Technology and Resource Services Division
Annual Report, 2004-2005
Submitted by Tyler Walters
Associate Director, Technology and Resource Services
This year we are advancing the GT library’s leadership at the national and state levels with
many leading projects currently underway such as:

the NDIIP Preservation Network Partnership with the Library of Congress and the
MetaArchive Consortium members -- Emory University, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech,
Florida State University, Auburn University, and the University of Louisville

involvement with DSpace and the DSpace Federation

founding membership in the LOCKSS Alliance

GT Library representation in the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)

participation in Galileo / RACL initiatives involving:
SFX
Metasearching technologies
Galileo Knowledge Repository
GETS and GETSM consortial licensing
WebCT/Vista – Library integration
GT campus leadership and increased library visibility is being advanced through “leading edge”
technology-intensive projects such as:

the GT campus portal Buzzport – GT Library developing its own portal for Buzzport

participate in piloting the Tegrity course capture software with DLPE and ECE

serve on the GT Academic Technologies Advisory Committee, review the use of new
course management software like WebCT Vista and the open source project, Sakai

a fast-tracked and robust Digital Initiatives agenda with one the country’s largest
institutional repositories - SMARTech, ETDs, and working on repositories with others

successfully negotiated linkages between SMARTech and the digital repositories
being developed at ECE and HCC

vastly improved library technology infrastructure, i.e. server and network
configurations, more advanced levels of programming, increased expert staffing, and
brought Internet 2 capabilities through OIT collaboration

leading the library’s fast-tracked conversion to electronic resources, including their
access management via SFX

implementing the Library’s new Dynamic Research Guides System, allowing
Information Consultants to control of their own resources from within the web site
New Employment / Searches:
Moving the Library forward with such expansive and robust programs has required new skills
and expertise. A great deal of time and energy was invested in recruiting and hiring new, topquality personnel with high potential to advance the Library’s agenda in the technology and
resource services areas. Fourteen hires were made for thirteen positions (*one of those was in
Collection Development and I chaired that search, plus two “transfers” resulting from the IPST merger).
There are two additional positions for which searches are currently underway: Electronic
Resources Coordinator for Acquisitions Services, interviews underway in July 2005; and
Catalog and Metadata Librarian, interviews underway in August 2005. There were also five
classified staff promotions as well, which are key to completing the new “digital work” in which
we find ourselves immersed.
Acquisitions Services
 Library Assistant III (Angie Juenemann)
 Periodicals Librarian (Rubye Cross)
 Head of Acquisitions Services (Jeff Carrico -- starting July 18, 2005)
Archives
 Digital Collections Archivist (Kent Woynowski)
 Access Archivist (Christine de Catanzaro)
 Records Coordinator II (Yolanda Strayhorn)
 Head of Archives (Jody Thompson)
*Collection Development (public services division)
 Electronic Resources Coordinator for Collection Development (Bonnie Tijerina)
Digital Initiatives
 Library Assistant III (Karen Smith)
 Digital Initiatives Librarian (Julie Griffin – starting Aug. 8, 2005)
Systems
 Web Applications Developer (Ross Singer)
 Computer Services Specialist II (Brian Rauscher – hired and resigned, 2005)
 Server/Network Administrator (Chris Helms)
 Computer Services Specialist II (David McDuffie)
Promotions:
Laurel Crafts, to Project Coordinator II
Karen Smith, to Library Associate I
Kirk Henderson, to Records Supervisor
Isoke Ambidwile, to Library Assistant III (submitted to OHR, pending)
Shedonna Williams, to Library Associate I
Strategic Plan Update
 Finished an update to our TRS Strategic Plan of 2003 in June, 2005. The plan
specifically focuses on the following areas: external drivers and influences on our work;
supporting the Public Services agenda; assessing other divisional agenda areas (direct
campus services and intra-divisional services); elevating professional service; and a
communications plan. Some of the key goals to the plan update relate to creating an
increasingly positive and collaborative “divisional mindset” to our work, developing
creative approaches to teamwork, fostering productive communications, and promoting
initiative-taking and problem-solving in the Library and the TRS division. Moreover, we
are looking for ways to continue advancing our divisional work environment so that we
achieve unity as an organization and realize maximum collaboration between library
employees. We’ll be hearing more about these endeavors as the new year progresses.
Managing Print and Electronic Information Resources
 During August 2004 both Tammy Rabideau and Lisa Macklin left the employment of the
Library, which caused us to “shift gears” in regards to the Acquisitions Services
Department’s development path. We put a temporary management plan into place,
providing some semblance of leadership for the year. We did identify and move forward
on significant projects such as migrating all remaining Sirsi serials/acquisitions records
into Voyager, moving monographic ordering to a web-based system with Blackwell,
developing new procedures for managing gift materials, shift current periodicals from 1
East to 2 East, and securing additional Voyager training.

