Current projects
Research Solutions Development Partners
The University Libraries, in conjunction with staff from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Development and the Office of the Provost/Administrative Information Systems, have agreed to be development partners with Ex Libris, A Proquest Company to develop a Research Solution System. Other development partners are: University of Oklahoma, University of Miami, Lancaster University and University of Sheffield.
The project began in July, 2017 and is expected to last through March 2019.
November 2017 Update
The Research Solutions product now has a name: Esploro. Esploro is an Esperanto word meaning research or exploration.
Esploro will be a platform for comprehensive and efficient capture and enhancement of institutional research objects (publications and data) to improve visibility, impact and compliance.
In October, project staff from the Libraries and the Office of Vice President for Research and Development spent a full day on campus with Ex Libris staff reviewing progress and developing a list of needs for version 1. As development partners, the UI has been tasked with identifying 3-6 researchers who are willing to talk with Ex Libris development staff from time to time about their needs for a system like Esploro.
June 2018 Update
Work progresses on Esploro. The Libraries are creating a file defining the UI’s organizational structure that will be loaded into the new system. Next we’ll create a file of researchers. We expect to have a test system later this month. Over the coming weeks, we will be providing links on this page to more information about Esploro.
July 2018 Update
We now have a version of Esploro to look at and play around with. This is a pre-release for v. 1, which will come later this summer.
Completed projects
Resource Sharing with TRAC Libraries
- The UI Libraries are a member of an informal cooperative called Two Rivers Alma Collaborative (TRAC). The Collaborative consists of 10 academic libraries in Iowa and Creighton University, all of who use the library management and discovery systems, Alma and Primo. Member Libraries are: University of Iowa; St. Ambrose University; Drake University; University of Northern Iowa; Allen College; Wartburg College; Hawkeye Community College, Iowa State University, Grand View College; Creighton University, and Grinnell College.
- Beginning early August, 2017 faculty, staff and students from member libraries will be able to search and request delivery of physical books and journals directly from other member libraries as well as participate in walk-in borrowing from member libraries. Due to licensing restrictions, electronic resources are exempt from this service.
- The University of Iowa Libraries will begin resource sharing with items from the Main Library. Other UI Libraries will be added later.
Project Summary: Implementation was completed on schedule. All UI Branch Libraries are participating in resource sharing with our TRAC partners.
New Staff Interface for Library Management System - Alma
A new streamlined staff interface for the Libraries’ management system, Alma will be introduced this fall. Alma is used by Libraries’ staff for procurement, inventory control, circulation functions and reporting.
The new staff interface will be available to staff to preview in our sandbox with the July release. Beginning in the August/September timeframe, LIT will begin configuring the new staff interface and Libraries’ staff will be able to preview changes in the production environment. By the end of fall semester, the new staff interface will be in full production at the old interface will be turned off.
During summer/fall 2017, LIT will be hosting webinars and providing training for staff in the new interface.
November 2017 Update
30.7% of Libraries staff, including student emmployees, have already begun to exclusively use the new Alma staff interface.
January 2018 Update
This project was completed with the January 2018 enhancement release.
Migration to a new Digital Asset Management System
The UI Libraries currently use software called CONTENTdm (CDM) to manage and display it’s digital assets (Iowa Digital Library). During the fall sememster 2017, we will begin to migrate from CDM to Islandora. Over the summer, we issued a joint RFP with Iowa State University and with the University of Northern Iowa to identify a vendor to host and help manage the migration. Utilizing the Islandora platform will allow us to extend the use, re-use and discovery of our digital assets. The UI’s migration is expected to be complete by June 2018.
November 2017 Update
The UI Libraries have contracted with discoverygarden to manage the migration from CDM to Islandora. discoverygarden is headquartered in Charlottetown, PE and has customers around the world. During November and early December, UI Libraries staff will work closely with discoverygarden to set up our infrastructure and develop templates to map data from CDM to Islandora.
January 2018 Update
Work is progressing and we’ve ingested a collection to our Staging Server. We are mapping more collections now. We expect to sign off with discoverygarden in mid-February.
June 2018 Update
The UI Libraries have signed off on the implementation of the Islandora platform and are now moving into a production and support phase.
February 2019 Update
Library staff are working on moving 800,000 plus items into Islandora. We anticipate a soft launch of the new system this semester.
January 2020 Update
As of Wednesday, 1/8/20 digital.lib.uiowa.edu points to our Islandora instance, instead of ContentDM. Work is still in progress, and a few collections remain to be migrated, but the majority of our digital collections have been moved.
New User Interface for InfoHawk+
- Throughout the 2017/18 academic year, the Libraries will be implementing and configuring an updated user interface of InfoHawk+. Some features of the more streamlined interface include:
- The new design will provide cleaner results that gradually expose end users to more information as needed. Users will no longer have to access multiple tabs to locate needed information.
- Responsive design that allows it to support any screen size and resolution which will make it more mobile device friendly.
- The advanced search now allows the user to add query lines as needed. By default, only two lines appear, but it’s a simple matter to add new lines.
- The results list no longer contains numbered pages. Users will simply scroll to the bottom of the current page to load more results.
- The e-shelf is replaced by My Favorites. Users categorize information saved in My Favorites with labels instead of folders.
- During the processing of simple search queries, the system will now use parentheses to group all phrases and conditions to make sure the phrase and operator precedence are handled the same as in advance searches.
- A soft launch of the new interface is expected in the March/April 2018 timeframe.
June 2018 Update
The new user interface for InfoHawk+ will go live June 18th. Small changes may be ongoing for some time as our staff continue to get things just-so, but the overall look and feel are in place and working well.
If you have comments or suggestions for the new interface, please let us know at: Suggestions
Implement Materials Tracking for Special Collections - Aeon
Aeon is automated request and workflow management software specifically designed for special collections libraries and archives. Aeon improves patron service and maximizes staff efficiency while providing unparalleled item tracking, security and statistics.
Aeon implementation kicks off with a webinar on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.
August 2018 Update
Aeon went live in August of 2018.