Digital Library Center Blog | UF

The UFDC Programmer, Mark Sullivan, put a browse by thumbnail cover in place not too recently, but so many other wonderful items have been loading and so many other improvements have been made that I’m just now catching up to mention the cover browse.

The cover browse allows anyone to see the thumbnail images for the covers or first pages of all issues/volumes in an item. This means users can browse all of the first pages of a newspaper or all of the covers of a journal.

The cover browse is an excellent example of elegant simplicity. It uses existing information and functionality–the thumbnails for all pages and the browse by thumbnail for an individual item like a single newspaper issue–and then it adds functionality that’s incredibly helpful for users. For instance, if a researcher wanted to quickly get a sense of a newspaper and it’s evolution over time, what better way than to flip through all of the first pages? If a researcher had been reading  wanted a journal article and then couldn’t remember the volume or issue number and could only remember the cover, the researcher could choose to use the full text search to find the exact article wanted or the researcher could choose to browse through the issues, creating an opportunity for serendipity.

We’d planning to add the browse by cover as a part of a larger move to browse by shelf (a visual display to show the spines of books, or the typical arrangement of books by call number or size), but then we saw that Chronicling America had already added the browse by cover images. It was better than we’d imagined, and we bumped up the timeline and added it immediately. Thanks to Mark’s savvy programming and the elegant simplicity of this addition, he was able to add the browse by cover images in under a single workday.  We also owe thanks to Chronicling America for showing us how useful the cover images browse is, and giving us the nudge we needed to get it added.

I encourage everyone to browse the local Florida newspapers in the Florida Digital Newspaper Library by cover image to see how useful it really is!

[The job posting below is from Florida International University, a public university in Miami. FIU is one of the public universities, along with UF and a number of others, in Florida. The UF Digital Library Center (which is where I am and what I write about on this blog) is part of the University of Florida Libraries in Gainesville. While FIU in Miami to UF in Gainesville are a fair distance apart, FIU and UF work closely together on a number of projects including the Digital Library of the Caribbean and the Everglades Digital Library. We work together frequently, as do all of the State University Libraries in Florida, but we have extra time with FIU for the Everglades Digital Library and the Digital Library of the Caribbean. I can't stress enough how wonderful these projects and the people involved are. This is an excellent position that's also excellently positioned.]

Job Posting: Florida International University, University Libraries, Associate Director for Technical and Digital Library Services

This position leads, shapes, and oversees the work of 35 staff on two campuses engaged in acquiring and making accessible the resources in all formats of the FIU Libraries.  The Associate Director is a member of the Libraries’ management team, with leadership and management responsibilities for all technical services and systems operations.  The Associate Director is also responsible for leading the Libraries’ digital services program, coordinating projects and planning across library departments (Digital Collections Center, Sound & Image, GIS/MIUS, Special Collections, and Reference).

Responsibilities:

1. Provide administrative oversight of cataloging, serials, acquisitions, systems, and digital library functions across University Park and Biscayne Bay Campus libraries.
2. Hold line authority for faculty and staff in four departments:  Acquisitions and Serials, Cataloging, Digital Collections Center, and Systems.
3. Participate with the Dean and other Associate and Assistant Directors in the leadership and management of the University Libraries.
4. Lead the reorganization of technical services operations and functions.
5. Lead the reorganization of digital library services.
6. Cooperate with FIU Law and Medical Library technical and digital library staff on planning and library operations.
7. Collaborate with other state university libraries and the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) on implementation of new library catalog architecture.
8. Collaborate with other state university libraries and FCLA on digital library services (including FDA, PALMM, and other projects).

