PALNI

Heather Loehr appointed to COUNTER Board of Directors – May 28, 2020

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COUNTER has appointed Heather Loehr to the Board of Directors, May 28, 2020. Ms. Loehr is the Electronic Resources Librarian and Coordinator of Library Instruction at Hanover College as well as the Coordinator of the Analytics Administration Team for the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana Inc. (PALNI). 

Her PALNI work providing support for analytics, data gathering, and reporting for a consortium of 24 small private college, university, and seminary libraries has been valued by the PALNI supported institutions and the OCLC community. Ms. Loehr is a strong supporter of usage standards and contributes actively to the OCLC member community in the areas of Reports and Analytics. Her leadership in the successful creation of a common set of ACRL and IPEDS reporting instructions and guides for all OCLC users has been recognized and appreciated by many. 

In announcing the nomination, COUNTER Project Director Lorraine Estelle stated, “The Board were very pleased to nominate you, not only because of your work as a member of PALNI, but also because it is important to have representation from a smaller university.”

The appointment was made at COUNTER’s Annual General Meeting, held virtually, on May 28, 2020. Ms. Loehr will serve a 3-year term ending in 2023.

About COUNTER
COUNTER is a non-profit organization supported by a global community of library, publisher and vendor members, who contribute to the development of the Code of Practice through working groups and outreach. The COUNTER Code of Practice helps librarians demonstrate the value of electronic resources by facilitating the recording and reporting of online resource usage stats in a consistent and credible way. For more information about COUNTER please visit https://www.projectcounter.org/about/

Charleston Session about Emerging PALNI Collaborations Draws Significant Outside Interest

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“Thank you for coming… Our goal is to share our passion for community-owned solutions and motivate you to invest in them as well.”

Librarians nationwide pack the Charleston Conference presentation room so that no seat is left empty and eager attendees fill the side aisles to hear the rest of the presentation, “Cultivating agency through emerging community-owned solutions.” Set up as a presentation followed by a panel discussion facilitated by Jason Price from SCELC, co-presenters PALCI Executive Director Jill Morris, PALNI Executive Director Kirsten Leonard, and Index Data LLC CEO Sebastian Hammer shared their community-owned solutions and why the library world needs to cultivate agency.

The session panelists assert that: “Despite the increasing need for efficiency and widespread availability of technology, there seems to be less choice in the library marketplace, and libraries are finding themselves with much less leverage to secure the options they need. Do we buy it from a vendor with increasingly limited choices, build it ourselves, or something in-between?” The topic hit a chord with many attendees who filled the room to hear what PALNI, PALCI, and Index Data LLC have done to grow this “community-owned” movement in their organization and the widespread impact.

PALNI’s role in the panel was to discuss the partnership with PALCI to develop a community-owned solution that addresses the need for a consortial ultra-low cost, open access, collaborative institutional repository (IR). Commercial IR software and hosting services have failed to provide the ability to control costs, support smaller institutions, and provide workflows to enable institutions to work together effectively to leverage expertise and reduce the duplication of work. To address this need, the PALNI/PALCI project has four levels of community agency, engagement, and ownership:

  1. Sharing open access materials
  2. Using open-source, community-owned and developed tools
  3. Partnering with other consortia and developers to setup and maintain the tools
  4. Developing models for the collaborative use of the developed tools

The attendees were encouraged to not only be aware of these community-owned projects but to take action by transforming the way they work within their own sphere of influence. Rather than working in isolation and duplicating efforts, the presenters urged them to help develop business model analysis and product sustainability skills, efficient communication across libraries, structures/framework to support deep collaboration, and partner with departments and other organizations outside the library with similar needs.

Challenges in higher education not only tighten already strapped library budgets but also the time available to fully understand and reflect on the development needs of systems and tools. These initiatives are work-intensive, but by working together at scale, libraries can regain the driver-seat in developing the tools to meet user needs while controlling costs and decision-making.

The speakers have been invited to contribute an article on the session for the Charleston Voices series to expand on the discussion.

