CDLINFO

By Laine Farley (laine.farley@ucop.edu), CDL Interim Executive Director

Position title: Manager, Infrastructure and Applications Support  (Req. 20070286)
Position location: Oakland, California
Closing date: July 19, 2007

Reporting to the University Librarian and Executive Director, the Manager of Infrastructure and Applications Support is responsible for the technical design, implementation, maintenance, and operations of the common technology enterprise services that support all program and service areas. The Manager is responsible for the Computing and Storage Resource Center comprising a distributed network of CDL-owned resources at three physical locations and for managing the overall integration architecture for computing systems, database management systems, storage systems and network infrastructure. The Manager also provides support to application developers in the CDL’s program areas for the development, staging and production environments, and for collaboration tools supporting the work of CDL and its partners.

HOW TO APPLY:  For a complete job description or to apply for this position, visit the University of California Office of the President employment web site at:  https://jobs.ucop.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51793; it is also listed on the CDL web site at http://www.cdlib.org/glance/jobs.html.

UC Office of the President job postings: http://jobs.ucop.edu
Job requisition number: 20070286

Visit the California Digital Library web site at: www.cdlib.org

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity /Affirmative Action employer.

UC Libraries Become Newest Institutions to Pilot WorldCat Local

The University of California Libraries are working in collaboration with OCLC Online Computer Library Center to pilot a Next Generation Melvyl Catalog supported by OCLC’s WorldCat Local system.  Working with OCLC gives UC the opportunity to provide users a single search and request service that begins with materials held in the University of California Libraries and expands to collections in libraries around the world in the WorldCat system, as well as a selection of article citations—all through one online catalog.  Other features will initially include a single search box, relevancy ranking of search results, result sets that bring multiple versions of a work together, faceted browsing, citation formatting options and cover art.

Scheduled for launch in early 2008, the Next Generation Melvyl Catalog builds on OCLC’s WorldCat.org platform, which allows Web access to the world’s richest database for discovery of materials held in libraries.   The service combines the cooperative power of OCLC member libraries worldwide with the ability to customize WorldCat.org for local discovery and delivery services.  The Melvyl Catalog has been the union catalog of the University of California libraries since 1981. 

The plan to pilot a Next Generation Melvyl Catalog builds on the University of California Libraries’ ongoing effort to improve discovery and delivery of information to users.    According to a report from the University of California Libraries Bibliographic Services Task Force:  “Users want a rich pool from which to search, simplicity, and satisfaction.”

Through a locally branded Melvyl Catalog interface, as well as interfaces for the 10 UC campuses, the service will provide libraries with the ability to search the entire WorldCat database while at the same time giving users the ability to effortlessly narrow down one’s search to the local level.  WorldCat Local interoperates with locally maintained services like circulation, resource sharing and resolution to full text to create a seamless experience for the end user.

“OCLC’s vision for seamlessly integrating discovery of locally held library resources with resources held elsewhere across the international bibliographic network is similar to ours,” said Assistant Vice Chancellor Karen Butter, the University of California San Francisco University Librarian and chair of the UC/OCLC Executive Team.  “The partnership with OCLC offers an opportunity to present the vast UC Library collection in ways that are consistent with the discovery needs of today’s faculty and students.  We expect that OCLC’s research expertise and ability to integrate collection resources—whether purchased, locally digitized, or digitized by third parties—will offer new ways to surface information from UC library collections.”

“This collaboration with the University of California Libraries is a great opportunity for OCLC,” said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development.  “The knowledge we will gain by working with such a large research library system will help enhance our services for all OCLC member libraries.”

Want to learn more about what’s going on at the CDL?  Themes highlighted at this year’s annual Users Council meeting in Oakland on May 11 included:

You didn’t have to be there to find out about it!  Simply follow the URL to read and view the PowerPoint presentations at http://www.cdlib.org/inside/groups/users_council/05112007_notes.html.

