VCU Libraries IT Snapshot
ASERL Information Technology / Digital
Initiatives Interest Group
Lunch-n-Learn Sept 22, 2010
Jimmy Ghaphery
Head, Library Information Systems
VCU Libraries
VCU Libraries Digital Collections: http://dig.library.vcu.edu
PS Magazine, issue 165, 1966
About VCU
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32,436 Students
18,218 Employees (with VCU Health System)
$225 million sponsored research awards
Young and ambitious
http://www.vcu.edu
About VCU Libraries
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Two million volumes
50,000 serial titles
Aspirations for ARL status
http://library.vcu.edu
Library Information Systems
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200 staff and 350 public machines
Aleph ILS
CONTENTdm and scanning operations
DSpace for mandatory ETD’s
ILLiad/SFX/Metalib/EzProxy
Website/Applications/Mobile
9 FT (4 faculty) and 3 PT (1 faculty)
VCU Libraries Digital Collections: http://dig.library.vcu.edu
PS Magazine, issue 105, 1961
Library IT Governance
 Standing library tech groups disbanded in
2006
 Vision, Agile, Transparent, Responsive
 Major decisions Management Council
 Web reaction panel - NOT redesign group
 Task Forces as needed – LibGuides
 As the pendulum swings…..
VCU IT Governance
 University Librarian reports to Provost; CIO dual reports to
Provost and Senior Vice President
 VCU Technology Advisory Committee—2007
“advisory and communications channels among Technology
Services, the schools and College, and major administrative
units. The Committee will provide advice to the Chief
Information Officer on school/departmental needs as well as
central technology services and directions.”
 Library contributions one foot in both administration and
academic
 Recent task force on Disaster Recovery
VCU IT Consultancy
• Ongoing, Initiated Fall 2009
• Central & Departmental IT
Central IT Services
Free
Fee
Partner
Enterprise systems: email,
ERP (Banner), ecommerce,
listservs etc.
Identity Management
(ldap, edirectory, CAS)
Shibboleth/InCommon
Network maintenance and
upgrades
New network installs
Wireless
Physical server hosting,
Hobbit/NOC
Sysadmin, DBA, Extended
server warranty
Virtual Servers
Backup infrastructure
TSM/TDP
Initial licenses
Tape charge per 500GB
Labstats, AV, DeepFreeze
LanDesk licenses
Laptop loan, Learning
Commons
Active Directory
infrastructure
Initial CIFS setup
SAN contributions
Desktop Snapshot
 Active Directory/CIFS migration from library
managed servers
 Roughly 4TB in storage, 3TB of digital masters
 Projects: permissions on staff pc’s and public apple
management
Library
Central IT
Management of 200 staff and 350 public
pc's and peripherals across five locations.
LabStats; LanDesk; Sophos; Hardware
responsibility for Cabell Library; Student
Laptop checkout; Public authentication;
Ghost licensing; Wireless; Pay4Print
Staff user support
1500 tickets closed per year
As needed
Local Area Filesharing, permissions,
account maintenance
Active directory; CIFS Server; backups;
SAN
Cabell 2nd Floor Learning Commons
ILS Snapshot
 Summer 2010 migration to version 20/Oracle 11.
 Working on standby posture.
 Fall 2010 projects VERDE, VuFind
Library
Central IT
Aleph Integrated Library System for VCU
Richmond and Qatar.
Sysadmin and Oracle DB across 4 servers
(prod, dev, standby, test); backups (TSM
TDP); SAN; Hobbit/NOC
Single Oracle DB, two application
instances.
VCU Libraries Digital Collections: http://dig.library.vcu.edu
PS Magazine, issue 53, 1957
Virginia Commnity Colleges (VCCS)
Collaboration Snapshot
 Anxiously awaiting PrimoCentral
 Not sure how Metalib relates to LibGuides
 Threw in towel on Metalib federated searching
from homepage
 SFX ver4
Library
Central IT/VCCS
SFX URL Resolver
Server hosted and administered by
Virginia Community Colleges in exchange
for SFX application maintenance on a
shared instance since 2004.
Metalib Federated Searching
Web Server Snapshot
 New design Jan 2010, mobile site spring 2010,
LibGuides summer 2010.
 App migration ColdFusion to PHP (codeignitor)
 New room reservation system, customized Ball State
OpenRoom.
Library
Central IT
Library Web Server Design, application
programming, server admin,
database admin, mobile website,
LibGuides, Movable Type, Contribute,
backup and test servers
Server hosting computer center; TSM
backups; Hobbit/NOC; CAS; investigating
central RedHat updates.
Web Apps Snapshot
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EzProxy standby virtual server at VCU DR site.
ILLiad 8; exploring central database hosting.
CONTENTdm upgrading to version 5.3.
DSpace 1.42 with ETD embargo customizations
o Looking at upgrade options
o IR Elephant
 Social media deployment (centralization questions)
Library
Central IT
Web Applications
EzProxy
ILLiad
CONTENTdm
DSpace
Server hosting computer center; backups;
Hobbit/NOC; CAS (proxy only);
investigating central RedHat updates.
Digitization Snapshot
 Recently outsourced yearbooks and alumni magazine
(LYRASIS/Internet Archive). Relationship to
CDM/digital masters?
 Digital preservation planning to encompass digitized
collections, born digital material and web content
 Pending: 8,000 slides, student newspapers
Library
Scanning; CONTENTdm server
Central IT
VCU Libraries Digital Collections: http://dig.library.vcu.edu
PS Magazine, issue 97, 1961
Central Standards & Requirements
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Project management requirements
Security standards
Laptop and desktop encryption
Registries for servers, sensitive data
Questions?
Jimmy Ghaphery
jghapher@vcu.edu