Cornell University Library Staff Web Page
CUL Staff Web Site | Council Index
November 20, 2002
Linda Bryan introduced the current project to create a centralized web-based CUL Events Calendar, developed by the Events Database Working Group (EDWG). It is intended to serve as a centralized tool to help market library events, to prevent scheduling conflicts, and to help the units reach reach the widest audience possible. Linda asked the Council to provide feedback on how well the calendar prototype the WG designed works as a scheduling and advertising tool. The prototype is available at http://www.library.cornell.edu/events. (Please view in Internet Explorer.)
Oya Rieger, Peter Hirtle, Karen Calhoun, Marcy Rosenkrantz, and Fiona Patrick provided an introduction to D-CAPS and discussed their plans for this new service. Seeking to provide one-stop shopping for users of digitization services, D-CAPS will serve as a common point of entry for access to services provided by various library units. These include a digitization service designed to support the needs of faculty, staff, and students, as well as the various units of the Library (under the auspices of the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections), Metadata Services (based in Central Technical Services) and a Library Copyright Service. A technology consulting service is under development. The goal for the future is to provide an integrated suite of services addressing the entire life-cycle of digital information. Some library units are presenting or planning to present one or more of these services themselves to their respective faculties. D-CAPS expects to work collaboratively with these units while at the same time empowering other units which are not implementing these services. Oya is responsible for working with the managers of the various component services in designing and implementing the D-CAPS model. D-CAPS will have three committees: a) an Advisory Committee, which will create links and provide checks between the D-CAPS managers and the unit libraries; b) a committee to create guidelines for funding, and; c) a proposal selection committee which Peter Hirtle will chair. There followed brief descriptions of the digitization service (Peter), the metadata service (Karen), the copyright service (Fiona) and the technical support service (Marcy). Oya announced that D-CAPS will hold open houses in January and February and that there will be additional presentations about D-CAPS at the March Academic Assembly meeting. A D-CAPS Web site is being developed.
Sarah Thomas provided background on MAS 2010, a project supported by a $120,000 one-year planning grant from the Mellon Foundation. As new demands are placed on space, staff and services, Sarah has been thinking about how libraries, and specifically large university research libraries like Cornell can reorganize and reorient themselves to provide better value to their institutions and scholars and thus insure their long-term viability. The Working Group on the Reconceptualization of Olin and Uris Libraries had, in the course of its work, shown that the space needed for collections, services and staff in these two facilities is greater than the space available within their existing footprints. At the same time, the cost, both financial and political, of building/expanding on center campus is very high and there is an increasingly urgent need for a new book storage module. Given this situation, Sarah asked the Working Group to consider which of the core services the Library provides could best be housed at the Orchard as part of an expanded facility in order to "privilege the user." With the support of Mellon, the MAS 2010 project will examine this further and, in particular, determine the feasibility of leveraging the assets of the Library to provide "expert assistance" to other institutions, e.g., smaller libraries, historical societies, and university presses, on an enterpreneurial basis.
Oya Rieger, who is coordinating the project, introduced the project team--Karen Calhoun, Susan Currie and Ed Weissman--and described the methodology. Further information about MAS 2010 is available at the project Web site http://www.library.cornell.edu/MAS/
Submitted by: Ed Weissman, Jan. 2, 2003
CUL Staff Web Site | Council Index
01/07/03, vwb