Elias Tzoc blog!

This month, as I worked on the final edits of my Dossier for Continuing Contract and Promotion, I was reminded that it’s been almost six years since I joined Miami University.  Of course, another reminder took place in early June when ESGO finished 6th grade -anyway, the final edits of a dossier can be tricky, on one hand, there is a page limit so one must be careful in what to include and how to describe each entry; on the other hand, every piece of information must be self-explanatory (and answer the so-what factor) –which would be helpful to the personnel committee and external reviewers.  As for how good I did with my own document … mmmmm … I guess we’ll find out in the next few months.  Another piece that I also enjoyed working on was the supplemental materials’ site.

Now, in preparation for the next academic year -or maybe for the next six years- the rest of this summer is a mix of several exciting activities such as:

• Digital Collections, in June I spent a good amount of time trying to “decipher” the back-end files for CONTENTdm 6.1; for instance, replacing the homepage section was a bit of a challenge.  But on the positive side, I definitely like the new image viewer and the web customization option.  The next/last major challenge for me/us will be getting the videos for two collections with proper HTML5 standards.
• Scholarly Commons migration, in July we’ll complete a migration from a hosted to a local DSpace 3.0 instance; four new modules in our list are: discovery for search/browse, statistics, controlled vocabulary, and an enhanced mobile theme -this last one is also a candidate for a new contribution to DSpace 4.0; also, a new community in SC will be the CAWC Lecture Series digital archive.
• Digital Literacy Partnership, after an unexpected admin error with this site, it seems like most of the web design work has been re-covered … the meeting with Valerie last week was a good confirmation that we’re -once again- almost there.  Now I just wish Omeka had a better way to export selected metadata fields.
• Freedom Summer, besides the work with the website committee for the 2014 Conference, I’m also helping with 1-2 FS grants -one is a for NEH and one for OHS.  Grant writing is also fun -but it can be very time-consuming.
• IMS 201, as part of the new adventure in the Fall semester, in July I also plan to finalize my syllabus for this class –which will most likely include an e-book project.  It also seems like Online Security & Privacy can be a good topic for some further discussion in class -it may even qualify for a paper!

Ok, that’s it for now … ahora mejor un poco más de la Copa Confederaciones!

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Scholarship and Service are main sections in LARPS -a local system established for librarians who seek promotion and continuing contract.  This week, as I worked on this section for the first draft of my Third Year Report, I found one interesting surprise: the Re-Indexing CONTENTdm metadata page -I created in 2008- has been mentioned/cited in a book chapter “Collaborative Digitization Goes Local” by Ken Middleton and Mayo Taylor.  I knew that some CONTENTdm users have regularly used this page; one way to know it is by checking the web stats or by replying to some of those emails!  Anyway, it’s always good to know that the work we’ve done here at Miami has helped someone else.  And speaking of CONTENTdm/DSpace customization, last month I was also happy to learn that a manuscript about this work has been accepted for publication -more details about it soon!

Going back to the report, it was also gratifying to write about two recent grant projects: Digitizing Freedom Summer funded by the Ohio Humanities Council and the Migration of a Newspaper Collection funded by the State Library of Ohio.  Grant projects can be fun and they definitely give some flexibility for purchasing new equipment and help undertake new risks/projects … perhaps my only concern is with the writing component –but that’s just me and my foreign language issues

I also enjoyed writing about the Creative Activity sub-section of my report, especially now as I’m working on the new DSpace Customization page; creating an online tutorial for documenting what works for us and providing access to the source code seems to support the idea of collaboration –maybe someone out there can help us improve our own code!  A second component of the DSpace page will be a Theme Gallery, which is already scheduled for a presentation/workshop with OhioLINK members by the end of January.

Last, since Service is also part of the LARPS puzzle, it was good to have some on-going activities such as: ALA Discovering Librarianship, TEDSIG of ALAO, MN Institute & the Open Access Journal project, 2012 JCLC, 2011 OVGTSL, MidWest CONTENTdm User Group, Accessibility Forum and Expo working group, and IFLA Special Interest Group on Indigenous Matters.

Alright, enough writing for now, time for a short break and nos vemos pronto!

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