By the end of the year, Jeff Carrico was hired as the new Head of Acquisitions Services
and a second round of interviews were underway for the Electronic Resources
Coordinator for Acquisitions Services.

We worked closely with Nancy Simons, Collection Development, to devise an e-resource
management infrastructure and build a team of e-resource staff, charged with managing
these information resources well into the future. This work culminated in creating an
electronic resources coordinator position both the Collection Development and
Acquisitions Services departments. This “coming together” of departments shows an
ability to successfully collaborate across the library in areas like improving access and
management of e-resources.
Managing Electronic Resources - Cataloging

ICM updated literally tens of thousands of e-resource records, including editing and/or
creating 24,000 government documents bibliographic and holdings records. ICM
grapples with the constant need for maintenance of e-resources. Unlike print resources,
e-resources require a considerable amount of maintenance after the initial creation of
the catalog record, i.e. publishers merge, dates of coverage change, URLs need
updating, etc. Some of these functions can be automated, such as using a link checking
software, managed by the Systems Dept., to check links in the catalog each month and
identify any broken links. We will continue to search for new ways to streamline and
automate e-resources management, both in terms of cataloging and their acquisition.
Born-Digital Intellectual Output
 The Library opened SMARTech (GT institutional repository), August 2004. Eleven
months later its the fifth largest DSpace installation in the world with approximately 4,500
objects in 18 communities holding 44 collections (June 2005).

Inaugurated the Georgia Tech e-Publications program in January, 2005 as part of the
Library’s institutional repository, SMARTech. Seven of the 18 total communities are
apart of this program.

ICM was trained and input metadata for its first group of digital intellectual output in
SMARTech, the Aerospace Systems Design Lab publications (approx. 170 items).

Began working with DLPE, ECE, HCC and OIT to build a digital asset management
system (DAMS) for storage and access of digitally captured courses and other streaming
video and digital assets generated by Georgia Tech.

The Academic Technologies Advisory Committee, digital archiving subgroup (Tyler
Walters is a member) is discussing campus archiving needs of digital instructional
materials developed by faculty.
Major Digitally Converted Collections
 A photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milk Way by E.E. Barnard is an
impressive accomplishment and signals the kind of future digital conversion projects that
the TRS Division can undertake in support of the instructional needs of the campus.
http://www.library.gatech.edu/about_us/digital/barnard/index.html. Dr. James Sowell, GT
astronomer and Laurel Crafts presented the web site at the American Astronomical
Society annual meeting in January, 2005. This has been a landmark digital project for
the Library in many ways and we hope to initiate other instructionally-based, facultylibrary digital collaborations in the future.
Digital Preservation
 The NDIIP-supported MetaArchive Preservation Network project with the Library of
Congress completed its first nine months of work on this 3-year project. We are
progressing on schedule and have the basics of the project underway: running the
LOCKSS software, development of a conspectus and metadata schema for the content,
and working on plug-ins to ingest our first collections.

The MetaArchive Consortium also submitted a grant June 2005 to the NEH Division of
Preservation and Access, Research and Development program regarding testing
software tools to automate format migration of content held in the Preservation Network.
Web Usability
 One of the most important responsibilities we take on is the effective and efficient design,
architecture and navigation of the Library web site. The successful completion of the
Library website usability study was among the top accomplishments this year. We
contracted with a local usability company, User Insight, to conduct a study and to make
recommendations for design changes. The results showed that the Library site’s
information architecture works well. The main problem was guiding users to the
appropriate search interface (e.g. -- catalog, databases and e-journals). The usability
testing showed that students were confused about when to use different resources. The
study identified the need to improve information literacy among our users, and this issue
is being pursued by Information Services. User Insight made recommendations
designed to guide the user through clear navigational choices and Systems will focus on
how to get users to the right sources via the website.
Records Management
 The Records Management Program in the Archives Dept. underwent a complete
overhaul in the past year. We completed the outfitting of the Ethel St. records center and
moved all non-permanent records into it, including the completion of a full inventory of
records held, updating that information in the RM database. A campus-wide marketing
campaign was kicked off toward the end of this reporting year as well. There were some
important personnel shifts as well -- Kirk Henderson was promoted to Records Manager
and Yolanda Strayhorn was hired as Records Coordinator II.
IPST Project
 All aspects of the IPST Library – GT Library merger have been completed. 20,000
catalog records were updated, over 24,000 documents were searched for duplicate
holdings, and all volumes were bar coded, new call numbers labels affixed, and stamped
“GT Library.” The merging of these two libraries’ holdings was a very major and complex
undertaking that took two years and staff from across the library to complete. We are
happy to see its successful completion.
Highlighted New Software Applications:
e-Res by Docutek:
 Migrated from our homegrown system to E-Res by Docutek and worked collaboratively
with Public Services personnel to implement the migration. This was completed in
January 2005. This new application software is a major improvement to the Library’s
technological base and successfully addresses what was perhaps the largest “weak link”
the Library has had in regards to its software applications.
Illiad:
 The lending and borrowing functions of the Illiad interlibrary loan software were
operational between April and May, 2005.
LOCKSS:
 The Library is now running a LOCKSS server and gathering some of the e-resources
content we license. LOCKSS is a major digital preservation / collection management tool
that has the capacity to change the paradigm of how we manage e-resources and share
them into the future. I personally advocated much for the adoption and this software and
helped promote support for it by consortia like Solinet and ASERL. Implementing this
software and supporting its development by participating in the LOCKSS Alliance is an
important step in the GT Library’s technological leadership role on the state, regional,
and national levels.
We are currently running four LOCKSS-based initiatives now: the LC NDIIPP
preservation network project; a general LOCKSS server for e-journals; the ASERL ETD
preservation project with LOCKSS; and the LOCKSS / GPO project.
WAG the Dog, the Web Localization Project:
 Ross Singer initiated the Windsor-Alberta-Georgia Web localization project and gave
several presentations on this technology. While early, Ross’s efforts at web localization
open a new door onto what libraries can accomplish regarding the delivery of information
in ubiquitous fashion to end users in their most used digital environments. More
developments to come.
Selected Goals for 2005-2006:

