ScholarWorks Update - September 2019

Here is the latest from the ScholarWorks project.

One-on-one meetings

We’ve now completed one-on-one meetings with all of the campuses migrating to the new ScholarWorks. Those meetings, which took place in August and September, focused on each campus’ progress in learning the new system, local workflows and authorizations (particularly around ETDs), and questions regarding the new metadata schemas.

Kevin and David will continue to work with each campus on the next steps in their adoption of the new ScholarWorks, initially focusing on those campuses who want to begin uploading submissions right away, and those campuses who are next in line for data migration.

Data migration

We’ve completed the initial migration of data from DSpace to Hyrax for Sacramento and have begun that same process for San Marcos. The next few campuses in line for migration are Chico and Sonoma. We’ll be circling back to those campuses to begin data review and migration preparation tasks in October.

After the one-on-one meetings, we also made some adjustments to the data migration calendar, in particular moving Bakersfield and Stanislaus back in the queue to accommodate the fact that they are both using third-party ETD management tools, in turn moving Channel Islands, San Francisco, and Fresno up in the queue. We’ve also adjusted the test load and data review dates to reflect this change, as well as reworked those dates to be more precise.

Vendor RFP

After several months of planning around critical new functionality we need for ScholarWorks, the Chancellor’s Office has formally begun work on an RFP to solicit a vendor to develop those features, as well as provide second-tier support for the new system. The paperwork for that is currently going through Contracts and Procurement at the Chancellor’s Office.

Although the process can be slow, we are hoping to release the RFP in the next month or so. The ScholarWorks Implementation Team has assembled a small task force to review and score responses, with the goal of ultimately selecting a vendor.

Governance

The proposal for a new Digital Repositories governance structure has been reviewed and approved by COLD at the most recent meeting at Dominguez Hills on September 18. The proposal sets out a steering committee and working group structure that is similar to that of ULMS, albeit smaller in scale.

COLD Exec will now move to select a chair for the new steering committee, who will work with the Chancellor’s Office to solicit nominations and select members to fill out the rest of the steering committee and working groups. Staff interested in serving in the new governance structure should reach out to the dean of their library.

Summer Meeting post-conference

As a follow up from the summer meeting, Christina Hennessey has graciously shared survey results: Most of the respondents found the event very useful, in particular the ScholarWorks project update, OJS panel, and open access policy presentations. Respondents felt that there was adequate time for socializing and getting acquainted with CSU colleagues.

For future meetings, most respondents preferred annual meetings and agreed that the unified format was convenient for all groups to meet at once. They would also like to see presentations on digital archives, technology (digitization, web development, data visualization, etc.), metadata and linked data, and scholarly communication outreach and advocacy.

The complete conference recordings and agenda are available on Confluence and via the CSUN repository.