activities, and more opportunities for robust collaboration at all levels. What we now have is a more holistic and equitable approach to mobilizing local expertise.

For a complete view of the new governance structure visit: http://www.ocul.on.ca/node/111
 

OCUL's Standing Committees

Image: Three green OCUL Standing Committee circles OCUL has three Standing Committees; OCUL Information Resources (OCUL-IR), OCUL Scholars Portal (OCUL-SP) and OCUL Planning and Assessment (OCU-PA). These committees provide guidance for the operational and strategic activities of OCUL, and provide a voice for each of the OCUL member libraries. 

The two operational Standing Committees (OCUL Information Resources and OCUL Scholars Portal) have representation from each of OCUL's 21 member institution, and also have a number of topic specific subcommittees with membership drawn from within the Standing Committee membership and from staff from OCUL member libraries and OCUL and Scholars Portal staff. As both of these committees have operational oversight of the OCUL activities and Scholars Portal services that impact each of the OCUL member institutions, the membership ensures that all of the OCUL members have a voice at the table and that, where advantageous, the standing committees are able to draw on the subject expertise of those not officially sitting on the committees.

The third standing committee is focused on organizational planning and assessment and works closely with the OCUL Directors and the other two Standing Committees to ensure OCUL is meeting its strategic goals and identifying the needs of the members. OCUL-PA (OCUL Planning and Assessment) facilitates OCUL’s strategic plan and measures its success; meets to discuss new opportunities; looks forward to advise the Directors of these new OCUL priorities; and evaluates to see how OCUL is doing in relation to its strategic goals.

 

The Committees

OCUL Information Resources (OCUL-IR)

  • Oversight of consortial eresources activities
  • Established in 1999
  • One representative from each OCUL institution
  • Collective licensing of over 180 electronic resources from around 70 different vendors, renewed annually
  • Licenses for full text electronic journals, full text electronic books, streamed media, electronic data files, databases, digitized primary source materials
  • Cooperation with other national and international consortia
  • Scholarly communications and broad collections issues and best practice opportunities

OCUL Scholars Portal (OCUL-SP)

  • Oversight of Scholars Portal, OCUL’s technical services arm
  • Established in 2013
  • One representative from each OCUL institution
  • Provides advice on development phase of Scholars Portal services
  • Promotes local awareness and seeks feedback on Scholars Portal services
  • Generates ideas for new services that meet member needs
  • Identifies training and knowledge sharing opportunities to build expertise across province
  • Currently working with Canadian Access Federation to promote federated identity management
  • Oversight and assistance with establishment of Trustworthy Digital Repository status for e-books, e-theses, e-data and geospatial data

OCUL Planning and Assessment (OCUL-PA)

  • Strategic oversight of OCUL and Scholars Portal activities
  • Established in 2013
  • 11 members from OCUL Directors, OCUL SP and OCUL IR, OCUL Office and Scholars Portal Team
  • Oversee OCUL’s annual planning process
  • Oversee development of OCUL service and program assessment measures
  • Close coordination with OCUL SP, OCUL IR and OCUL Communities
  • Review proposals for new services and programs
  • Make recommendations on proposals to OCUL Directors

Current committee membership and full terms of reference can be found at www.ocul.on.ca/committees

 


Many Voices

The new OCUL groups and committees structure has been enthusiastically embraced by OCUL members as an opportunity for expanded knowledge-sharing and innovation. This is no more evident than in the formation of eight new OCUL communities alongside those that have transitioned to OCUL communities from longstanding OCUL groups such as Geo, Data and Resource Sharing.
 
What are these communities and how do they contribute to OCUL?

What is an OCUL Community?

In short, an OCUL community is a shared-interest group that meets virtually, and occasionally in person, to do any or all of the following:

  1. Promote and encourage the advancement of services in OCUL member institutions;
  2. Exchange information and ideas about particular services and areas of expertise;
  3. Stay in touch with projects and innovations across member institutions and beyond;
  4. Identify opportunities to improve individual and shared infrastructure for existing and emerging initiatives.

Who are the communities?

OCUL communities are made up of librarians and staff from across OCUL member libraries.
 
There is no limit to the number of people from each institution that can participate in the OCUL communities or the level or type of participation they commit to. Membership involvement can be as low-key as subscribing to the community listserv and keeping up to date with the community wiki space, or as involved as leading a discussion or information sharing activity that can identify a long term collaborative opportunity for OCUL.
 
Community activities are facilitated by the Community Moderator, but the bulk of community activity is driven by those who ‘turn up and talk’.
 

