The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana Inc. (PALNI) has awarded the 2019 PALNI Innovation Grant to Butler University for their proposal, Making Cultural Heritage Artifacts into 3D Digital Objects using Photogrammetry.  The grant aids initiatives that optimize library resources and services in ways that significantly expand the ability of supported organizations to support teaching and learning at PALNI institutions.  Funded programs, projects, and initiatives must align with PALNI strategic priorities and promote PALNI deep collaboration.

Butler’s interest in using photogrammetry to teach, preserve and give access to 3D special collection materials was cross-departmental between the Library, Center for Academic Technology, and the Butler Art Committee. The photogrammetric process provides a non-contact approach to digitize materials by creating a 3D digital surrogate of an analog object via photography and special software. The project will allow increased access and allow for potential hands-on use of items found in Butler University’s art collection without risking damage to priceless items. 

“The Innovation grant has been essential to this project. The salary for our student employee, Tatum Turner, was funded through the grant, and Tatum has been instrumental in experimentation with the photogrammetry process and in researching best practices,” shares grant recipients Scholarly Communication Associate Olivia MacIsaac and Academic Technology Specialist Kristen Allen. “Furthermore, through the Innovation grant, we have experimented with various lighting sources to find the best to recommend to other institutions.”

MacIsaac, Allen and Turner have been documenting the process and best practices throughout the project and plan to build an open Canvas course for other PALNI libraries to use as training by the end of Fall 2019 (tentative). In keeping this project as affordable and accessible as possible, they are also looking into different models of collaboration between PALNI libraries ranging from virtual access to the special software, centrally processing photosets, and/or implementing regional trainers to assist in the process. The goal is to have the collaboration model in place by Spring 2020 where the other PALNI institutions will be able to learn about this exciting opportunity at the tentatively planned PALNI bi-annual staff meeting. 

By the end of Summer 2019, Butler will have at least 10 objects digitized and in the online collection. They are excited to scan more of the Butler Art collection and potentially the Eliza Baker collection. All 3D scans can be found in Butler’s SketchFab portal (https://sketchfab.com/libcat) and eventually fully integrated into CONTENTdm to be included in the library’s digital collections: https://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/ButlerArt.

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About Butler University: Located in the heart of the Indianapolis Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, Butler University seeks to provide the highest quality of liberal and professional education and to integrate the liberal arts with professional education, by creating and fostering a stimulating intellectual community built upon interactive dialogue and inquiry among students, faculty, and staff. In 1855  attorney and abolitionist Ovid Butler founded the school on the principle that everyone deserves an excellent education, regardless of race or gender—a bold idea in pre-Civil-War America. Today, we’ve built on Butler’s vision to create a community of students and faculty that learn by doing—a community that values hard work as an essential building block for success, whether in the classroom, on the field, or out in the world. Butler University is the only Midwest Regional University to earn the U.S. News designation as Most Innovative School, according to the magazine’s 2018 rankings. For the eighth consecutive year, Butler ranks No. 2 overall among 171 Midwest Regional Universities. Butler is also recognized among the best in the nation for four co-curricular programs that enhance the educational experience for students. For more information, visit www.butler.edu.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded $172,172 to the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI) in partnership with the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) for Scaling Up a Collaborative Consortial Institutional Repository as part of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program. IMLS received 138 preliminary proposals requesting more than $33 million in funding, and selected 36 applicants to receive awards during this grant cycle. With this award, the partners will develop and pilot an affordable, open-source, and collaborative institutional repository solution based on the Hyku software.  

An institutional repository (IR) provides the academic community a place to capture, preserve, and make accessible the important research, special collections, and other types of information they create. Libraries and campuses benefit from having the infrastructure and tools provided in an IR solution to manage assets and disseminate them to the larger public. However, many libraries do not have an institutional repository. PALNI has long examined the institutional repository environment, beginning with a needs analysis led by Brooke Cox of DePauw University. Findings showed 70% of the PALNI libraries did not have an IR solution due to cost, inefficiency, or overly-rigid solutions.  PALNI Executive Director Kirsten Leonard notes, “Hyku development steered by PALNI’s partnership with PALCI is our best opportunity to meet the needs of our institutions and allow us to collaborate to reduce costs.”

