Establish the Library as a Center of Intellectual Community

Open Scholars Project

Open Scholars Project (OSP) is an informal forum for FSU researchers and scholars to learn about and share their experiences with open publishing, open source code and open data across subject areas. The OSP aims to create a group that is action-oriented and supportive in bringing faculty and early career researchers, including postdocs and graduate students together. University of Wisconsin at Madison, North Carolina State University and Utrecht University have created similar communities of practice for open access.
Initiative Leads
Camille Thomas
Updates
We held virtual and hybrid events in 2022 (FY22-23). Hybrid events were catered and we created wearable buttons, which we sent to members to promote the group. We also began planning a symposium and fellows program, which have been postponed.

We still have regular attendance of approximately 10 - 15 people for the monthly meetings. We created a code of conduct, email listserv and organized a tour of the Mag Lab ( one of our most engaged partners). A researcher from the Mag Lab joined our organizing taskforce. We also brought in speakers for the events during Open Access Week.

We are still in the planning stages for the 'project seed' funding. After the new Open Science Librarian joined and consulting with the finance team about allowable expenses, we want to move to an emphasis on personnel similar to the data fellows program before coordinating with centers and partners who've shown engagement. We also learned people attend based on the topic, which was not fostering interdisciplinary community and attendance was beginning to dwindle, so we decided to move to a semester schedule instead of monthly and hold symposium featuring multiple topics and invite members of the community using open data.

The Human Library Project

The Human Library Project consists of individuals of various backgrounds that make themselves readily available to scholars on campus, as a “book” to be checked out and interviewed as a means of exploring diversity through open minded conversation. The goal of the Human Library Project is to provide a safe space for our scholars to gain perspective and understanding of individuals with unique experiences and stories. Many university libraries across the world are hosts for the Human Library, see FAU’s example.
Initiative Leads
Priscilla Hunt, former Government Information Specialist
Updates
2023
We have successfully acquired licensing to host the event. Additionally, we have selected "books" for the event and have started the training process. The event was a success.

Supporting 3D and Immersive Scholarship @ FSU Libraries

This initiative is for the expansion of support for immersive scholarship on campus–this includes research and teaching that utilizes 3D data through the forms of 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality, and interactive 3D publications. Funding has been allocated to allow hiring a graduate assistant to help with development of workshops and 3D/VR models.

For several years, the Office of Digital Research and Scholarship (DRS) has collaborated with faculty and students on finding, evaluating, and implementing digital tools and technologies into their research to create innovative scholarly outputs. One version of this support includes consultation and partnership on immersive scholarship such as 3D printing and virtual reality. This new initiative provides additional resources to strengthen research support for the use and application of three-dimensional data, and the technologies that generate and utilize it, throughout all stages of the research cycle. This initiative adds a graduate research assistant to supplement the current faculty librarian and the technology available for this work: a pair of FDM 3D printers, a high-resolution SLA 3D printer, a high-powered desktop workstation, and a high-powered laptop/3D scanner combination. These services are housed in the R&D Commons, a space in the basement of Strozier Library which provides a space for workshops and consultations.

An overarching outcome for this project will be an increase in the facility with which FSU researchers can utilize 3D data in their research. This initiative will contribute to this by assisting research partners in developing 3D objects and scholarly outputs that utilize them. It will also foster a collaborative environment on campus, and build an interdisciplinary community of practice by developing and hosting workshops, tutorials, and events such as symposia to share skills and knowledge across campus.
Initiative Leads
Matt Hunter, Digital Scholarship Librarian
Updates
2023
This year, we have launched our Photogrammetry Institute event series, continued to deepen research partnerships with researchers in departments across campus, and streamlined our services to emphasize community building and research support while maintaining our consultation services, and offloading production services that fit better within other campus departments. We also officially sunsetted our 3D printing services and began to focus on building community with the Innovation Hub and Research Computing Center to better coordinate services across campus. To date, we've hosted two very successful Photogrammetry Institute events of a planned seven events this semester, and collaborated with scholars in the Art History department to produce a publication at https://manifold.lib.fsu.edu/projects/ucla-guidebook. We also contributed expertise in 3D printing services for researchers in the Art History and Biomechanical engineering departments to contribute to two forthcoming publications. Additionally, we have made great strides in fostering a community of practice around photogrammetry and immersive media across campus through our Photogrammetry Institute and related marketing and outreach strategies, resulting in project consultations with several new research partners.

2022
Over the last six months, the graduate assistant hired as part of this initiative has made great progress in developing the skills and learning the technologies involved in the role. Progress has also been made in the expansion of DigiNole’s capability to preserve and present 3D models through library-hosted services. This has resulted in a prototype 3D model viewer that is under assessment for full implementation. The team has also begun to gather materials for the development of documentation and policy for the next stage of this project.

