FROM THE CIO

As the new Chief Information Officer of Library and Information Technology here at Bucknell University, let me be the first to welcome you to the inaugural issue of The Next Page. I, along with the editorial staff and writers, hope you will enjoy reading about our endeavors as well as trends in the “industry.” If you haven’t had a chance to meet me, I’ve been at Bucknell since January 2008, and before that served as Vice President for Library and Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Arcadia University. My wife, two children and I are delighted to be part of the Bucknell community, and look forward to many happy and productive years in Lewisburg. If you’re in the library, please stop by the Library and IT office on level two and say hello! I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of the major initiatives underway in our department. In July, we officially changed our name to Library and Information Technology, as The Bertrand Library is an integral part of our organization, and it is important for it to be included in the organizational identity. In addition to the name change, we have realigned our organization to provide technology and library leadership to academic and administrative departments, as well as services to our students.

 Since the beginning of the year, we have undertaken several key initiatives: High Performance Computing: In collaboration with the faculty in Engineering and Arts and Sciences, and ECST, we now have a High Performance Computing cluster for faculty and students for research. This will be in place for the start of the Fall 2008 semester.

New Library Catalog: The new integrated library catalog and Research by Subject was launched on August 4, 2008. This project integrates searching of the library’s catalog and research databases. Features of the final product include simultaneous searching of the catalog and research databases, links to relevant sources and websites, and spotlights for events or resources associated with an academic discipline or subject area. Access to myLibrary information, renewing materials and placing holds is available through myBucknell.

Bucknell Message Center: Bucknell’s new message center was launched in August. It resides within the myBucknell portal, and replaces the outmoded campus listservs. Users can opt-in to receive messages based on different categories, and can choose to receive messages within myBucknell or via e-mail. This initiative was a cooperative venture between the Office of Communications and Library and IT.

Digital Library Conference: On July 9, 2008, our Digital Initiatives Group hosted the Mid-Atlantic Digital Library Conference. Nearly two hundred people, including librarians, technologists and vendors from the library and IT community attended. More information about the conference and links to presentations are available on the conference website: www.madlcon.org.

Campus Portal: This spring a group of faculty, staff and students helped us in a needs assessment for a campus portal. With the assessment in hand, we are now evaluating various products. The time line for implementing a new campus portal is Summer 2009.

Document Imaging: A group of staff members from HR, the Registrar’s Office, Admissions, Development and Alumni Relations, Facilities and Library and IT has been meeting since spring to conduct a campus needs assessment for the Document Imaging project. This summer the group evaluated the different products which meet the campus needs.

Data Warehousing: As the University operations become more complex, the need for analyzing and visualizing information for decision making has become necessary. While we can get most of the information from Banner, we will need additional functionality for our decision support systems. The University is in the process of evaluating the benefits of implementing a Data Warehouse.

DELL: We negotiated aggressive pricing with DELL for campus purchases, and also worked with them to pass on the same level of discounts to our faculty, students and staff. In some cases, the level of discount is over 30% compared to last year.

By the time you read this article, Nancy Dagle will be enjoying her much deserved retirement. Nancy retired from Bucknell University in August 2008 after 23 years of distinguished service. We all miss working with her, but know that she’s only a phone call away when we need to draw upon her vast experience and extensive institutional memory. Congratulations, Nancy! We hope you enjoy all of your new adventures!

I also want to take this opportunity to welcome Carrie Rampp, who joined us September 1, 2008 as our new Director of Library Services. Carrie previously served as Area Director of Resource Development and Services at Middlebury College. Carrie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her new position, and we all look forward to a fruitful partnership with her.

Also, I’d like to welcome Chris Weber to his new role as the Director of Technology Infrastructure, which he started on September 1, 2008. Chris has been with Bucknell University since 1978, and brings his extensive technology experience to this position. He served as the Manager of the Computer Systems and Operations from 1979 to 1991, and then as the Assistant Director for Systems Operations and Network Planning in the early 1990’s. Most recently, he was a member of the Systems Integration team.

Best wishes for the fall semester, and stay tuned for my next article in our Spring 2009 issue.

PARAM BEDI, Chief Information Officer Library and Information Technology