About the University: Florida International University is an urban multi-campus comprehensive university with a student enrollment of over 38,000 students from all states and 120 countries.  It is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, based on enrollment.  FIU is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and sponsored research funding (grants and contracts) from external sources for the year2006-2007 totaled approximately $108 million.  FIU prides itself on the cultural and ethnic diversity of its student and faculty.  More information is available at: www.fiu.edu

About the Libraries: The Libraries accommodate state-of-the-art information technology, including a Geographic Information Systems Center and a Digital Collections Center.  Total library collections comprise more than 2 million volumes, subscription to more than 39,000 journals and access to over 525 databases and services.  The FIU Libraries are in a statewide university consortium and employ the Ex Libris ALEPH library management system.

Required Qualifications:

1. Master’s degree in library science from an ALA accredited institution, or its equivalent
2. Professional experience in acquisitions, cataloging, digital initiatives, e-resource management, serials, or systems with a record of increasing responsibility
3. Excellent oral and written communication skills
4. Excellent interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications: Record of professional service at the local, regional, or national level. Evidence of potential for scholarly or research contributions.

Salary/Benefits: Salary commensurate with experience and background.  Excellent State of Florida benefits.
Application Procedure: For complete position descriptions and application procedures, go to https://www.fiujobs.org.
Florida International University is an equal opportunity, equal access, affirmative action employer.

The message below is from the Centernet list. For any scholars interested in working with the University of Florida Digital Library Center on the Florida Digital Newspaper Library, the Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library, the Digital Library of the Caribbean, the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature Digital Collection, or any of our other digital collections or projects (full list with page counts for the collections is here, but please note that the page counts are not the best way to count for some collections as with the world maps), please contact me.

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The NEH’s Division of Research has a grant program called Fellowships at Digital Humanities Centers. Each fellow is sponsored by a DH center. So if you are a scholar (from post-doc to senior) just find yourself a DH center to be your sponsor. Or if you are a DH center, find yourself a fellow. Simple as that!

The grant pays money to BOTH the fellow and to the center.

Deadline is September 15th. If you have some ideas, I urge you to contact NEH staff, who will read drafts and give you opinions on ideas for fellows.

Contact: fdhc@neh.gov
Guidelines: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/fdhc.html

[The job posting below is from FCLA. FCLA is the Florida Center for Library Automation and they're also in Gainesville, like the University of Florida. However, FCLA is a central office that reports to all of the State University Libraries. The UF Digital Library Center (which is where I am and what I write about on this blog) is part of the University of Florida Libraries in Gainesville. The State University Libraries in Florida all work together on various projects and with FCLA, so joining any of the libraries means working with the others and getting to know great people and projects throughout the State. Gainesville is a particularly lovely city, so anyone interested in working with great people, in great libraries, and on great projects in Florida would only see further benefits from living and working in a great city like Gainesville.]

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Job Posting: Librarian, Digital Library Services, Florida Center for Library Automation

Reports to: Assistant Director for Digital Library Services

About FCLA
The Florida Center for Library Automation is an off-campus center of the State University System of Florida. We are located in Gainesville, Florida, consistently rated one of the best places to live in the United States. For more information on visiting Gainesville click here: visitgainesville.com. We are administratively associated with the University of Florida. For an overview, link to University of Florida Employment Information.

FCLA provides automation services to the university libraries of the Florida Board of Governors, State University System of Florida. These include running the Ex Libris ALEPH 500 library management system to support cataloging, acquisitions, circulation and other staff functions of the libraries; supporting consortial purchase and electronic access to databases of article indexes, full-text journals, and other resources; and providing digital library services in support of local collections of digital text, images, and other media. FCLA also supports SFX, Metalib and Verde for some of the universities.

Job Summary
The Librarian will be part of the Digital Library Services Group, which helps the libraries of the public university system of Florida create, manage and preserve digital information resources. The incumbent will provide support for digital special collections, electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), archival finding aids (EADs), and other born-digital and retrospectively digitized materials. S/he will work with DigiTool, Archon, OAI data and service providers, and other commercial, open source, and locally-developed content management applications. The incumbent will provide expertise in describing digital resources (cataloging and metadata) to FCLA and library staff.

