The steering group worked on drawing up a framework for the project. This has now been approved by the MT and communicated within the organization. The framework sets out important principles for the direction of the project, for example: self-service for loans processes where possible, further centralization and integration of service-desk functions, deployment of WIMmers in the front office.

The project plans make provision for a Master’s student from the Faculty of Economics & Business to carry out a user survey. The survey is essential; the literature and experiences of staff in other libraries confirm this. In the period June-October 2011, the project group booked a total of 367 hours, divided among 11 people (excluding the steering group and the project leader).

Klaran Visscher

The Learning Grid project was officially launched on 27 September. The HPU project overlaps with the Learning Grid (LG) project in the sense that it is geared to the completely overhauled interior of the Library building. This has consequences for the location of the LG in the main University building, and for time planning.

At an information meeting held on 11 October, the leader of the LG project gave a presentation to 54 colleagues. A presentation on the HPU project was also given at the meeting.

At the end the 2011, the LG project group began work with background reading. In principle, the group meets every second Friday morning.

Mischa van Delden

In 2011 there were issues with RefWorks relating not only to the migration to the new version, but also to the migration to Office 2010. Remnants of the previously installed EndNote of Reference Manager caused problems when RefWorks (Writ-N-Cite) was used in Word 2010. A satisfactory solution was found with the help of the CIT and made available to users. The transition to version 2.0 in July proceeded without problems.

Later, three major service disruptions occurred at the RW provider’s location, and as a result RefWorks functioned slowly or not at all. The normal situation was quickly restored, partly thanks to the cooperation between the licence managers and RefWorks group members. If such situations arise frequently, the reputation of the RefWorks service could be damaged. The decision was taken to consult RefWorks coordinators at other universities, in order to gain a better understanding of the problems and, possibly, communicate jointly with RefWorks.

Contact was initiated with Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam. These contacts enable us to compare the Groningen situation with that of other organizations with regard to RefWorks faults, user numbers, developments such as RefWorks 2.0, etc. The RefWorks representatives from these universities responded enthusiastically to the Groningen initiative.

With regard to management information, an Excel form is being used to produce an overview of accounts created each month, etc. For the time being we are continuing to use the current e-mail system. Although this means it is not possible to produce precise enquiry statistics, an estimate will be made on the basis of a random sample. The volume of enquiries does not warrant the introduction of a special system; we receive only a few enquiries per week, and these are dealt with straightaway or forwarded to colleagues.

Joost Driesens

Jan Feringa

Library of Theology and Religious Studies

The objective of this project is to enhance the visibility of the research publications of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (GGW) via Repository and MePa.

The following apply to all publications:

1. As quickly as possible
2. Error-free
3. Bibliographical metadata
4. Full text: mandatory ‘depositing’, in accordance with Erasmus University Rotterdam model, which the Board of the University of Groningen intends to look into.

‘Efficiency’: efficient, integrated workflow for the research registration system Metis and the Repository.

1. Researcher enters metadata and full text
2. Library provides data-entry support
3. Checking by the Library
4. Presentation via Repository and MePa
5. GGW policy officer carries out final checks

To this end, we wish to conduct a pilot study at GGW using Personal METIS. The product needs to be improved for this purpose. Improvements are expected to be completed in January 2012. Arjen van der Knijff has carried out a study of the future of our repository software. His advice is that we should stop using customized software (Wildfire), and that the two most suitable alternatives are Dspace and Eprints, both Open Source products that are used by other institutions. Johannes Nicolai will lead the follow-up project, in which the final decision will be taken and a migration plan drawn up.

Jan Feringa

The objective of the ‘University of Groningen Library – External Communication’ project was to assess the existing communication processes of the various Library departments and advise on the use of communication resources, enabling the Library to communicate even more effectively with its target groups.