Research Data Instruction Infrastructure Pilot Project

As research data instruction has become a priority for the library there is a need for a technical infrastructure to support these efforts. This proposal is to develop a pilot project to test the feasibility of a virtual desktop infrastructure based on our existing virtual scientific desktops for use in data instruction classes taught by our library faculty. This will include both the virtual hardware, software and storage that is needed for students to access and manipulate research data. By using a virtual environment this will enable our faculty to use this in any of our classrooms.
Initiative Leads
Louis Brooks, Head of Systems Digital Infrastructure
Kelly Simon, Systems Administrator
Updates
January 2022
A small working group has been working on use cases, design specifications, and proof of concept testing. The approved hardware has been purchased and installed for data storage. The next steps will include internal testing and live testing in a classroom setting.

Project Enhancement Network & Incubator (PEN & Inc)

The digital project incubator will provide targeted support to a limited number of faculty and student projects in digital humanities and digital scholarship. This incubator program will allow the Digital Humanities Librarian and Digital Scholarship Librarian to provide targeted support to 5-10 members of the university community each semester (10-20 over the course of an academic year). This support will help these community members kickstart their digital projects. Project support funds will be provided to these incubator participants so they can purchase goods and services to enhance their projects or present their nascent projects at conferences to enhance the reputation of the university in digital research. This program will synergize with the CreateFSU strategic initiative, as each incubator participant will be given a CreateFSU account to build up the web-presence of their digital projects.
Initiative Leads
Sarah Stanley, Digital Humanities Librarian
Matt Hunter, Digital Scholarship Librarian
Updates
2023
In the past year, we wrapped up our 2021-22 cohort with a recognition event and projects showcase. Additionally, we accepted 15 new members to the 2022-2023 cohort. The current cohort is the largest cohort to date, with the broadest representation from different departments and colleges. The largest milestone we achieved was welcoming the largest cohort to date. Additionally, we were able to welcome participants from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Fine Arts, Music, Engineering, Education, Entrepreneurship and others.

2022
The Incubator initiative leads put out a call for proposals in Fall 2021 and have selected the first cohort. The group is now in the process of building their websites, meeting as a group to discuss progress, and supporting each other in developing their projects.

Library Spatial Data and GIS Services

The development and implementation of GIS and spatial data services within the library are designed to enhance data information literacy and critical thinking skills throughout the FSU community but with a focus on STEM scholars. This will be done through educational and research services to students and faculty that enhance their data information literacy competencies. These services compliment existing GIS services in other campus units and departments by providing open source alternatives as well as integrating open science concepts into spatial data research and teaching.
Initiative Leads
Kelly Grove, GIS and Earth Sciences Librarian
Updates
2023
The GIS for Success Workshop Series is still occurring each semester and has lead to some one-on-one consultations with graduate students working on dissertations and thesis so that they may make their own maps. The number of request for class instructions sessions focused on GIS related tools has increased. Finally with the title change of the initiative lead from STEM Research and Learning Librarian to GIS and Earth Sciences there have been more questions about library GIS and spatial data services along with request to meet to learn more about how the library may be involved in projects. In both the spring and fall semesters of 2022 two GIS for Success workshop series have been held. Additionally Kelly Grove has successfully been accepted to participate in the IMLS grant funded program‚ Developing Specialized Data Curation Training to Address Needed Expertise in Focused Areas‚ hosted by the Digital Curation Network (DCN). Kelly Grove has also had two book chapters published in the new ACRL Data Literacy Cookbook that came out in the fall of 2022. These two chapters provide the steps and necessary tools required to put on two different QGIS workshops.

2022
A survey has been sent out to Association of Research Libraries and select FSU faculty departments regarding GIS and spatial data services. The results have been collected and analyzed. There is ongoing work to compile the results into reports to share with senior leadership and also into an article to submit for publication to a journal. GIS workshops have been held, with plans for more workshops in the spring.

Library Digital Preservation System

Create a preservation system for born digital and digitized materials to meet the needs of the FSU Libraries Digital Preservation Framework in AWS using Archivematica (AM), an open source software. Enable AM to work with DigiNole to allow for simplification of ingest processes for both access and preservation. Enable Ringling Museum to access AM as a test case for further expansion of service to other organizations.
Initiative Leads
Krystal Thomas, Digital Archivist
Katie McCormick, Associate Dean for Special Collections and Archives
Malcolm Shackelford, Systems Administrator
David Rodriguez, Digital Services Librarian
Louis Brooks, Head of Systems
Digital Infrastructure
Updates
2023
This initiative is completed. Archivematica (AM) is fully deployed and operational. The system is successfully being used to process preservation packages for the Ringling Archives and for Special Collections materials on a regular basis. Development to have AM interact with DigiNole has been moved to a future project to follow migration of DigiNole to a new platform in the near future.

2022
Archivematica (AM) is fully deployed at this time. The system is successfully being used to process preservation packages for the Ringling Archives and for Special Collections materials since this fall. Moving all materials out of Glacier through AM and into Glacier Deep Storage will be a priority in the spring semester. The development to have AM interact with DigiNole is still forthcoming.

