IITG MidYear Project Outcomes

Report Mid Year Project Outcomes

1)            Please consider the original timeline and deliverable targets. How is your project progressing compared with the original estimates?*

Our project called for hosting the ACRL day-long workshop, “Scholarly Communication: From Understanding to Engagement” in the fall and survey the library staff who do scholarly communication tasks in order to create a network, share best practices, and look for opportunities to collaborate on projects. We hosted the workshop on 9/30/2016, with 45 attendees. The next step will be to create the survey. We are currently right on track.

2)            How is spending progressing when compared with the original budget estimates? (You may also choose to detail issues regarding access to funds in the next three questions).*

We applied for $20,000 grant but only received $10,000. We have spent approximately $8200 of that amount on the conference.

3)            Please provide feedback regarding your experience with the project execution, in particular any issues or roadblocks you’ve encountered that may have been unexpected.*

It will be challenging to complete all the tasks we set out to do with only half the funding.

4)            What are your positive observations or pleasant surprises about your team’s interaction or project process that might would be helpful to other PI’s?*

Initial feedback from conference attendees include such comments as:

“these conversations refresh my enthusiasm for scholarly communications issues”

“I want to get our faculty up to speed and comfy with OA but my info dates back to 2006; I need(ed) a refresh”

“(I am) meeting others in my field, gaining new knowledge, learning new ways to help faculty and students”

“I feel less alone in this SCHOLCOMM world”

5)            Please describe any challenges you’ve encountered working with your project team that you’ve found solutions for that might be helpful to other PI’s.*

NYLA Scholarly Communications Unconference

Recap of the Scholarly Communication Unconference held at NYLA, 11/2/2016

1.    Peter D. Barvoets, SUNY Cobleskill
What I learned in getting almost 100 students to publish their presentations from the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC 2016)

Main takeaway – sent email permissions 5 days before event, was at conference with laptop to capture presentations as students registered.

2.    Amy Schuler, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Providing research data management training for students
Main takeaway – summer research institute for undergraduates. Teaches data management. Great presentation.

3.    Jeremiah Hall, Bard College
Digital Commons Platform for a Small College IR
Main takeaway – Instructional resources, Oral Histories, Senior Projects

4.    Kim Myers, The College at Brockport
Starting a library publishing program http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/lib_presentations/14/

5.    Pamela McLaughlin, Syracuse University Libraries
Sound Beat: an innovative media publishing initiative at Syracuse University Libraries
Main takeaway – 2 minute sound bites on a variety of subjects, musical and otherwise. Librarians work with one or two classes a semester to produce these. Posted on a Wordpress site, use only clips so it is used as transformative, avoid copyright police.

6.    Alice Carli, Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
A digitization project leading to publishing a large number of texts (including musical scores, in our instance) on our digital repository
Main takeaway – Multiyear project to digitize and conserve fragile scores in the SML. Those in public domain made public in the U of R’s IR+, those still in copyright put up with embargos, and made public only to U of R community.

7.    Jiebei Luo, Skidmore College
1. Creating an auto embargo reminder by utilizing Google Gadgets (Google form, Google Spreadsheet, formMule add-on script, Google calendar). 2. Building a live statistic Google site (iFrame, Google)
No takeaway here. Sophisticated use of Google Apps, but what doesn’t make sense is WHY? Why create work outside the IR (Digital Commons), when it is already provided?

Main conference takeaway –The above lightning rounds took place in the morning. The afternoon was devoted to a World Café, where the audience determined the topics. Of all the possible topics to discuss at this unconference, how to start and run an IR, engage with faculty, etc. was what most people wanted to talk about. Brockport is way ahead of the game there.