Implement selected action items from the strategic plan update 2005 for the Technology
and Resource Services Division

Lead and participate in LC NDIIPP-funded MetaArchive projects

Finalize searches for: Electronic Resources Coordinator for Acquisitions Services
Catalog and Metadata Librarian

Continue working with campus groups in development of educational technologies and
non-library based repositories for GT.

Work closely with the overall Digital Initiatives program to continue developing its vision,
strategies, and philosophy, and to identify priority projects

Work closely with the two new department heads (in Acquisitions Services and Archives)
to advance departmental objectives and other library strategic issues.
Professional Activities of the Associate Director for Technology and Resource Services:
Articles authored:
McDonald, Robert, Charles Thomas, Tyler O. Walters, and Anthony D. Smith, "The New
Frontier of Institutional Repositories: Three Libraries, Three Plans, One Goal,” New Review of
Information Networking. London: Taylor and Graham. To be published in volume 10 (2005).
Published book reviews:
Review of Indispensable Outcasts: Hobo Workers and Community in the American Midwest,
1880-1930. By Frank Tobais Higbie. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003 Pp. xi, 255, the
Journal of Illinois History, forthcoming (2005).
Paper presentations:
“Preserving Information Long-Term: Digital Archiving,” National Conference on Digital
Government Research, May 2005.
“The Open Access Movement, Repositories, and More,” Solinet, May 2005.
“Transforming Libraries: The ‘Real’ Barriers to Reinventing Ourselves,” Special Libraries
Association Georgia Chapter, March 2005.
“The MetaArchive of Southern Digital Culture: Building a Collaborative Digital Preservation
Network,” Coalition of Networked Information, December, 2004.
“Institutional Repositories: Status and Development in the Southeast,“ EDUCAUSE, Oct. 2004.
“Institutional Repository Development and Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology,”
Congress of Media Organizations / Georgia Library Association, October 2004.
“Redundant Digital Preservation Networks: Institutional Partnerships and Organizational
Issues,” (with Martin Halbert) Symposium on Open Access and Digital Preservation,
Emory University, (invited speaker), October 2004.
Public grants:
National Endowment for the Humanities. Division of Preservation and Access, Research and
Development Program. “Advancing Digital Preservation and Access in Distributed Electronic
Archives.” Grant proposal by the MetaArchive Consortium, Tyler Walters, Co-Principal
Investigator with Martin Halbert, Principal Investigator, Emory University. $360,240. Submitted
June 2005. Awaiting decision.
Private gifts/grants:
Digital Conversion of Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations. Richard Meyer, Catherine Jannik,
Tyler Walters. Beck Foundation. Award: $52,385 (2004)
Committees / Representations / Consortial Project Membership, etc.
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)
LOCKSS ETDs project team member, 2005-present
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
Representative, Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center,
2002-present
Georgia Institute of Technology
Academic Technologies Advisory Committee, 2004-present
Tegrity Course Capture Software Pilot Team, 2004--present
GT Campus Portal Steering Committee, 2002-present
WebCT Vista Review Committee, 2004-present
Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET)
Adjunct instructor and co-developer of “Emerging Technologies” workshop series, 2005
University System of Georgia
Regents’ Academic Committee on Libraries
WebCT / Library Resource Integration Working Group, 2003-2005
GOLD/GALILEO Advisory Committee (elected), 2004-2006