2021
A production instance of Archivematica (AM) went live in mid-July 2021 with organization for FSU Libraries and the Ringling Archives to have their own storage using the same interface. In the next few weeks, we'll begin the loading of materials that were being stored in Glacier. This involves using the Bag-It tool to package and ingest into AM and helping Ringling start their loading processes as well.

FSU Libraries Website Refresh

Due to a significant Drupal software upgrade requirement, the FSU Libraries website needs to be migrated to a new infrastructure. This upgrade provides an opportunity to refresh the website to improve user experience and advance our interface to best meet the needs of the FSU community.
Initiative Leads
Jess Barmon, Web Services Librarian
Lindsey Wharton, Extended Campus and Distance Services Librarian
Updates
Phase 1a - Website Feedback and User Testing (November 2021 - February 2022): Using surveys, open forums, and other communication tools, we will identify opportunities for improvement for our current website. We will also work with the UX Group to perform user testing and analysis that will provide insight into how our users utilize our website and uncover roadblocks with the goal of integrating feedback into an iterative design process.

Phase 1b - Website Content Review (November 2021 - February 2022): This phase will include a web content review with the goal of assessing, and improving our overall content structure and pages for clarity, discoverability, accessibility, and usability. As part of this assessment, we will perform a comparative analysis of other academic library websites in order to adopt and model best practices.

Phase 2a - Wireframes, Mockups, Themes: Design and Testing (January 2022 - June 2022): Using the feedback from phase 1, we will design an improved website interface. As new features and interface changes are implemented and tested, the Web Advisory Group will be consulted for final approval.

Phase 2b - Drupal 9 Infrastructure Design and Implementation (January 2022 - June 2022): A parallel workflow to phase 2a, our Digital Infrastructure team will be working on AWS Cloud Formation templates to deploy a highly available, scalable environment for our Drupal 9 website deployment.

Phase 3 - New Website Launch (May 2022 - July 2022): This phase will include communication with various stakeholders regarding any changes and improvements made to our website, training content editors, and performing additional testing and assessment of our new infrastructure.

FSU Islandora Migration

FSU's institutional repository, Diginole, is shifting from being hosted under FLVC's architecture to one that is maintained, in-house, by FSU Libraries. The migration involves a complex, multi-layered process that includes: building and sustaining this technical infrastructure in a cloud-based computing environment (Amazon Web Services), deploying an updated version of the repository's software stack (Islandora) within this environment, and transferring the contents of the old repository to the new one in a way that maintains their integrity and discoverability. Updates to the overall look and feel of the repository are also being implemented in addition to new features and functionalities that were not available through the old system.
Initiative Leads
Jean Phillips, former Associate Dean for Technology and Digital Scholarship
David Rodriguez, Digital Services Librarian

Florida State Open Publishing

Florida State Open Publishing (FSOP) places FSU Libraries’ support for open access publishing and digital project development under one initiative. FSOP provides publishing services for journals, monographs, open educational resources, and digital scholarship projects. We consult on a variety of scholarly publishing topics and digital research tools and methodologies. We aim to provide open access publishing expertise, services, and platforms to enhance the scholarly output of Florida State University students, faculty, and staff. FSOP services include:
*Journal and monograph hosting
*Copyright and licensing guidance
*Indexing and discovery support
*Usage metrics and altmetrics
*Light layout and typesetting
*DOI, ISSN, ISBN registration
*Digital preservation
*Digital scholarship consultation

Initiative Leads
Devin Soper, Director of the Office of Digital Research and Scholarship
Laura Miller, former visiting Open Publishing Librarian
Updates
2023
Published the following:
*Four issues of the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success (https://journals.flvc.org/jpss/issue/archive).
*Two issues of Athanor (https://journals.flvc.org/athanor/issue/archive).
*A volume of essays celebrating the work of educational researcher John Holland (https://manifold.lib.fsu.edu/projects/reardon-holland-festschrift).
*The Forgotten Canopy: A UCLA Plant Guidebook (https://manifold.lib.fsu.edu/projects/ucla-guidebook).
*Completed production work for three volumes of poetry by Bernard Binlin Dadie, translated by Peggy Wright Cleveland (forthcoming).

2022
*A new Open Publishing Assistant to support the initiative has been recruited.
*One open textbook with revisions from the author has been updated.
*In addition, one new issue of the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success has been published.

2021
*Launched new Florida State Open Publishing (FSOP) website at http://publishing.lib.fsu.edu/
*Developed strategic communications plan for FSOP
*Published Bio-Inspired Sensory Systems: Using Natural Photo-, Mechano-, and Chemo-Sensory Systems for Design Inspiration by Dr. Geoffrey Brooks
*Published From Growing to Biology: Plants 1e by Dr. Gokhan Hacisalihoglu
*Republished an edited volume, Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice in Vocational Psychology: Current Status and Future Directions
*Supported Dr. Shouping Hu in preparing the inaugural issue of the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success, scheduled to be published in September 2021 at https://journals.flvc.org/jpss