Instructional Support Committee

Attending: Cecilia Knight, Erin Hurley, Laura Lienemann (SGA), Ian Athanasakis (STAC), Jon Chenette, Richard Fyffe, Roger Vetter, Bill Francis, John Kalkbrenner, Shuchi Kapila, David Romano, Monty Roper, Terri Phipps

Minutes of 10 October approved.

Fast Track approval: Art field trip to Des Moines ($415)

CTS Search Update: Search is currently on hold pending the President’s staff’s approval of a second position.

LASR: Liberal Arts Scholarly Repository, http://www.Lib.grinnell.edu/services/lasr

Richard demonstrated a prototype including a small sampling of what the repository could archive. Cecilia Knight, Katie Dunn, Fred Hagemeister, and Gail Bonath in particular have worked diligently to make the prototype possible. Answers to common questions and links to other colleges’ repositories are available on the website listed above. The repository is hosted by NITLE/DSpace.

LASR is open-source software used by many institutions, meant to preserve digital materials such as text, pdf, images, audio and video. The content is usually openly accessible on the World Wide Web and is indexed by Google and Google Scholar.

Key questions for the campus community:

• Do you see value in making the scholarly and creative works of the College community available through a repository?
• What materials other than scholarly and creative works by members of the College community should be included in a repository?
• How should work be selected for the repository?
• For most repositories, world-wide availability is the default option. How important is it to be able to restrict access for some items to (for instance) just the Grinnell campus?
• How satisfied are you with the presentation of different formats (text, audio, images) in this repository?

Other questions and issues to consider:

• One key point is that of selection. Will there be a governing body that decides what should be stored? Will it be open for anyone to place? Essay competitions already have a selection process in place.
• World-wide access is the default. Should, and can, we limit access? The spirit of the software is open access.
• Is the display acceptable? Should we explore other software?
• The planned usage is for materials generated by the College community. Should we allow links to and from outside the College? Departments can link to works from their own websites. Each work is assigned a URL that will not change.
• Copyright permission will be required in order to post. The Libraries will request permission from a contributor if the contributor owns the copyright. Contributors will understand that their work will be made available. Copyright ownership will not be transferred.
• Copyright on published works could be an issue. Many journals now state that some form of the work can be kept in a repository (pre- or post-print version, for example).
• Archiving works with images and text will often require copyright permission for the text and images separately.
• Can BlackBoard be used for this? Blackboard is better used for active works such as those still under development or under consideration. Content System in BlackBoard could be used for work in process collaborations. LASR is better used to archive completed works.
• LASR materials are indexed, including a metadata file noting the author, date, summary, etc., and they are discoverable through Google Scholar Blackboard is not searched by Google Scholar.
• Do we want a repository?
• Do we want this repository?
• Do we want password protection?

LASR will allow students’ work to be more visible, which may increase their sense of accountability. Faculty work will be available, allowing good role models, examples, and greater connection to students and colleagues, fostering interdisciplinarity. Students can search faculty research to find an appropriate MAP director for their own research or see examples of prize-winning essays. LASR is not an alternative to publishing; rather it is a supplement.

It is possible to sign up for Alerts -- for example, when a work is deposited in an area you are interested in. The repository can be divided into Collections and sub-communities for easier management.

Keywords used on the site currently are headings used by the Library of Congress. Faculty can assign keywords; Library staff will regularize them. LASR can be linked to the College catalog.

Works that are updated will be archived as separate entries rather than overwritten, though it may be possible to block certain documents.

LASR might not be the best choice for materials already in College Archives and Special Collections.

Weaknesses of LASR:

• Presentation of images
• Entire books – not a good reading experience

There is some concern over the withdrawal process: for instance, a work in the repository that could harm the future publication prospects of students.

The Committee, overall, considered the project to have potential and recommended continued development and campus conversation.

AV upgrades over winter break

Bill distributed a list of planned upgrades and asked for feedback from ISC. The plan will be discussed at our next meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Terri Phipps