Links to presentations: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5BZ7sQZ7CRUa3RqWWdabllYems

Ideas for supporting McNair Program

We added the McNair journal to Digital Commons about 4 years ago, and it has been downloaded over 900 times. The current iteration of the journal is a pdf of the print version with a little about the student and a one-page abstract about their research. I have found 3 other examples of McNair journals in institutional repositories, and they all have full papers attached. The reason may have to do with the cost to print the journal. If that is the case, then perhaps the print edition could continue as before, but the online edition could contain the papers, as well. It might be a useful way to demonstrate outcomes for the grant, too. 

Eastern Michigan: http://commons.emich.edu/mcnair/

Grand Valley State University: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mcnair/

University of Pennsylvania: http://repository.upenn.edu/mcnair_scholars/

In speaking to Herma (cc: Barbara), I found out that "Summer Research students are required to write one abstract for conferences and one for the journal. In some cases, their mentor requires them to write a full paper as well, especially when their research is for credit. So your point is certainly thought provoking. And I'm so happy to see that people are downloading the journals so many times!!! That is good news. We'll be in touch, Herma :) ". 

A supplemental idea of housing their research posters in Digital Commons, in the soon-to-be created Poster Palooza collection was a definite hit, so we should follow up with them about that after the summer program. 

Thesis status by department: ESB, Biology, Psychology and KSSPE

Environmental Science and Biology:

There are currently 106 theses with 23K+ downloads in this collection (12/2016). This department was another early adopter, through the efforts of Dr. Joseph Makarewicz. These theses are well written and well researched, but what is published in Digital Commons may not contain the data sets. In some cases, the data sets are only found in the print copies. I only recently became aware of this, and I think this may need to be addressed in the future, if these are to be the official records. One way to address it would be to have the data sets submitted with the theses, as supplemental files. Supplemental files may either be public (if the box is checked) or kept private. A further possibility would be to embargo the data sets for a period of time.

The submission process: ESB still binds theses, as well as submitting a digital copy with two files on CD to Digital Commons. One file contains the metadata for the submission page, the second file contains the actual thesis. It is up to the DSR to upload the thesis, and apply a one year embargo to it.

Biology:

Biology was late to the game, and in fact, resisted the idea. Their faculty are greatly concerned that having the theses in Digital Commons will result in their research being scooped before they have a chance to publish it themselves. (See 5/2015 and 7/2015 posts for more on this). They finally agreed, but only if there is an automatic one year embargo on all theses, for which one renewal could be requested. Their theses are uploaded by the student, but often with no embargo period entered, so that has to be checked on. This is a small collection, with only 23 theses, of which 18 are public at this point, and 1400 downloads.

Psychology:

Psychology started submitted theses digitally in 2015. They currently have 13 theses in the IR. Their process is for the student to submit, and I make Sara Margolin (graduate coordinator) the administrator. She looks it over, and emails me back her approval. From her email today: I'd like to be able to give you approval, because there always exists the possibility that a student will submit to Digital Commons, but not give their final thesis to me. If I have it in hand, and it's the same as the one that's submitted to you, then we know we're good. 

KSSPE:

KSSPE has gone to a synthesis project, and in fall 2017 had students start self-submitted approved projects. The presence of a signature page indicates instructor approval to post (per Cathy Houston-Wilson, 8/23/17).

Thesis status by department: Education and Human Development

Education and Human Development:

This department was definitely a pioneer at Brockport with ETDs. They have the model for best practices in terms of process here. All theses (and now capstones) are uploaded by the student. One of the required fields is the name of their Advisor. An email is sent to the advisor notifying them when the thesis is uploaded, with a link to review it. After they review the thesis, they have 3 choices. They can approve as submitted for posting, approve with a request for minor revisions, or reject it completely - which is never done. I receive a copy of the email, if it says approve for posting, I will post the thesis and update the site. If there is a request for minor revisions, the student can upload a revised copy and have it reviewed. In general, theses are not uploaded until they are at the end of the process, so most revisions will have been completed already. Sometimes when a thesis is initially uploaded, if I notice that the size of the file is unexpectedly large, I will look at it to see if I can determine what is going on. Sometimes it is in the wrong format, other times it is loaded with large illustrations. These are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

As of 12/14/2016 - the EDH collection: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/ehd_theses/ has 684 theses and capstone projects, making it our largest collection, with 641,084 downloads to date. 

