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Resource Discovery Systems (ReDS)
Working Group

 

ReDS is a cross-functional group of librarians, support staff and technologists that works under the aegis of the Advisory Council for Technical Services (ACTS). ReDS has responsibility for a subset of the Library Gateway, that is, the resource discovery systems for the Library's collections, in particular those collections consisting chiefly of printed books, serials, and networked electronic resources.

Steering Committee | Minutes | Task Inventory

Charge and Structure September 29 2005; rev. June 14 2006
Effective date: July 1, 2006

 1. The Resource Discovery Systems (ReDS) Working Group replaced the OPAC/Find Articles/Databases/E-Journals Committee in October 2005. ReDS is a cross-functional group of librarians, support staff and technologists that works under the aegis of the Advisory Council on Technical Services (ACTS). ReDS has responsibility for a subset of the Library Gateway, that is, the resource discovery systems for the Library’s collections, in particular those collections consisting chiefly of printed books, serials, and networked electronic resources. In contrast, the Gateway Committee is responsible for the design, functionality, information content and technical support of the Library Gateway, that is, CUL's Web presence in its entirety.

2. The purposes of the Working Group are as follows. The resource discovery systems in scope for these tasks are the CUL catalog (Voyager OPAC), other eresource discovery systems (Find Articles/Databases/E-Journals, and reference linking (WebBridge). The Working Group places particular emphasis on the user interface, but may also have responsibility for maintenance of selected system administration files, indexes, and directories.

Task

  • Maintain existing discovery and linking systems, with particular emphasis on the user interface
  • Solicit or identify, prioritize, track, design, encode, and test enhancements
  • Track, evaluate, and test software version upgrades from CUL vendors
  • Track, evaluate, and make recommendations about other vendors’ or libraries’ offerings, as requested by ACTS or the Library Management Team
  • Monitor appropriate vendor listservs (e.g., Voyager-L) plus LIBIT-L, LIBGATEWAY-L, etc.
  • Assist with troubleshooting and user support as requested by support staff in LTS E-Resources & Serials Management and DLIT
  • Serve as liaison and act as a clearinghouse on matters related to the Library’s resource discovery systems

3. The ReDS Steering Committee: Priorities and Agendas

  • The Steering Committee consists of the chair of ReDS plus two members of the ReDS committee to be named by ACTS.
  • The ReDs chair serves a two-year term. Steering Committee members are appointed to two-year staggered terms.
  • The Steering Committee has primary responsibility for soliciting or identifying, tracking, and prioritizing enhancements to the Library’s existing resource discovery systems and for assigning selected enhancements to the ReDS Working Group for implementation.
  • The Steering Committee sets and circulates agendas providing sufficient time for ReDS Working Group members to consider or get input on the agenda topics prior to committee meetings.
  • The Steering Committee provides content (meeting notes, enhancement tracking logs, planning documents, etc.) to a ReDS Web site hosted on the TSWeb.
  • The Steering Committee meets monthly.
  • Responsibility for note-taking rotates among Steering Committee members.

4. The ReDS Working Group: Implementation

  • Members serve staggered two year terms.
  • The Working Group has primary responsibility for designing, encoding, testing, and implementing enhancements.
  • Working Group members provide input to the enhancements list, help to evaluate new suggestions, monitor listservs, liaise to other CUL committees and groups, communicate with CUL stakeholders, track what is coming from CUL vendors, participate in software upgrades (esp. testing), evaluate and advise on other vendors’ offerings, etc. (as listed above).
  • The Working Group meets monthly to report on progress and schedule new work
  • Responsibility for note-taking rotates among committee members.

5. Membership Rotation and Filling Vacancies

On May 15, 2006 and each year thereafter, the Steering Committee will provide nominations for Steering Committee and Working Group appointments to replace members who are cycling off on July 1st of each year. The slate should contain more nominees than available slots, in case some individuals cannot serve. The AUL for Technical Services then evaluates the nominations with ACTS members, who make recommendations how to fill vacancies. It is then the responsibility of the AUL for Technical Services to obtain permission from nominees’ managers before issuing invitations to join the ReDS Steering Committee or Working Group.

When considering who to nominate for vacancies, the Steering Committee should consider the need for formal or informal liaisons to DLIT, PSEC, LTS, the CUL Documentation Committee, the PSEC Assessment and Usability Committee, the Gateway Committee, the Electronic Resources Committee, the Database Review Committee, the Personalized Library Services team, IRIS Research and Assessment, and other appropriate CUL committees and departments.

6. 2006-2007 Steering Committee Membership:

  • David Banush, LTS Information Organization, co-chair (one year term)
  • Jesse Koennecke, Access Services, Mann Library (one year term)
  • Zsuzsa Koltay, Engineering Library, co-chair (one year term)

7. 2006-2007 Working Group Membership:

  • David Banush, LTS Information Organization, co-chair (one year term)
  • Zsuzsa Koltay, Engineering Library, co-chair (one year term)
  • Matt Connolly, LTS Service Innovations (two year term)
  • Keith Jenkins, LTS Metadata Services (one year term)
  • Jesse Koennecke, Mann Library (one year term)
  • Liisa Mobley, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management (two year term)
  • Jim Alberts, liaison to the Documentation Committee (two year term)

8. Find it! Usability:

  • Adam Chandler, Service Design Group, Discovery Systems and Services
  • Randi Kepecs, Reference
  • Maureen Morris, Collections, Reference, Instruction, and Outreach

9. Consultants to the Working Group:

  • CUL E-Resources Support Team (Amy Blumenthal, George Kozak, Liisa Mobley, Ed Zieba)
  • Surinder Ghangas (database administrator), Library Systems
  • Bill Kara, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management
  • Melissa Kuo (designer), DCAPS
  • Zoe Stewart Marshall, LTS Database Management
  • Scott Wicks, LTS Acquisitions and Cataloging