Philosophy  I
find change management to be among the most challenging and stimulating
components of my work. While change is a key characteristic of emerging
information and instructional technologies, providing a stable
infrastructure and responsive support services are reasonable
expectations for students and faculty.
Technical aspects of change are often easily accomplished, but
communicating effectively with stakeholders, understanding their
needs, and assisting with making smooth transitions takes time and special care. Regardless of the technical
challenges and process, stakeholder satisfaction and perceptions
ultimately determine the success of change processes.
Selecting and Implementing eCourse SystemImplementing
the eCourse (Blackboard) web course management system is a good example
of a change continuum over the past four years. The system was chosen
after collaborative evaluation of a number of course management
systems. It was implemented with no new staff, but by developing an
implementation team including systems, Digital Media Center, and
faculty representatives. After four years the system includes nearly
1,400 courses with 223 active for the Fall of 2004.
Implementing the eCourse was a risk because of concerns of not being
able to support the volume of course requests and support requests with
existing staff. However, one of the key selection criteria was ease of
use and this has been a key factor in integration of this technology in
teaching and learning. We developed back-end mechanisms to
auto-populate and synchronize enrollments with Banner registration
data. An automated system was developed for generating and tracking new
course requests and course cloning requests. To address training and
support, faculty workshops on using eCourse were developed and
presented.
But as we pass through the 4th year of implementation we face
challenges of upgrades and migration to the next generation course
management system. Migration of courses, faculty training, and trasition strategies will be
challenges in this next transition.
Related Links
LDAP Authentication and Journals at PLU
Over
the past seven years, the number of our library's online resources has
proliferated from only a handful to over 22,300 journals and other
full-text resources. In 1997 we begin to examine what we would need to
do to provide tools for finding these resources as well as
authentication strategies for limiting access to licensed resources.
We worked collaboratively with systems and networking to enable LDAP
mediated access to library resources, allowing a PLU ePass user to
access most online resources from both on and off campus. But
negotiating access by developing a separate script for each resource
was burdensome at best, as well as a nightmare to maintain URLs to
these scripts when they changed.
Initially I developed an Access database that stored variables used to
mediate access for each authenticated resource. Scripts were created to
use these variables to negotiate access and all URLs used these "metadata" scripts rather than a separate script for each database.
Today these scripts negotiate access to over 90 resource aggregators
and provide a stable URL for linking pages.
The next phase was to develop a way to search journal titles and their
holdings in a global fashion. Up to that time, finding whether or not
the library had access to a particular journal article required the
user to serially check the library catalog and each of the online
aggregators for the title, issue, and article. The product, called
Journals at PLU, provides keyword searching of journals by title, ISSN,
or publisher and displays all print, microform, and online holdings.
Each holding can be clicked to negotiate access via authentication
scripts.
The process of developing authentication and access tools has led to
significant and incremental change in how patrons use journal resources
and now provide one-stop shopping to searching for journal articles and
accessing them with ePass. Collaboration among systems, networking,
library and vendor personnel has made these development both possible
and sustainable.
I've collaborated with Keith Folsom and Fran Lane Rasmus on a number or
presentations on LDAP authentication and Journals at PLU. See samples
below.
Related Links
Library System Migrations, Upgrades and Beta Testing
Since I began working in the Library Systems area in 1990, we
have undertaken three system migrations and numerous upgrades. One of
my key roles is to understand and manage stakeholder expectations and
make smooth transitions in service.
Since the system was originally installed we have added modules for
serials, media scheduling, community resources, and acquisitions. In
our last migration to Voyager we moved to a web-based catalog, which
integrates a variety of online resources, electronic reserves, and
Journals at PLU. In addition, we now can access our data with SQL tools
and routinely use Access and PHP for accessing and displaying data in
applications like library allocation fund displays and library
inventory data.
Over the past year we served as one of two beta test sites and later as
an Early Release Partner for the Voyager Unicode release. Fran Budde,
Fran Lane Rasmus, and I collaborated on a presentation at the EndUser
2004 Conference titled "Transitioning to UnicodeTM: Strategies for
Tidying Your Data."
Related Links
|
Attributes
- Developing vision of change continuum
- Challenging status quo and stasis as needed
- Understanding needs of stakeholders and generating commitment
- Taking calculated risks
- Developing strategies to gracefully manage change
- Monitoring progress and making adjustments in strategies
- Communicating needs and process; managing expectations
|