Updated as of 3/25/2019: 1,209 theses - 1,598,039 downloads - largest collection

Thesis status by department: Counselor Education

Counselor Education:    

The first department to add their theses, they have never been available in print. Theses dating back to 2005 had been stored on a departmental drive awaiting a time when they could be displayed electronically. The department handles obtaining all permissions, and while initial uploads were done by the DRS, in recent years their graduate assistant has taken care of it. The collection contains 171 papers and is located at http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_theses/.

In 2015, the department changed from a thesis project to a capstone project, and a new collection was created called Counselor Education Capstone. http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_capstone/ . There are currently 28 papers in that collection, as of 12/13/16.

Things to know:

1. Research involving the Veterans Administration is not allowed to be published, and will be subject to takedown, if inadvertently posted. Examples include: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_theses/129, http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_theses/166 and http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_theses/164
2. When granting new graduate assistants administrator privileges, be sure to add them to the Capstone collection, not the thesis collection.
3. Both Capstones and Theses should be gathered into the larger Thesis Collection. Filters have been set up to do this. 

Possible automated workflows to check out!

I like your term the "Texas workflow". I believe the negative feedback at UT Austin was indeed from their decision to post the files without prior knowledge from the authors. That is one reason we at Texas Tech are using it as a point of outreach, as we have had similar issues in the past and generally allow take downs upon request. Additionally, there is limited awareness about the IR on our campus, which may not be the case at UT Austin.

Here is some information from 2013 about repository management staff from Portland State and Washington State: Bjork, Karen; Isaak, David; and Vyhnanek, Kay, "The Changing Roles of Repositories: Where We Are and Where We Are Headed" (2013). Library Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 84.

http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/ulib_fac/84 

There may be updated information out there, but this seemed like a good summary for your questions about exact FTE. You many also want to check the library Publishing Coalition site/directory. It's not IR-specific but it may give you a feel for what institutions' staff size dedicated to 'library publishing'.

 At TTU, while there are about 4 FTE who actively have responsibility managing the IR, we do have many students who work on the digital collections (not publications necessarily). Our Digital Resources department trains students and faculty. I am assigned with outreach to faculty and students as well as making workflows user-centered. I am the primary person who deposits faculty work. I'm also working on hiring PT student (I'm in a different department).

Camille Thomas

Scholarly Communication Librarian

Texas Tech University

On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 9:28 AM, Claudia Holland <chollan3@gmu.edu> wrote:

Thanks very much for sharing this info, Shilpa. The Texas workflow looks very promising. I am curious about the reference to the “negative” feedback from faculty in the presentation. Do you know if this stems from IR Managers uploading content without permissions from author, or what?

Building off this conversation, I would like to ask about staff support for maintaining an IR. How many FTE and PT staff do you (the collective “you”) have to manage your IR deposits? Do you hire students, too? If so, how many hours/week? Who provides the training and supervises these students? Does the person in charge of the IR have other regular assigned duties? Who is assigned IR outreach to faculty and students? 

I am happy to compile this information if anyone is interested and there is enough response to this query.

Thanks,

Claudia

Claudia Holland, M.A., M.L.I.S.

Head, Scholarly Communication and Copyright

Mason Publishing Group

George Mason University Libraries

4400 University Dr., MS 2FL

Fairfax, VA  22030

703-993-2544

chollan3@gmu.edu

publishing.gmu.edu

From: Shilpa Rele <shilpa.rele@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Shilpa Rele <shilpa.rele@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, November 18, 2016 at 5:57 PM
To: "scholcomm@lists.ala.org" <scholcomm@lists.ala.org>

Subject: Re: [SCHOLCOMM] Best Practices : Checking copyright for authors

Sorry, the links didn't transfer over in my earlier email - I've added them below.

