The TAIGA Steering Committee is now working with R2 Consulting in planning TAIGA 3. TAIGA 3 is scheduled to conincide with ALA Midwinter 2008. Many thanks to R2 Consulting for volunteering to work with us. Sandy Hurd and Gene Shimshock's efforts and guidance in forming TAIGA and leading the first two events are greatly appreciated! Visit the TAIGA Forum website.
For those interested in contacting me, you have a number of choices. You can contact me by phone at (662) 915-5674. If I'm not available, feel free to leave a voicemail. E-mail is always a good option gherrera@olemiss.edu.
Gail Herrera
Assistant Dean for Technical Services & Automation
Williams Library
Box 1848
University, MS 38677
| Research Pro Development For the past year, I have been working with III (Innovative Interfaces, Inc.) in developing their next-generation MetaSarch Engine called Research Pro. This is a replacement for MetaFind. Testing and development have gone really well this year under the guidance of the III product manager, Sarah Hickman. |
Electronic Resource Management This year I was able to obtain funding for III's Electronic Resource Mangement System. Along with many of the on-going electronic resource projects, this project is of particular note. We are currently implementing the system and I hope to be able to make the public side available this summer. I am also working with the LibX developers at Virginia Tech on a FireFox Toolbar that searches our e-resources along with the catalog. |
| WebBridge For the library open-URL resolver, we use a product called WebBridge. On-campus users may know this product as "Get It!" because we thought that was a better local name. Usage of this service has grown tremendously. What does it do? It allows users in a database or the library catalog to access full-text articles from another vendor. In other words, it provides a bridge between the citation of an article and the fulltext. It also provides additional helpful options such as Interlibrary Loan when no fulltext is available. |
Off-Campus Access Since 2000, the library has offered access to university faculty, staff and students from off-campus using a proxy server. The server requires that you enter your name and barcode (located on your university ID) to be authenticated. Those who register late or who have holds or late fees might also need to check with the circulation desk about their patron record and getting access from off-campus. Use of the proxy server has grown significantly over the past several years and this is clearly a critical service. Kevin Herrera obtained a grant this year to pursue joining our library proxy service with campus authentication. We are looking forward to a single sign-on solution. |
| Google Scholar Based on interest among university faculty, I setup Google Scholar for use on-campus in 2006. From off-campus, you have to go into your profile and set your preferences to the University of Mississippi. On-campus this happens automatically though. Usage of this services has also been impressive in a short time. In fact, I'm seeing a lot of WebBridge use through Google Scholar. Although Scholar isn't a part of formal library instruction, clearly this is an area where we're meeting the users on the open web successfully. |
Library Catalog With the many developments in the library and its technology this year, the library catalog has taken a bit of a backseat. I was able to obtain funding for a spellcheck module and we have made a few enhancements. Due to usage patterns, the electronic resource management efforts are increasingly a higher priority. Use of the library catalog seems to have leveled off and although it is extremely fun to develop and design, it is very well-established compared to some of our other initiatives. |
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