This grant project will develop a model for ultra low-cost hosting, discovery, and access to digital material for member libraries. The consortial IR service developed in Hyku will allow individual libraries to customize and brand the IR as their own, while sharing the underlying infrastructure, hosting, and administration costs across institutions. The project partners will work to scale Hyku software to create the functionality and configuration options needed to create a centralized collaborative repository infrastructure with multiple, library-based portals. This will reduce administration costs for libraries, increasing the likelihood of adoption and long-term sustainability. Initial development efforts will focus on support for Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs).

Jill Morris, Executive Director of PALCI is excited at the opportunity to increase the value of consortial membership to libraries. “This project pushes the traditional work of consortia to new areas and extends collaboration beyond our normal boundaries. PALCI’s work on this project with PALNI furthers the missions of our member libraries by offering a highly scalable, easily adopted IR service, and, in turn, supports broader IMLS goals to build the capacity of libraries, increase public access to information, and support lifelong learning.”

“As centers of learning and catalysts of community change, libraries and museums connect people with programs, services, collections, information, and new ideas in the arts, sciences, and humanities. They serve as vital spaces where people can connect with each other,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. “IMLS is proud to support their work through our grant making as they inform and inspire all in their communities.”

The project will build on the efforts of a community-based Hyku Task Force charged with leading and scoping the development effort. “The first phase of the project includes defining requirements, features, workflows, and metadata templates. We are grateful to our engaged community members and excited to have IMLS support in this endeavor,” states Amanda Hurford, Scholarly Communications Director for PALNI.  Updates for the project will be made available at https://www.hykuforconsortia.org/.

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About the Institute of Museum and Library Services:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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 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 resource sharing 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, Inc. (PALNI): 

PALNI is a non-profit organization supporting collaboration for library and information services to the libraries of its twenty-four supported institutions. Over time, the library deans and directors who sit on the PALNI board have adjusted the organization’s strategic direction as the internet and information services landscape have changed. PALNI has expanded beyond providing a resource management system to sharing expertise in many areas including strategic planning, reference, information fluency, outreach, data management and configuration, and has identified greater collaboration in acquisitions as a key goal. www.palni.edu

About the Hyku Task Force

The Cross-Consortial Hyku Task Force is a group of interested memberlibrary representatives from the PALCI and PALNI consortia who will meet together in order to inform and guide the development of the Collaborative Consortial IR (CC-IR) Hyku Pilot.

Hyku Project Leadership:

Jill Morris, PALCI Executive Director

Gretchen Gueguen, PALCI Digital Projects and Communications Manager

Kirsten Leonard, PALNI Executive Director

Amanda Hurford, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director

Current Members of the Hyku Project Team (CC-IR Task Force):

Allen Jones, The New School

Edward Mandity, Marian University

Janelle Wertzberger, Gettysburg College

Janice Gustaferro, Butler University

Jerry Nugent, University of Indianapolis  

Jennifer Duplaga, Hanover College

Jennifer Raye, Butler University

Keiko Suzuki, The New School

Linda Poston, Messiah College

R.C. Miessler, Gettysburg College

Robert Smith, Concordia University

Sarah Myers, Messiah College

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded $520,000 to the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) for PALSave, an affordable education initiative that will combat rising textbook costs and their detrimental effects on student success and retention.

“The PALSave program will provide education and funding support to the faculty of the 24 private Indiana colleges, universities, and seminaries to adopt, adapt, and create affordable learning materials,” said Kirsten Leonard, Executive Director of PALNI. “The five-year funding from Lilly Endowment will enable PALNI to make a real difference to student success and reduce debt by supporting the implementation of course materials that are free to students and customizable by faculty.”