Shilpa

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 2:49 PM, Shilpa Rele <shilpa.rele@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi - Until recently we followed similar practices for clearing copyright for faculty publications. Last month I read about Joy Perrin at Texas Tech on the DLF blog talk about a new workflow designed by folks at UT Austin that they are experimenting with.  We at LMU gave it a shot as well and have now begun to download faculty publication citations from Web of Science and using Google Sheets and Google Scripts for the purpose.

We’ve also been actively seeking out CVs from faculty. Once we get the CV, we’ve been adding citations to a Google sheet template that contains the scripts. We’re still working out the details of our workflow but loosely here’s what we’ve started to do: copy each citation into the first column of a Google Sheet template that contains the scripts.  In the second column, copy just the name of the publication. In the 3rd column, run a “VLOOKUP” that searches a database of contacts, information (i.e. ceased publications), and ISSNs to each journal we have ever researched as we built the IR. Then in the next column, run the Sherpa/Romeo Google Scripts based off of the ISSNs that the VLOOKUP receives. This will show the copyright permissions or contact information. Example: Brett Hoover. We track our progress  in excel sheets stored in Box because the scripts take forever to load if one edits the Google sheet too much.

In addition, we subscribe to 1Science and they’ve sent us their datasets with LMU faculty content that is openly available on the web. We have a script that downloads all the PDFs listed in the spreadsheet but we are also checking the permissions against Sherpa/Romeo since this is the first time we have received such a dataset from them.

 We make use of Illiad/Document Delivery Service to help us get copies of works that we have permissions for.

All in all, this new automated workflow has reduced our time considerably to clear copyright permissions. We use Bepress Digital Commons, so we are also exploring batch uploading tool. We are still working on documenting these workflows, so I’ll be happy to share documentation once they are ready.

If you would like further details or have suggestions for above workflows, please contact me and I’ll be happy to talk more about this.

Best,
Shilpa

Shilpa Rele | Digital Program Librarian
William H. Hannon Library | Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive MS 8200 Los Angeles CA 90045
shilpa.rele@lmu.edu | 310.338.2792
More info: Digital Library Program | Scholarly Communications LibGuide

Clear cache, refresh, incognito?

Sometimes when a change is made to a DC page, it isn't obvious just by refreshing the page. Here are some tips and tricks shared by Lauren:


Whenever styling is impacted, like when I add this customization, I take care of it ahead of time, which is why I mentioned that you’d need to refresh your browser. You might try clearing your cache or using “incognito” mode. Incognito is odd! One of my colleagues always suggests this as an alternative to clearing the cache, which I also resist. If you want another cool trick, you can also clear the cache on an individual page. To do this, click your F12 key. Then right click on the “refresh” button and select “Empty cache and hard reload.” That will just clear the cache on that one page. I use this a lot!

Calendar of events

February - Fair Use Week - plan some events to publicize what Fair Use means for Education. See: http://fairuseweek.org/resources/ for resources, including a great fair use poster.

April -
Sokol High School Literary Awards, sponsored by Friends and Foundation of the Rochester Public Library. Contact: Rebecca Fuss <Rebecca.Fuss@libraryweb.org>

Director of Programming & Outreach

Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library

115 South Avenue, Rochester NY 14604

585-428-8350
Brockport contacts the winners (with information provided by Rebecca), congratulating them and asking their permission to publish their winning entry in Digital Commons. We also send them a release form, (these documents are in the Sokol folder of the DC FC2 drive), attend the ceremony, present them with a certificate (also in DC FC2 Sokol folder) with their name, the name of their entry and the URL where it will be posted. I create the metadata record first and add the presentation after I get the release form (usually at the ceremony). Rebecca usually sends me the pdfs in the week following the ceremony.

Batch uploads using UB Box & Geolocate information & Batch Revision

Upload the files you wish to share to an open shared drive (google drive, dropbox or UB box are some examples).

