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Mellon Funds New Open Library Environment Project
Lehigh is one of the
founding partners in the Kuali Open Library Environment
(OLE) project to develop software that streamlines the
operations of academic and research libraries.
The
partnership will create an alternative to an integrated
library system that provides library users easier access to
the wealth of new digital materials, ties in seamlessly with
university enterprise systems, brings together the best
practices from other universities, and allows libraries to
determine their own future.
The OLE partnership was
officially established in November 2009 and in January 2010
the Mellon Foundation, a strong advocate of open-source
software in higher education, announced a two year $2.38
million grant in support of the project.
Kuali is a growing
community of universities, colleges, businesses, and other
organizations that have partnered to build and sustain
open-source administrative software for higher education.
Open source is a development method for software that
leverages insight from peer review. It is free, maintained
and improved constantly by participating members.
“The Kuali OLE open
source library project has the potential to bring about a
long-term transformation of the overall access to and flow
of library materials and scholarly communications in the
educational library world,” says Bruce Taggart, vice provost
for Library and Technology Services.
“Some of the best and
brightest library professionals and systems people are
envisioning what the next-generation library, or digital
library 2.0 and even digital library 3.0, will look like.
Lehigh’s partnership in this new endeavor demonstrates that,
as an institution, it is in the forefront of those embracing
significant change in the management of scholarly and
research information resources.”
Lehigh was a key
participant in the year-long design of the OLE product,
which was supported by a planning grant from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation and led by Duke University.
Timothy McGeary, library technology team leader, and Doreen Herold,
catalog librarian, served on the international design team,
which was composed of 10 universities and two national
libraries. That team gathered input from more than 300
libraries, educational institutions, professional
organizations and businesses.
Other Kuali OLE partners
include Indiana University (lead); the Florida Consortium
(representing Florida academic institutions); the Triangle
Research Libraries Network, representing Duke and North
Carolina State Universities; the University of Chicago; the
University of Maryland; the University of Michigan; and the
University of Pennsylvania.
Integrated library
systems are used to track materials in library collections,
from ordering and paying for them to loaning them to library
users. Freed from a print-only bias, the Kuali project will
create more efficient workflows to manage and curate a
varied digital collection that includes leased electronic
journal content and owned special collections.
More information about the Kuali
Foundation and the OLE project can be found at
www.kuali.org/ole
.
--Susan A. Cady
LTS Director for Administrative and Planning Services
Article posted February,
2010
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