A video recording of the session can be viewed on the Charleston Conference’s Youtube page: https://youtu.be/M6j0np1mUIA

Library Consortia Partner on Innovative Institutional Repository Solutions

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The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana, Inc. (PALNI) is developing collaborative instances of two open-source institutional repository platforms, Islandora and Hyku, via partnerships with the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) and the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI). The work will include analyzing and improving the functionality and capacity of the software to support collaboration. To benefit the wider community, all developments from the partnerships will be openly available for adaptation.

Both projects support PALNI’s collaborative and community approach on four levels by:

  1. Sharing scholarship and digital content from our institutions with the world
  2. Developing open-source, community-owned tools
  3. Collaborating to host and maintain tools in shared server space
  4. Sharing expertise in metadata, mapping, user experience design, workflow design, and collections across consortia participants

Institutional Repositories (IRs) perform a valuable function by creating open access to campus scholarship, and by doing so demonstrating library value and the value of the institution as a whole, however only fifteen percent of PALNI’s supported institutions currently have an IR system. Sixty-five percent of PALNI members indicated a desire to participate in a collaborative repository, highlighting a strong need for this service.

PALNI Executive Director Kirsten Leonard noted, “The ability to control costs and build scalable, collaborative workflows are two essential elements for a sustainable PALNI Institutional Repository service, and lead PALNI to develop the Hyku and Islandora partnerships. We aim to reduce IR costs to support all of the twenty-four PALNI institutions for roughly the same average cost of a single IR instance.” Leonard added, “Collaborative tools and partnerships can benefit institutions of all sizes by sharing infrastructure and administrative costs.”

PALNI Scholarly Communications Director Amanda Hurford conducted assessments and environmental scans to assess the needs of PALNI institutions:  “Ultimately we aim to create a consortial IR service individual libraries may use, customize, and brand as their own, while sharing underlying infrastructure costs and administration across consortia. We want a solution with a sustainable and controllable cost structure that functions as a true IR.”

These two IR softwares each have unique strengths, allowing PALNI to test different aspects of consortial partnership and service provision. Hyku and Islandora repository platforms have different foci, communities, and opportunities. Islandora is a mature product and PALNI will benefit from WRLC’s knowledge and optimization. Hyku is a native multi-tenancy architecture. With additional development the software will support multiple consortia and collaborative workflows. By exploring both platforms, PALNI is able to proactively ensure that the consortium can meet multiple priorities in the IR and digital collection management software spaces while doubly contributing to the open source and open access communities in a practical, innovative, and collaborative fashion.

PALNI and WRLC have completed the first phase of the Islandora implementation with a summer 2019 completion expected. PALNI will complete the initial Hyku pilot near the end of 2019.

About the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC):

The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a collaborative partnership providing proactive, responsive, innovative, and cost-effective access to shared information resources, services, and expertise. Through strategic priorities such as the creation of coordinated collections and a robust infrastructure for discovery and access, the WRLC is contributing to the success of learning and scholarship. The combined collections of the Washington Research Library Consortium total more than 17 million items. For more information, visit the WRLC website at http://www.wrlc.org.

About the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI):
PALCI (legally named the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc.) was formed in 1996 as a grassroots federation of 35 academic libraries in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Today, the PALCI membership consists of nearly 70 academic and research libraries, private and public, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, and New York. PALCI’s mission is to build access to our shared collections through collaboration among academic libraries in Pennsylvania and the neighboring states. PALCI Members serve over 800,000 students, faculty, and staff, through a variety of programs including the highly-regarded E-ZBorrow service. PALCI also serves as the home for PA Digital, the Pennsylvania hub of the Digital Public Library of America, and the new Affordable Learning PA program, creating a community of practice for open textbooks and related educational resources. http://palci.org

About the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI): www.palni.edu

PALNI is a non-profit organization supporting collaboration for library and information services to the libraries of its twenty-four supported institutions. The library deans and directors who sit on the PALNI board have expanded the organization’s strategic direction as the internet and information services landscape have changed. PALNI shares systems and expertise in many areas including a resource management system, strategic planning, affordable education, instructional technology, collections, reference, information fluency, outreach, and data management.