Why do we need these communities?

Alongside the three standing committees, and the Directors, the OCUL communities provide the opportunity for grassroots involvement in OCUL, and focused attention on areas of key interest to Ontario’s library community. This involvement and the coordination of the communities with OCUL's Standing Committees is fundamental to a healthy member-based organization.
 
While staff from OCUL schools are constantly coming together to work on OCUL and Scholars Portal projects, the OCUL communities enable ongoing collaboration beyond project-based work. For example, following the completing of the pilot project phase of the ACE Accessible Content E-Portal and the development of the Accessibility Information Toolkit for Libraries, it became clear that there was the need for an ongoing forum to discuss issues of implementing accessibility measures across OCUL institutions. Members of the ACE working group decided to form a new OCUL community to continue and expand the conversation.
 
OCUL communities play a key role in identifying opportunities for OCUL and Scholars Portal, and keeping us all engaged with the important issues for academic libraries. And they are a great way to connect with your colleagues across the province who speak your language.
 

How do I find out more and where do I sign up?

Below you’ll find quick guide to the existing OCUL communities, including some of the interesting tools and activities they are doing. You can find out more and become involved by visiting the OCUL Communities page of our website or by contacting the community moderators.
 
All of the OCUL communities are eager for more voices. And if you don’t see a community that represents your interest, or a topic you think is or should be important to OCUL, visit the website to find out what it takes to form an OCUL community. OCUL is accepting proposals on an ongoing basis.
 
If you have an idea, or just want to know what’s going on around Ontario in your field, it's time to start talking to your OCUL colleagues.

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OCUL Communities Snapshot

* Links to these tools and activities may require an OCUL website or SPOTdocs wiki login. Staff at OCUL member institutions can contact ocul [at] ocul.on.ca to request login details.

 

Community
Image: 'Group' - head and shoulders of three people in black and white.
Topic of Interest

Image: lower case i
 

Key Tools/Activities*

Image: Black and white corssed screwdriver and wrench.

Accessibility Accessibility provisions in libraries; efforts to create accessible and inclusive collections, services, research tools, physical spaces and programming. OCUL Accessibility Information Toolkit for Libraries working group whose interest is in updating and developing this key OCUL resource.
Assessment Assessment of collections, services and other library activities.  As this community is very new, it will soon begin work on developing an Assessment Toolkit and identifying useful professional development opportunities.
Data Advancement of access to, and efficient use of electronic data resources. Work with industry partners including Statistics Canada’s Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) and the development of metadata standards for data.
Digital Curation Preservation and access to digitized and born digital materials and the full digital curation lifecycle: digital object creation/digitization, preservation, and the facilitation of access. Digital Curation Experts list and Tool Shed and the upcoming Digital Curation Summit, a hands-on learning event.
Geo Information and ideas pertaining to maps, geospatial data, and other cartographically-related resources, both print and digital; making geographic information accessible, comprehensible, and relevant to the academic community. Learning Objects - repository of help guides, tutorials and presentations for OCUL Librarians/GIS Specialists; Useful Links: Boundary Files and Data Sets - links to boundary files, data sets and other relevant materials.
Government Information Supporting preservation and access to print and born digital government produced materials, at both the Ontario provincial and federal levels. Exploration of collective digitization opportunities. 
Public Service Renewal The process of re-visioning public services and creating a culture shift in how services are delivered; benchmark of service excellence; best practices and trends. Webinars on service standards and on the role of librarians in different service models, with more to follow.
Publishing/Hosting Hosting/publishing challenges, emerging relevant developments in hosting/publishing, best practices for member institutions, and identifying potential areas for collaboration. Survey of OCUL publishing/hosting practices and topics of interest; webinars exploring the differences between publishing and hosting practices and a working group that is drafting a module for the Developing a Library Publishing Program initiative.
Quality Assurance Libraries’ contribution to Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP) and reporting; best practices, processes and experiences for writing effective reports under Ontario's Quality Assurance Process / IQAPs.  Information webinars addressing ACRL information literacy framework based on threshold concepts and Best Practices for Writing Cyclical Program Reviews.
Resource Sharing Resource-sharing (interlibrary loan) activity within OCUL as well as in the national and global context; emerging trends and relevant copyright, licensing and delivery issues. Resource Sharing Day 2014 in-person event at  Western University to discuss  consorital cooperation around ILL issues  and a special discussion of accessibility issues and ILL.
Visual Resources Explore, expand on, and advocate for the means of improving access to visual resources and services. This community will continue the discussion of the OCUL Visual Resources Working Group via a listserv and  virtual meetings.