Open file you wish to share, Choose: Share with people who have the link;
Advanced Settings: Allow downloads, this generates a static IP address

To add files (i.e. combine the batch upload function with the batch revise function):

To add an image to the works, you’ll use column R: fulltext_url. You mentioned you had a hard time pulling in images from an external server, but if you have one that you can use (not password protected, open access), that’s where you’d put the link to the image. You can certainly revise a row to add that link and change other cells at the same time.

Please do not touch the four grey columns on the left that you mentioned: calc_url, context_key, issue, and ctmtime. (There is a new column, as well, original_import_rownum- please feel free to delete that or leave it alone.)


Geolocate_zoom is the column I mentioned above that will make the sidebar map more usable: The default is 5, so if all of your items are in one place, you will want to update your zoom level so that the zoom is higher (up to 18). This will make your map look better.

Live linking an event for an event community

Problem: When you want to refer to a Related Website in an event community, the link works on the Schedule page. It doesn't work on the related metadata page, however.

Example: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/dcglug/ 
Ask the Experts event works fine on the schedule - it takes you to: https://padlet.com/kmyers20/pfq43sp4oegj, but on the actual metadata page, it does not. 

Solution: Bepress can add a WYSIWYG field - here are instructions from Lauren:
I’ve made the change for you. Take a look at the submission form:
http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/ir_submit.cgi?context=divconf&edbypass=1
You’ll see there is now two “Event Website” fields. The first one is the one that was already there. I’ve added some instructions- “Enter the URL that should display on the schedule page. Do not use HTML.” This field will pull the URL straight onto the track:
http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/divconf/2016/
The new field also called “Event Website,” is a WYSIWYG field. The instructions read “Enter the URL that should display on the article information page. Use the WYSIWYG field to link the URL.” You should enter the same URL, then use the little chain icon to link it. This field will pull the URL into the article information page, here:
http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/divconf/2016/schedule/21/ Because you’ve used the link feature, the item will be hot linked, as you requested.

Ta-da!

Diversity and other conferences - making the schedule appear main page

For years now I thought that Support had to work the magic that made the schedule appear on the front page of an event community. Nope, it turns out it is as simple as embedding the Introductory Text on the schedule track page (duh). Of course, then you have to run both a tract level (schedule) and a theme level (year) update to get it to show up.

From the correspondence files:
I think what we’ve got here is another case of the introductory text in the theme configurations instead of the track configurations. If you look at the configurations for the track from 2015, you’ll see that it’s <h3>:
http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/user_config.cgi?context=divconf/2015/schedule
The track level for 2016 is still showing the h2:
http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/user_config.cgi?context=divconf/2016/schedule
You’ll want to update the track level configurations to match that <h3>, then run a track level update and a theme level update.

I might also suggest removing the theme level (2016) introductory text from this year (and maybe 2015) so you don’t run into this again next year.

Another new discovery - if you want to keep text in the coding, but hide it from view the way to do that is - <!-- text to be hidden -->.

Digital Commons User Group planning

6/14/2016: Met with Monica Dailey from C & E, and Jules over at LAB to look at our space needs. We decided on the McCue Auditorium for most of the day, with the workshop to be held in Rm206A/B, lunch on the second floor lounge and English conference room, and breaks on the first floor.

I filled out the Visitor Parking Pass request and spoke to Dave in Parking, and will drop that off today. Parking will be requested in the T lot - no charge.

I updated the online schedule with room assignments (though the DC website appears to be down at the moment).