PALNI Supported Institutions: Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary | Ancilla College | Anderson University | Bethel College | Butler University | Concordia Theological Seminary | Christian Theological Seminary | DePauw University | Earlham College | Franklin College | Goshen College | Grace College | Hanover College | Huntington University | Manchester University | Marian University | Oakland City University | University of Saint Francis | Saint Mary’s College | Saint Meinrad’s Seminary and School of Theology | Taylor University | Trine University | University of Indianapolis | Wabash College

PALSave Campus Leaders learn how to launch cost-saving textbook program on their campus

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Today’s students are facing ever-increasing financial expenses with traditional textbook prices contributing to the pressure. To combat rising textbook costs and their detrimental effects on student success and retention, the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) launched an initiative: PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning.

On November 5, 2018 leaders – including bookstore managers, instructional technologists, and librarians –   from over half of PALNI’s supported institutions attended a workshop facilitated by the Open Textbook Network to learn how to roll out this new program on their campus.  Attendees were trained to encourage the faculty adoption of open educational resources (OER) in the classroom, and in doing so maximize student success.

PALSave System Leader and University of Saint Francis Teaching and Learning Services Coordinator Andrea Cohn remarked on the workshop success and PALSave benefits: “The best takeaway from the OTN Workshop was that open educational resources really are a win for everyone involved. Faculty benefit from the ability to have complete academic freedom in customizing OER texts to fit needs, students benefit from having free access from day one to the texts in multiple formats, and administration benefits from lowered student cost of attending the university and knowing that they are addressing one of the largest social justice issues facing college students today.”

PALSave Campus Leader and Marian University Library Director Jessica Trinoskey pulls up Creative Commons information as discussed in a session by the Open Textbook Network.

Other campus departments, such as the campus bookstore, are onboard with the PALSave initiative. “I am most excited about the impact PALSave can have on student success. As a bookstore manager, I believe that if a student spends less on textbooks, they have more money to spend on my t-shirts,” explains Candy Pancake, bookstore manager for Oakland City University. She views PALSave as a student success partner rather than competition for sales, noting: “I had never really seen the library as having any interest in the [textbook] adoption process. But now, I have gained a great co-champion for the textbook affordability initiative I am working on.”

PALNI recently joined the Open Textbook Network (OTN) as the first step to further its initiatives for affordable education and student success across the state. OTN maintains the Open Textbook Library, and is well known for helping organizations to advance the use of open textbooks and practices on their campuses.  They have had great success with their initiative: OTN members have saved their students over 8.5 million dollars!

PALSave Campus Leader and Huntington University Library Director Anita Gray participates in a group activity during a workshop session. 

As part of PALNI, supported institutions can enjoy affiliate status in OTN, have access to a trained team to educate faculty on benefits of OER, and obtain help redesigning courses via the PALSave team, at no additional cost to the institution. Additionally, OTN staff will be coming to back to Indiana this spring to facilitate a follow-up Campus Leader Workshop (date to be announced).

For more information about PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning or PALNI’s membership in OTN, contact PALNI Scholarly Communications Director Amanda Hurford (amanda@palni.edu) and/or view the PALSave website https://palsave.palni.org/.

PALNI Supports the “Shared BigData Gateway” Project

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PALNI has become a supporting organization of the Shared BigData Gateway project which will give students, faculty, and researchers greater access to new research data. This project provide research data behind and impacting research data – often called the “science of science.” New information will emerge about the complex connections between research texts and underlying external forces that affect the production of knowledge as well as enhance the ability to share data.  All higher education institutions will benefit from the results and PALNI is proud to provide support to the project through representing liberal arts colleges. PALNI with gather needs and provide input on sustainable business models. The project is led by Indiana University with support from eight other “big ten” universities, an IMLS grant, and two private companies, and fellow library consortia GWLA.

Read the original article about the Shared BigData Gateway project: 

IU will lead $2 million partnership to expand access to research data

Our Location

PALNI staff and coordinators work out of home offices or their home institutions spread across the states of Indiana and California. However, our legal address can be found at Butler University:

Private Academic Library Network of Indiana
c/o Irwin Library
4553 Clarendon Rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46208

Internal Tools and Workspaces

Majority of collaboration occurs in our private space, PALNI Community.

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