Project News

by Ellen Ramsey  

The initial content loaded into the DAMS will be Edgehill-Randolph as previously decided by the DAMS-I Team, plus content from Apollo including WSLS (14k video items). See the 2024-04-17 DAMS Implementation Project Meeting notes as well as the updated DAMS-I Prioritized Content for Migration page.


by Ellen Ramsey 

The Digital Asset Management System Implementation (DAMS Implementation) Project officially kicked off on February 27, 2024. We are very fortunate to have an expert and highly engaged project team from across the Library, including our SLT Sponsor Brenda Gunn.

Never heard of it? This project was approved by SLT in late 2023 to provide sustainable and discoverable storage and open access to a greater number of the digitized (and digital) rare and unique materials in the UVA Library's collections.

Are you a DAMS Implementation stakeholder anxiously awaiting the latest developments? In March 2024, we are:

  • assessing and provisioning software storage and configuration needs to host the censhare platform on UVA Library’s own AWS instance (thank you, Tim Stevens, Zeke Crater, and LibIT colleages)
  • finalizing selection of initial collections to be migrated into the censhare Digital Asset Management Platform (thank you, Elyse Girard, Christina Deane, Katie Rojas, and many others)
  • finalizing our Statement of Work and contract with censhare’s migration partner vendor, Avyre (please note earlier news shared that the Avyre contract was final was premature)
  • talking with potential DAMS collaborators and affiliates at UVA (but outside the Library) who are interested in leveraging our DAMS Implementation for their own digital asset management needs in coming months. So far, School of Data Science, Virginia Humanities, and the Health Sciences Library have expressed interest. Watch the usual spaces for project updates as they happen (Slack General and Project Management channels, Library Staff newsletter, Town Halls), or follow along here in Confluence

by Ellen Ramsey 

The contract with the vendor recommended in the DAM market scan, censhare, has been approved and the purchase order issued! The contract with censhare’s implementation partner, Avyre, is up next—they will be working with ULib to identify and migrate content into the censhare system in coming months.


Current and Aspirational States of Digital Asset Management at UVA Library

Current and Aspirational States, February 2023

Project Description

Provide sustainable and discoverable storage and open access to a greater number of the digitized (and digital) rare and unique materials in the UVA Library's collections.

Initial User Requirements: 

  • Discoverability of SCDA by stakeholders (staff, patrons)
  • New, efficient processes for describing & depositing SCDA
  • Clear rights & re-use statements for each SCDA
  • Low cost to maintain large quantities of SCDA
  • Preservation pathway & implementation for SCDA
  • Sustainable system/workflow for collecting, accessing, discovering, preserving SCDA
  • Scalable workflow and infrastructure for digitized library assets in other collections

Library Systems/Services to integrate with:

  1. Tracksys
  2. ArchivesSpace
  3. Archivematica
  4. Virgo
  5. Omeka S/Digital Exhibits Platform
  6. Metadata/Approval Workflow Issues 

Background Statement

The UVA Library currently manages at least seventeen servers (local and cloud hosted), multiple repositories, and additional external hard drives to store 250TB of digitized and born-digital assets for research, teaching, preservation, communications & marketing, and publishing.

Solution

Procure a DAM System for the UVA Library that offers several improvements and opportunities, including:

  • Consolidation of the number of asset management systems and storage locations
  • Standardized workflows for acquisitions, processing, metadata, description, tagging, content editing
  • Standardized access and rights management for assets and user groups
  • Enhanced self-service capabilities for staff and patrons to access open digital assets or request restricted content
  • Support for consistent Library and UVA branding and content creation activities•Support for storage, description, and viewing of multiple file formats (image, video, audio, 3D, text) and preservation workflows
  • Improved user experience through accessible and optimized search functionality•Integration with content management systems and single sign-on for seamless operation

A DAM System can improve and enhance program evaluation, budgeting, reporting, and analytics:

  • Generate comprehensive reports and analytics that provide insight into asset utilization, trends, resource allocation, user preferences, and emerging research and teaching needs.
  • Consolidate systems and storage locations will create a more efficient way to budget and track the cost of managing and growing digital assets.
  • Support evidence-based decision-making, allowing the library to align its collection development, resource allocation, andstrategic initiatives with the evolving needs of the university community.

Project Team

Role

Name

Notes

SLT Sponsor

Brenda Gunn

AUL, Archives & Special Collections. Champion for discoverability of digitized SC content. investment in having DAMS as head of Special Collections, SLT liaison. Will work closely with Carmelita on questions that intersect w/ collections. Cheerleader & champion, partner in clearing pathways and barriers.

Head of Technical Services, Special Collections

Katie Rojas

Her team are responsible for making objects accessible and described. Stakeholder on which collections need discoverability and metadata enhancements. ArchivesSpace, DPG content are all part of descriptions.

Manager, Digital Production Group

Christina Deane

Owner of existing digitization workflow process and tool (Tracksys). Knows the most about that content from institutional perspective. Also leaning on LibIT (Lou and Mike)

Library Software Development

Mike Durbin

Develop and integrate existing digitization workflow tool (Tracksys) and other systems (library and external) to preserve and expose digitized resources. Systems include Virgo, ArchivesSpace, APTrust, DPLA, and more.

Director, Operations & Research, Special Collections

Heather Riser

Head of reference desk for Special Collections, also working on digital ordering process. Looking forward to making that process more seamless and self-service (especially for things that are digitized already. Stakeholder on which collections need discoverability and metadata enhancements.

Curator, Special Collections

Holly Robertson

Hopeful that this forthcoming DAMS can help with the Digital Exhibitions Platform Project to populate those online exhibitions with authentic linked digital assets instead of creating a whole new secondary universe of digital versions of our collections. Exhibitions are a heavy user of our digital assets—and a proponent of providing new pathways of access to our collections. Stakeholder on which collections need discoverability and metadata enhancements.

Library IT infrastructure

Tim Stevens

To advise on ITS coordination, alignment with Library cloud/local hosting options.

Preservation Services

Kara McClurken,
Molly Fair

Kara is standing in for vacant digital preservation librarian position. Affiliated groups could also find it easier for digital preservation workflows if we set them up well. Molly is digital preservation analyst, works with Kara & Steven. Processes access and preservation of materials across departments.

Metadata Operations Librarian

Perry Roland

metadata consulting. "we don't make the product, we make the product better." 

Director, Technology Solutions Group

Carla Arton

Will bring her team in after configuration of software. Someone from TSG will take over as software admin, access to users, paying bills to vendor, etc, keeping up with versions and features (like Mark W. does for ILS).

Project Manager

Ellen Ramsey

 

Reference Documents

Related Pages