I will meet with library colleagues today to plan a Thursday night event - ideas include:
Wine & Cheese reception (maybe without the wine)
Tour of the library and archives
Dine Arounds
Tour of downtown
Pick up registration packets

Talked to Patty Sorel (2379), confirmed our arrangements for the User Group meeting, and our reservation for the NY Room for 9/30. (6/21/2016)

Talked to Susan Vasquez, building coordinator for LAB about air conditioning and use of TV. She referred me to Facilities (2408) for the HVAC, and said the process for using the monitors is to get them approved by the building (deans, etc.) and then it goes to Kurt for uploading. They would need to be pdf. Very cool! I can send her a sample of the slideshow next week for approval, and then the final product can go directly to Kurt. (6/22/2016)

Setting up a FC2 drive (for writers_forum)

Step 1: Request the drive through Fileshare Request in the Service Catalog under Security and Access https://suny.service-now.com/
Step 2: Decide on a share name: writers_forum
Step 3: Who will need access? A consistent group, or will it change from year to year? Will everyone have read/write access to all folders, will some remain private, and/or will some users only be able to read, but not write?
Step 4: Provide a list of netids for access. (CORE: apanning, rwblack, rcushman, kmyers, ccowling. GRAD: Cwess1) – Will need to add bcherry.
Step 5: When share owner is notified, they need to let the users know. In theory, anyone can then map the drive to their desktop.

---

2016-01-26 14:46:00 EST - Kevin Colagio^{Additional comments}

Kim,

We don't contact anyone when it's done. You are listed as the owner.

Any of them will be able to map the drive to a drive letter of their choice. If they need help with this, they can contact the helpdesk or there is probably a knowledge base article somewhere (I haven't dug into that part of Service Now yet...).

If you want, I could send the ticket back to the Helpdesk and they may be able to advise you better...?

--Kevin.

---

Writers Forum Open Access Project

In late October, 2015 I received notification that I was awarded a $1500 Harold Hacker Award Fund for the Advancement of Libraries. Here is the budget narrative:

The funding would be used to hire an intern for 300 hours @ $12.00/hr, who would first update the 2007 inventory to determine the current state of the collection. He or she would then build a showcase collection on Brockport’s open access institutional repository, Digital Commons@Brockport (http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/), and move 40 existing audio files currently behind a firewall in iTunes, 22 existing video files found on SUNY’s DSpace platform, and 18 existing digital files that are stored on local hard drives to this site. Metadata would be added to enhance the discoverability of the collection, and the catalog records would be created or updated, and links would be updated on the departmental and library webpages. Historical posters, programs and other archival material would be scanned to round out the collection.

While I asked for $3600, I received less than half of that. Since the premiere goal was to create an online, open access collection that is what I will have to focus on. 

 

Social media experiences

The Peter Singer story:

I’m guessing you know who Peter Singer is, having taught philosophy, so I’ll jump right in with the story. Late this summer, we received a request from a publisher to reprint an article (by Peter Singer) that appeared in the 1974 edition of the Philosophic Exchange. This is the first time that we’ve received such a request when it wasn’t on behalf of the author of the article. In those cases, it’s an automatic yes. In this case, I searched out Dr. Singer, who was still active and teaching at Princeton, and sent him an email explaining the situation and telling him that (although we held the copyright), we were passing this request on to him. Whatever remuneration there was, should go to him, as well as the decision as to whether he wanted his work to appear in this forthcoming publication. I quickly received a nice note back thanking me, and saying he would respond to the request. Then, last week, that same paper came up as our Featured Paper of the Day, and I tweeted it, and sent him my congratulations PotD email. He immediately responded, and tweeted it himself. Almost instantaneously there was a flurry of activity on the website, and people all over the world started downloading this article. We had more than 300 downloads of that article in the next few hours. It was fascinating to watch those pins drop.

Establishing the alumni connection:

This next story is chronicled below. When this month’s Activity Updates came out, I identified 5 or 6 people, whose works were in part responsible for areas in which the repository excelled in the previous month. Several were from the Education department. For each of those, I sent a little congratulatory email (as seen below) to the author, and copied their advisor in, as well. Finally, I sent a summary on to Janka, the department chair. I was pleased to see that Frank, one of the advisors, followed up with his own email to the student. I think that one will mean more to Karen, than anything I could send, and it represents to me another way that Digital Commons can help build and maintain connections with Brockport’s alumni.