Responsibilities

1. Provide support to users of programs and services provided by Digital Library Services, including digital content management, finding aid creation and electronic theses and dissertations. Be the primary support contact for one or more services.
2. Perform analysis and design for programs, processes and workflows. Draft specifications for data, data conversions, user interfaces and/or application programs, and work with programmers to develop, test and implement them.
3. Provide expertise on metadata, resource description, and related topics to FCLA and library staff.
4. Participate on state-wide committees and task forces of library staff concerned with the description and management of digital resources.
5. Provide web-based and on-site training and training materials for library staff in the use of FCLA-provided applications.
6. Run and monitor production operations such as data preparation and ingest, and/or supervise staff who do these functions.
7. Contribute to the general design and operation of applications and services to enhance the digital capabilities of the public university libraries.
8. Related duties as assigned.

Qualifications
Required: Masters degree in library and/or information science from an ALA-accredited program; in-depth knowledge of MARC, Dublin Core, EAD and METS standards; excellent oral and written communications skills in English; demonstrated aptitude for computer technology; demonstrated analytic ability; energy and enthusiasm.

Preferred: Two or more years of experience in an academic library environment; direct experience with digital initiatives (digitization projects, digital content management systems and/or Web-based delivery of digital objects); background in special collections and/or cataloging; working knowledge of XML, XSL, and Unix; programming or Web development experience; teaching or training experience.

Rank & Salary
Assistant-in-Libraries; non-tenured; salary commensurate with experience, minimum $42,000.

Benefits
We offer a casual work environment, ample free parking, flexible hours, and full State of Florida benefits including: Twelve month appointment on an annual contract; twenty-two days vacation, thirteen days sick-leave and nine paid holidays per year; retirement plan options, group health plan, and life insurance available. No local or state income tax.
Deadline
Open until filled. To ensure full consideration, vitas, dossiers and statements of intent to apply should be submitted by August 7, 2009. Applications received after this date may be considered at the discretion of the Committee.
To Apply
Send email letter of application referencing LP 859180, a resume, and contact information for three professional references to:
Astrid Terman
Chair, Search Committee
Florida Center for Library Automation
aterman@ufl.edu
The selection process will be conducted under the provisions of Florida’s “Government in the Sunshine” and Public Records Laws. If an accommodation is required to apply, please call (352) 392-9020 or TDD (352)392-7734. AA/EA/EEO.

Please help us promote the UF Libraries Video Awards Contest this fall and don’t forget to mark your calendars for the video screening in the Info Commons at noon on November 4th, 2009.

What: Create a video that shows the “value of information sharing” in 2 minutes or less.

Who: The UF Sparky Awards Contest is open to all UF students

Why: The first prize team will receive an iPod Touch and the runners up will receive Flip video cameras! This is your chance to express to the entire UF community the importance of free, legal, open access to information. Your videos will be screened at an awards ceremony and featured on the libraries website.

When: Contest deadline is October 26, 2009 at 5pm.

Where: Prizes will be awarded during a video screening ceremony on November 4, 2009 at noon in the Library West Information Commons.

More: For contest details see www.uflib.ufl.edu/sparkyawards, join the Facebook group “SPARKY Awards @ UF,” or send an e-mail to sparkyawards@uflib.ufl.edu.

While I’ve read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, I’d only ever seen it in book format, until now. It’s always nice to find exciting new materials from the UF Digital Collections, but it’s equally wonderful to find amazingly interesting versions of familiar materials, especially with cover page political cartoons like this.

During the ASCLA/ICAN discussion group meeting on collaborative digitization, a number of great projects were presented:

• digitalMETRO: directory of digital collections by members of the Metropolitan NY Library Council (built with Omeka)
• Lyrasis’ mass digitization initiative
• Tennessee Electronic Library: Volunteer Voices
• BCR will have workshops for collaborative groups on digital preservation
• South Carolina Digital Libraryand the Low Country Digital Library
• Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative
• Digital Library of Georgia