At the beginning of September 2011, Sylvia Daskalova was tasked with implementing the project. This involved the following:
1. Interviews with Library staff involved with external communication
2. Interviews with users from the Library’s target groups
3. An inventory of how resources for external communication are currently used
4. A report, comprising:
a. an overview of current external communication of the University Library
b. recommendations on the use of communication resources, and
c. a management summary of these recommendations.

The report was written by Sylvia in the last three weeks of November. The results were discussed at the regular MT meeting on 16 December.
On completion of the project, the recommendations were presented to all Library staff and interested parties during a concluding project meeting held in mid-January 2012.

Rienk Withaar

Library of Theology and Religious Studies

This project involves:

1. Simplification of the ordering process
2. Reduction of paperwork and manual administration for Acquisitions
3. Document processing department: making monographs shelf-ready
4. Optimizing the cataloguing work process
5. Possible cooperation between Acquisitions and Periodicals Acquisitions
6. Eliminating shadow administration of periodicals sequence numbers.
7. Standardization of the return process for periodicals
8. Management information – LBS data

Ingrid Nicolai-Burghgraef

Groningen on a 17th century map by Sebastian Munster

This project began with a pilot study (April-October 2010), with the aim of formulating a protocol for digitizing various groups of material and making them available online, namely books and journals, and Greek papyri. These were chosen because it is expected that the majority of material that will be digitized will consist of texts and images. This instructive pilot study was completed successfully. The two collections can be found at facsimile.ub.rug.nl: Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis (Brinkman Catalogi and Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel) and Papyri Groninganae.

A great deal of work preceded the online publication of the collections:

• Preparatory work
  Advance planning and discussion is an important part of any project. In this case, agreements were made about all manner of aspects relating to the collection to be digitized. For this purpose we designed a form for recording essential data.
• Scanning
  During the pilot study we gained experience with scanning. We had Mens en Maatschappij (1925-2000) (the first journal for the ‘Diginedsoc’ project for the digitization of Dutch sociology journals) scanned at the Groningen Archives. Unfortunately, the Groningen Archives were unable to meet our requirements. We then requested a scan by GMS in Alblasserdam, who also put a collection of letters on microfilm for the Hemsterhuis Collection. Although the final result is good, we are less satisfied with other aspects of the work, so this choice may also need to be reviewed. The Groningen Archives scanned our collection of letters by Petrus Camper, and we are very satisfied with the result.
• Metadata input
  Diginedsoc involves a great deal of work, particularly on the metadata side (entering journal articles in RefWorks databases) Although many staff are working on this, the contribution is not sufficiently structured – a disadvantage of a project-based approach.
• facsimile.ub.rug.nl
  At the end of April 2011, CONTENTdm 6.0 was released. This coincided with Pieter van de Veen’s internship at the Library in May and June. Pieter made good progress uploading the other collections in 6.0. We hope that we can continue to request his assistance in the future. In the run-up to the publication of the papyri, there was close consultation with Prof. K.A. Worp, Emeritus Professor of Papyrology at Leiden. He gave his learned views on our papyri, and has brought international renown for the site. The site went live on 1 October 2012 [2011?].

The following collections have been published:

(part of/on the initiative of: University History = UH / Special Collections = SC / Faculties = FA)

• Brinkman catalogues 1936-1950 (FA)
• Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel [Newssheet for the Book Trade] 1940-1945 (FA)
• Fragments from a Music Manuscript (flyleaves Inc. 70) (SC)
• Letters of François Hemsterhuis (under development, will be part of the Hemsterhuis Collection)
• Papyri Groninganae (FA)
• Letters of Petrus Camper (under development, will be part of the Petrus Camper Collectie) (SC)
• Frans van Schooten Manuscripts (under development) (SC).

Financial overview (2011-2014)

Income

• Grant: € 250K
• Match funding by Library: € 50K
• Total: € 300K

Expenditure

• Personnel costs: € 175K
• CONTENTdm € 40K
• Scans/photos/server € 85K
• Total: € 300K

Alie Bijker

A distant ancestor of the Discovery Tool ...

