Sprinting While Juggling: Learning Through Immersive Community GIS Skill-BuildingSpeakers: Joshua Been, Kristina Claunch, Sylvia Jones, Jenifer Flaxbart, Cynthia Henry
In July 2021, the Mentoring Subcommittee of the Texas Digital Library’s GIS Interest Group (IG) planned and sponsored a GIS Learning Community Sprint. This free virtual initiative utilized an approach to learning GIS concepts modeled on the short, time-boxed “Sprint” associated with the Agile Method used by IT developers. The Sprint sourced and showcased GIS expertise from within the IG membership, comprised of library professionals at institutions across Texas, to build both familiarity with a range of GIS concepts and community through immersive co-learning.
The Sprint Planning Group was deliberate about identifying learning outcomes for each topic covered, as a way of aligning “introductory overviews” of material with hands-on exercises for individual completion. We leveraged multiple virtual platforms in working with participants, some of which continue to serve Sprint participants well for ongoing consultation and discussion. We covered a broad range of topics, including databases, cloud platforms, software and related resources. We also performed daily brief-survey assessments to iteratively improve our approach to instruction and support during the course of the Sprint based on the feedback received.
This presentation will discuss the construct, content, assessment, lessons learned and future applications of this piloted approach to GIS and geospatial skill-building. While specific to GIS tools, resources and concepts in this case, the model developed is versatile and has strong potential for application to a broad array of subject matter. The learning community created through this effort continues to benefit from the work of the GIS IG in multiple ways.
Google Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tg0E-1eUE5pVG8_o_wXegKaTfIpQcg8StsonRi_pIhs/edit?usp=sharingThe Lessons My Sheep have Taught Me About Working With FacultySpeaker: Bruce Herbert
I raise a heritage breed of sheep called Gulf Coast Native. They are smart, hardy and willful. I was standing out in my back paddock and started thinking that working with my herd provides important lessons about libraries working diverse communities, including faculty.
Getting to know you: Results of the Texas Data Repository User SurveySpeakers: Christina Chan-Park, Laura Sare, Laura Waugh
The Assessment Committee of the Texas Data Repository (TDR) Steering Committee conducted a survey in Spring 2022 of TDR users. The TDR uses the Dataverse platform for publishing and archiving datasets (and other data products) created by faculty, staff, and students at Texas higher education institutions and hosted by the Texas Digital Library. There are currently nine participating member institutions. The purpose of the survey is to gauge overall user experience with the TDR in order to identify areas for improvement and/or future integrations with a focus on how the platform is used for research. The survey was administered to over 1000 registered users of the TDR including researchers from member institutions as well as any researchers that created accounts to deposit or download data. In addition to general questions about using the TDR, users were asked about their experience creating collections, depositing data, and downloading data. In this presentation, we report on the findings of this study.
Google slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tn700ffvrNzaikBgLLuFWxA4Nfp-Rel_xMt92tbUIyM/edit?usp=sharingPiloting OpenProject for Digital ProjectsSpeaker: Marcia McIntosh
One digitization lab continues its development of project management systems by piloting the open source software OpenProject. Come hear about the many features and how the lab has customized OpenProject to track digital projects. Their test is your gain.
Breathing New Life into Maverick Veterans’ Voices Using Oral History Metadata SynthesizerSpeaker: Yumi Ohira
University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is the nation’s No. 1 four-year institution for veterans and their families to earn a college degree. The University serves and supports UTA veterans and their families enabling them to continue their education.
The UTA Libraries has created and published a variety of digital collections while offering worldwide access to these collections. One of these collections is Maverick Veterans’ Voices (https://library.uta.edu/mavvets/), providing access to the oral histories of veterans belonging to the UTA community. The Maverick Veterans’ Voices is a collaborative project with the UTA Libraries and the Department of History. The Department of History has long supported UTA’s rich tradition with, and connection to, the armed forces and America’s military history.
The Maverick Veterans’ Voices project was launched in 2012 to collect, share and preserve the stories of the UTA veterans. There were a total of 14 video interviews conducted between 2012 and 2015. Those video interviews were presented online, but that video content was not accessible. In 2015, the Maverick Veterans’ Voices project became an inactive project. In 2019, the UTA Libraries launched and applied the Oral History Metadata Synthesizer (OHMS) system to the Maverick Veterans’ Voices project and gave the Maverick Veterans’ Voices a new life.
This presentation will discuss the project background, reactivating processes, and project challenges.