Host or Hosted?

Where to house the digital library

Digital Resources Librarian at Asbury

Theological Seminary

Thad Horner

Control Wow Factor Cost Libraries must be willing to rank or reorient

priorities based on these three factors

3 Competing Concepts

What Does Control Mean?

The ability to shape the digital library to meet your desires and needs.

The level of responsibility placed on the institution

Control

Generally, More Control Exists When Libraries

Host Their Own Content But Control Can Be Limited by the Software

Chosen DSpace Fedora Greenstone Digital Commons

Control

Branding

Making the digital library “fit” with institutional criteria

Metadata How much and what data to add

Technological Who is responsible for maintaining the servers? Who has ultimate administrative power?

Legality If we get sued, do we have protection?

Types of Control

What is the Wow Factor?

Everything besides control Stunning visual presence Extra capabilities

Journal publishing Streaming of media Searching

Wow Factor

Nothing is Free! Questions to ask

Which is cheaper now, doing it ourselves or paying someone else?

Where do we plan to be as an institution and a digital library in 3 years?

Which will be cheaper in 3 years?

Cost

Must have physical resources to support (cost) Must have staff to support (cost) Support response time Backup Copyright insurance Google Be sure to purchase Handle How the system searches

Host

Must have the money Must be willing to give up some control Contract

Persistent URLs 24/7 Support Uptime Speed Backup Copyright Insurance

Hosted

Training 3rd party access to material Increasing Costs Google How the system searches

Hosted

This:

Asbury’s Experience

To this: ePlace

Asbury’s Experience

Originally Hosted Dspace in-house IT and Library were one department No money was to be spent Handle was not purchased 1/3 programmer time “Too many hands in the cookie jar”

Asbury’s Experience

Redesign

Cleaned up the structure Fewer admins Updated to XML interface

Looked prettier Searching did NOT work

Needs for classes

Asbury’s Experience

Move to a hosted platform

Consultation with other libraries Conference attendance Examined hosted DSpace and BePress (Digital

Commons) Contract

Asbury’s Experience

Findings

Loss of control in administrative power Slower download speeds Improved searching Improved design and “wow factor” Able to support classes better Customer support mostly good

Asbury’s Experience

Do we have the in-house capabilities to run a

digital library? What content do we want in the digital library? Can the platform meet the needs of our

classes? Do we have the budget to move to a hosted

solution? What will happen in 3 years? Will we have persistent URLs? Can we get an agreeable contract?

Making a Decision

In the end the choice is yours…

Making a Decision