By Felicia Poe (felicia.poe@ucop.edu), CDL Assessment, Design & Production Manager

Position title: User Experience Design Manager
Position location: Oakland, California
To apply: https://jobs.ucop.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51724
Close date: July 12, 2007

The California Digital Library (CDL) invites applications for the position of User Experience Design Manager. The incumbent will provide leadership in ensuring that the design of CDL web sites meet the needs of its primary audiences, including the University of California libraries, the broader UC community, external constituencies and the general public. The User Experience Design Manager will assume responsibility for defining core interaction designs and functionality based on sound usability principles, research, data and technical feasibility. Additionally, the incumbent will be responsible for managing the processes, people, and resources related to the visual design process.

HOW TO APPLY:  For a complete job description or to apply for this position, visit the University of California Office of the President employment web site at:  https://jobs.ucop.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51724

UC Office of the President job postings: http://jobs.ucop.edu
Job requisition number: 20070238

Visit the California Digital Library web site at: www.cdlib.org

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity /Affirmative Action employer.

By Steve Toub, CDL Bibliographic Services Strategist

As part of our quality assurance process in the upgrade of Melvyl from ALEPH v.15 to ALEPH v.16, CDL requested the UCLA’s Disabilities and Computing Program to provide an accessibility audit of the Melvyl site. Many aspects of the Request site were also included in the review. The final report is now available at: http://www.dcp.ucla.edu/melvylreport/report_index.htm

CDL is pleased to confirm that although the out-of-the-box ALEPH interface had a number of accessibility issues, our implementation has turned our ALEPH-based system into one that is largely compliant with Section 508, the federal law related to web accessibility. Most of the issues raised by the accessibility audit were cosmetic usability suggestions or proposals that go above and beyond what is required by law.

Ex Libris has used JavaScript in the ALEPH product.  Although CDL has taken great pains to reduce the amount of JavaScript and to ensure that browsers without JavaScript can access all Melvyl functionality, a handful of problematic areas remain.  Investigation by CDL has confirmed that these problematic areas are controlled by ALEPH code that is not editable by CDL.  We will be reporting our findings to Ex Libris. 

CDL is committed to ensuring access to resources for all patrons; we are extremely grateful to the staff at UCLA’s Disabilities and Computing Program for the attention they gave in their thorough accessibility audit of Melvyl.

In 2003, the UC campus libraries launched a new version of the Melvyl Catalog based on software from Ex Libris, running on the IBM AIX platform.  Both Web and Telnet versions of the catalog were maintained.  Now, in 2007, the catalog is being upgraded to a newer version of the Ex Libris software, running on a Sun Solaris platform.  Maintaining the Telnet interface to Melvyl, which is little used by UC students, faculty and staff, is prohibitively expensive, due to the change from IBM to Sun hardware.  The Telnet software version CDL runs does not support the Sun platform and would require a significant investment in staff time and resources to set up and maintain.

With input from the UC Heads of Public Services (HOPS), Heads of Technical Services (HOTS) and Collection Development Committee (CDC), and in consultation with library staff, it has been decided to cease production of the Telnet version of Melvyl in mid-August 2007 because of the technical difficulty and expense of maintaining it.

CDL and campus library staffs recognize that some users will regret the loss of the Telnet version of the Melvyl Catalog.  However, most manufacturers of the Telnet software no longer support it or provide upgrades.  At the same time, the graphical user interface provided by the web is now the norm.  In addition,      

• There is a growing disparity between the content that is available from the Web vs. the Telnet interface.
• The Telnet protocol cannot support direct access to the electronic journals, electronic books and other electronic resources that UC libraries provide for their users.
• Enhanced features such as Request are only available through the web interface.
• Telnet software creators (e.g., NCSA) are no longer supporting it and are not investing in development.
• The Telnet protocol presents a potential security breach that poses an increased risk for the host system.

Users who have difficulty in using the mouse or other accessories should consult with their local campus accessibility experts who can help with accommodations such as speech recognition software or other mitigations. The CDL is working with UCLA’s accessibility team to make sure the Melvyl Catalog remains ADA compliant.

The CDL has placed messages on the current Telnet and Web versions of the Melvyl Catalog informing users of the retirement of the Telnet version in mid-August.