In 2011, the Discovery Tool project team studied the features of the Discovery Services offered by the four main providers, namely SUMMON, EBSCO, Primo and WorldCatLocal.

Reports by sister organizations facing similar decisions were requested and read. The fact that OCLC did not market WorldCatLocal in Europe until 2011 meant that the views of libraries that took a decision last year or earlier were negative.

The team decided early on to focus on Primo and WCL. SUMMON was assessed as offering a less user-friendly environment, and is difficult to integrate with other library systems. In the view of the team, it is unacceptable to require users to log in before they can search with the EBSCO tool. Searching should be a facility that is available to everyone.

In the preparatory phase of the project, it seemed a good idea to construct a test environment for various products. The team decided against this, however. Even with a reasonable investment of time and resources, the test environments would not be complete, and would fall short in terms of essential components. Our aim is therefore to examine the system directly at another library, or via the providers.

During May and June 2011, it became clear that the products did not differ greatly in terms of the ease of finding digital content; advantages of one product over another were largely of a temporary nature. The main differences were in the possibilities for adjusting layout, additional functions (customization with apps), and compatibility of the software with existing library systems. Connections with the link resolver, the catalogue (of the physical collection in particular) and the information on availability of the material found, through a link with the loan status proved to be important and sometimes clear problems. These problems are also encountered by other libraries in the Netherlands that are in the process of implementing Discovery or recently introduced the Discovery tool or service. The situation varies slightly from library to library.

The project team is now focusing on these decisive aspects. An accurate picture has been obtained of the various options and the cost of licences. The budget made available by the IT Strategy committee will certainly be able to finance most of the costs.

The team’s activities in 2011:

• Demonstrations of Primo and WorldCatLocal in the library
• Visit to the Primo users’ day at the University of Amsterdam (UvA)
• Jan Feringa is in contact with UKB colleagues in the Netherlands who are involved with Discovery Services
• Peter van Rees recorded information from discussion groups
• Christina is in contact with ICS colleagues in the Netherlands with a primary or secondary involvement in Discovery Service projects (in particular VU University Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Radboud University Nijmegen)

Christina Elsenga

Library of Economics and Business / Spatial Sciences

We have been working with SFX4 for several months now. André Keijzer needed a great deal of time to deal with the ‘loose ends’. The introduction of BX has been delayed due a disagreement with Ex Libris about the licence payment for a test environment. Margreet Nieborg (Functional Manager) has now escalated the problem to a higher support level.

Jan Feringa

Library of Behavioural and Social Sciences

In recent years, more and more e-readers and tablets for reading e-books and articles have been launched in the market. The University of Groningen Library is now purchasing an increasing number of e-books. The e-books come from various platforms. The formats in which the e-books are made available varies considerably: PDF, HTML, via DRM platforms. Some of these formats are more suited than others to reading on an e-reader or tablet.

The aim of the ‘E-readers for the Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences’ project was to compile an inventory of user experiences with different types of e-reader and different types of e-book. During the project, three members of the academic staff at the Faculty were asked about their experiences using different e-book formats from the University collection on various e-readers.
These staff members were given three types of e-reader/tablet on loan: a Sony e-reader, an Archos e-reader and an iPad. During the loan period they used the e-reader to consult a selection of e-books in their subject area from various providers: EBL, Ebrary, MyiLibrary, Oxford Scholarship Online and PsycBOOKS. They reported their findings on the platforms and e-readers to the GMW Library.

At the end of 2011, one of the three staff members had been loaned the two e-readers and had the use of the iPad. The second researcher had been loaned the Sony e-reader at that time, and had the use of the iPad. The third staff member was issued with an Archos e-reader.

The results of this trial project are expected at the end of January. The two iPads purchased for the project can then be put to use elsewhere in the Library.

Rienk Withaar