 


Webinars & Events

Digital Curation Summit 2014

Join your OCUL colleagues on November 21, for the OCUL Digital Curation Community's 2014 Summit, in partnership with the University of Toronto. The Digital Curation Summit will introduce attendees to various digital curation tools through practical workshops conducted by expert community members.

For further details and registration information visit: https://spotdocs.scholarsportal.info/display/ODCC/2014.11.21+OCUL+Digital+Curation+Summit

Scholars Portal Day 2014

Save the date for this year’s annual Scholars Portal Day to be held on December 3, at Snell Hall, St James Cathedral, Toronto, and streamed live.  
 
As always, this full day program will be packed with information and updates about Scholars Portal projects and services, OCUL activities and more. This event is a great opportunity to find out what is happening OCULy and around the province.  
 
Stay tuned for registration and live streaming details.

OCUL Webinars
 

Did you miss our September orientation webinars Scholars Portal: Who, What, How? and Introducing OCUL?
 
Whether you are new to the OCUL community, or would like an update on the latest services, projects, groups and activities, these webinars are packed with useful information. 
 
Recordings of these webinars and many more are now available to staff at OCUL libraries in the OCUL webinar archive. Contact ocul [at] ocul.on.ca if you do not already have an OCUL website login.

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Scholars Portal Updates

What's been happening at Scholar Portal services?

ACE

The Accessible Content E-Portal or ACE is now one of Scholars Portal’s newest services. Following the successful pilot phase and support from the EnAbling Change Program, this expanding repository of accessible format texts is now available as part of the Scholars Portal Books platform to users with print disabilities across OCUL institutions.
 
A number of guides and online tutorials have also been developed to help users and library staff make the most of this important resource. These guides can be found, along with more information about ACE at: www.ocul.on.ca/node/2192.

 

Ask en français - Clavardez avec nos bibliothécaires
Ask a Librarian French Pilot Service

OCUL’s virtual reference service is now bilingual! In collaboration with the libraries of University of Ottawa, Laurentian University and York University Glendon Campus, OCUL is now offering Clavardez/Ask in both French as well as English. The French Pilot Service was launched on September 8 and has extended this Scholars Portal service to 12 OCUL institutions across the province.
 
For more information about Clavardez/Ask visit: vr.scholarsportal.info/ask
 

<odesi>

Final testing and development is underway for the redesign of the <odesi> interface. Check out the beta version for a sneak peak: http://beta.odesi.ca.
 
The main changes include:
 

  • AODA compliant search interface (note: the Nesstar repository is proprietary software and is not currently accessible)
  • responsive design
  • updated look & feel

 
Scholars Portal is working with the feedback already provided. Stay tuned for an official release date.  For more information email leanne [at] scholarsportal.info

Comings & Goings

OCUL

OCUL welcomes Nur Artok who is working as OCUL Business Officer for 2014 while Alex So is on parental leave. We are also pleased to welcome Rea Devakos who has recently taken over the role of OCUL Projects Officer from Carol Stephenson. Carol returns to Wilfrid Laurier University following three years in the role of OCUL Projects Officer.

Scholars Portal

This summer OCUL said farewell to long time Scholars Portal Software Developers Sepehr Mavedati, Shahin Sahebi and Dileshni Jayasinghe who have moved on to other opportunities. We welcome programmer John Daniels who is working with the geospatial and data teams and welcome back Kate Davis and Amber Leahey who have been on parental leave. We also welcome Bikramjit Singh who joins Scholars Portal as Systems Support Specialist.

Finally, Scholars Portal Accessibility Librarian, Katya Pereyaslavska was recently announced as ARL visiting program officer (VPO) for accessibility and universal design. Katya will continue her role with Scholars Portal, dividing her time between Scholars Portal and ARL.

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Join us online

 
Need more information? Would you like to keep up to date with OCUL and SP happenings?

Remember staff at all OCUL institutions can access even more information in the members section of the OCUL website, including a list of our mailing lists and the webinar archive.

They can also access up-to-date information about OCUL and Scholars Portal projects and all the OCUL Communities on the SPOTdoc wiki.
 
To request a login to either of these sites email ocul [at] ocul.on.ca

 


 
Talk to us! Have a comment or an idea for the Quarterly?
Need to request a password for the OCUL website or SPOTdocs wiki?
Send us an email:ocul [at] ocul.on.ca