Periodically, I provide updates on KYVL activities to various constituent groups. We’ve had a busy summer and fall. I would like to highlight some projects and activities.
Fall conferences – KLA/KSMA and Convergence Conference
- KLA/KSMA – KYVL staff [Betsy and I] were involved in 6 sessions and 2 panel discussions
- I proposed to the KLA Board the idea of a “Green” pre-conference. Once approaved, I pulled in Susan Eubank and we partnered to setup the speakers, etc. Susan and the Oldham County Public Library hosted the workshop at their new main library that is awaiting LEED certification, which they hope will be Silver level.
- We participated in 2 sessions at the Convergence Conference in Somerset in early October – covering KYVL and the Kyleidoscope with Mary Koegel
reVisioning at 10 Years [reV@10] Strategic Planning
- Underway, first stage complete early November 2009
- Sheree Williams of Jefferson CTC is Chair of the Core [Steering] Team
- Survey and focus groups are complete
- Outside consultants are leading the process, hired by Lyrasis
- Wiki on KYVL.org lists all relevant information [schedule, team rosters, etc]
- Plan will cover three years, first stage will include the Vision, Values, Mission, Goals & Objectives
- New plan will be submitted to VLAC for endorsement – 6 Nov.
- CPE Senior Leadership will receive the plan for discusion and approval – 16 Nov.
Courier and Database Usage Statistics:
- Database search stats monthly stats doubled after MetaLib’s launch in Feb 2009
- Various formats and arrangements of data are available [vendors, dbs, months]
- More detailed stats will be posted as they are completed
Collections Workgroup:
- Since July, analyzing KYVL’s current collection, under nondisclosure until the October Virtual Library Advisory Committee
- Extensions of all contracts while we waited for budget info and Collections completes its investigations
- VLAC received the report, and assigned a subcommittee to create scenarios and recommendations for handling the deficit for Fiscal Year 2009-10
Kyleidoscope – http://kdl.kyvl.org/kyleidoscope.htm
- Soft launch was in the spring
- Packaged collections for a particular historical period
- For 4th and 8th grade specifically but can be used at any level and
- Written by history faculty and grad students – bibliographies, links to other best of the best digital collections
- Getting rave reviews – great for anyone wanting to learn about Kentucky history
Kentuckiana Digital Library – http://kdl.kyvl.org/
- KY newspapers, other collections available now [Daily Racing Form - http://kdl.kyvl.org/drf/]
- Metadata inputted to KY Learning Depot
- Now exposed to Google, monthly search stats have tripled since KDL ceased being a “dark archive” without static links, collection was previously invisible to webcrawlers and engines
There will be more information coming shortly regarding the KYVL budget and collections [ie. the core databases]. A public version of the Collections Workgroup report has been created and will be emailed to the membership this week. The Deficit/Fees Subcommittee will be presenting their recommendations to VLAC on 13 November.
Feel free to contact us with questions on any of the above, or if you need training, have “how to” questions and so on. As always, please share your stories with us — How do you use KYVL?
Have a great day!