The average cost of textbooks annually is about $1,300. While only a portion of the overall price for college, the cost of textbooks can have a negative effect on student success.  Research from The Student Public Interest Research Groups and U.S. PIRG Education Fund shows that some students have to borrow more to pay for college, are likely not to buy required materials at some point, and might even drop a class because of text prices. PALNI is pleased to offer the PALSave program in response to this need and to help provide a proactive solution to textbook affordability.The grant will enable PALNI to support course transformations using course materials which are free to students, focusing on Open Educational Resources (OER) worldwide. OER are openly licensed and fully customizable course materials.

Amanda Hurford, PALNI’s Scholarly Communications Director and project lead states, “Recent research demonstrates that students provided with open course materials show improved academic outcomes and retention. By providing faculty education about affordable course material options, and offering support and incentives to implement them, we envision a big impact on student success and savings.”

The project will develop expertise, tools, and content to be used in the course redesign process, and also build community around affordable learning within the twenty-four PALNI-supported institutions.  This collaborative structure between faculty, instructional technologists, librarians, and institutions will allow for innovation and rapid growth over the five-year program. In addition, Ms. Hurford is sharing PALNI’s work with two regional groups, the Academic Libraries of Indiana and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. Progress and impact will be provided and updated on the PALSave website: https://palsave.palni.org/

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family — J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli — through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. More information can be found at www.lillyendowment.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. Over time, the library deans and directors who sit on the PALNI board have adjusted the organization’s strategic direction as the internet and information services landscape have changed. PALNI has expanded beyond providing a resource management system to sharing expertise in many areas including strategic planning, reference, information fluency, outreach, data management and configuration, and has identified greater collaboration in acquisitions as a key goal.

PALNI Supported Institutions:

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary | Ancilla College | Anderson University | Bethel University | 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

PALNI is one of many to develop this partnership to protect and preserve scholarly print books. Read more in the EAST (Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust) press release:

Boston, MA, January 23, 2019 – Academic and research libraries have long collaborated to preserve and protect the print scholarly record.  The newly formed Partnership for Shared Book Collections (https://eastlibraries.org/partnership-shared-book-collections) takes this work to the next level by coordinating collaboration for the protection of print books.

Preservation and storage facilities such as the Research Collections and Preservation Service (ReCAP), large scale digitization and preservation initiatives such as HathiTrust, and programs such as the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST) have all focused on long-term retention of books while ensuring they are accessible for scholars, faculty and students.  More recently, collaborations among consortial shared print programs are being formed, such as the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance which is focused on archiving print serials and journals. The Partnership for Shared Book Collections complements the Rosemont initiative with a focus on the print book.

Read More…

Read the full article: https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13951

OneButton: A Link Resolving Application to Guide Users to Optimal Fulfillment Options

Like many consortia, institutional members of the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) provide multiple fulfillment options to obtain requested items for their users. Users can place on shelf holds on items, or they can request material that isn’t held by their institution through a group circulation resource sharing network (dubbed PALShare) or through traditional InterLibrary Loan (ILL) (through WorldShare ILL or ILLiad). All of these options can be confusing to users who may not understand the best or fastest way to get access to needed materials. A PHP application, OneButton, was developed that replaces multiple fulfillment buttons in institutional discovery interfaces with a single OpenURL link. OneButton looks up holdings and availability at a user’s home institution and across the consortium and routes the user to the optimal fulfillment option for them. If an item is held by and available at their institution, the user can be shown a stack map to help guide them to the item on the shelf; if an item is held by and available at the consortium, the user is routed to a group circulation request form; otherwise, the user is routed to an ILL request form. All routing and processing are handled by the OneButton application – the user doesn’t need to think about what the ‘best’ fulfillment option is. This article will discuss the experiences of one institution using OneButton in production since fall 2017, analytics data gathered, and how other institutions can adopt the application (freely available on GitHub: https://github.com/PALNI/onebutton).

by Lauren Magnuson, Karl Stutzman, Roger Peters, Noah Brubaker