All this being said, I know I don’t do nearly the amount of marketing or work in social media that I did in the early days of the IR, but experiences like these convince me that the time is worth the effort!

Correspondence with Geneseo re: repository policies

Being Brockport, we didn’t really have a lot of policies in place when we started the IR. So my answers will be a combination of policy and practice.

On whether submission is mandatory:

Our first thesis collection was the Environmental Science and Biology collection, which came out of a discussion with a professor, who was also chair of the graduate committee at the time. They started requiring their students to submit to them their thesis on CD, along with their print copies to be bound. The Education department came along next, and they were open to the idea of actually having the students submit their thesis to Digital Commons, and the advisor would do a final approval and it would be published. About a year into the repository initiative, the Graduate School submitted a proposal to the College Senate asking for it to be mandatory that theses that would normally be submitted to the library for binding, be submitted digitally to the IR. The department could still bind, if they wished but the IR was the primary depository. Has that been adhered to? Marginally. It continues to be an educational process, but I believe the 3 biggest departments comply.

On how we receive permission:

Our thesis collection is two pronged – retrospective and born-digital. The born-digital collection has a click through agreement that the student checks before they submit their thesis. Here is a link to the instruction guide (found in the sidebar of each collection) http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/ehd_theses/submission_guide.pdf that we provide each department. It works the student through the process step by step, and shows a piece of the permission agreement. For our retrospective theses, we digitize and try and find emails to ask permission to upload. This tends to be time consuming, and I admit that I have many more theses digitized than I am currently able to upload, so I have put a moratorium on doing any more at this point. We have a Thesis Digitization Policy, based on University of South Florida’s listed on our website http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/thesis_digitization_policy.pdf .

Creative work and other lessons learned:

As some of the original champions have retired or moved away, questions have arisen such as: we don’t want our students research published before we get a chance to publish (the sciences), or what about work that isn’t quite good enough to be in the IR, or what about if the student wants to publish in the future? So, just about a year ago, we started allowing embargos (one year automatic for EnvSci, and one year renewable for Bio). Some of the creative writers who gave permission have come back with individual requests (could I take this down – I think if Mrs. XXX read it, they might sue me for libel; I want to self-publish- it is allowed if it’s on the IR?) Those kinds of questions. I offer to provide a link in the metadata to their “published” book. English gives their graduates a choice of whether to submit or not, in fact, I’m not sure that they even tell them about it, to be honest.

Is it worth the time and effort?

I’m not sure which platform you are thinking about for your IR. We have been very happy with bepress and Digital Commons, but here’s my caveat: you will get out of it, what you are willing to put into it. If you look at the 5 IR’s in the http://suny.researchcommons.org/ , 3 of us started at about the same time. Only one of us has a full time IR manager and the difference in size of collections and number of downloads is noticeable. But, it depends on what your goals are for the IR. I consider Digital Commons a part of the Brockport marketing plan, and align my goals with the strategic goals of the college, and the strategic goals of the library.

I’m sorry, you ask a simple question, and I answer with an essay. Please let me know if there is anything else you need to know.

Kim

From: Allison Brown [mailto:browna@geneseo.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 12:17 PM
To: Myers, Kim
Subject: Question about Digital Commons

Hi Kim,

We were beginning a conversation about IRs with a faculty here at Geneseo, and I was wondering if I could ask some questions about your experiences with the digital repository at Brockport.

I noticed you have a fair amount of student theses and dissertations available through digital commons, and was wondering if you had any insight into how individual departments handle this. For example, is it mandatory, and do the students sign a release? 

We are also curious if any of the theses you host are creative writing, and if so, what were the discussions leading up to including these types of student work in the repository. Our faculty member is advocating to include all types of student work, but has heard some arguments against providing open access to unpublished student creative work, and I was curious whether this was a conversation you had at Brockport while setting up policies for Digital Commons. 

Any insight you have would be helpful!