MSUL through the University Archives and Historical Collections is the caretaker of MSU's rich history including its born and digitized content. Currently, very little of this digital content is available to students, faculty, staff and the public. This project was proposed as one method of preserving and providing access to these resources. The project is executed with the MSUL's Digital Preservation Working Group as an opportunity to experiment with this tool for use among MSUL units. It also provides an opportunity to collaborate outside MSUL and MSU through our membership in this consortium for hosting Preservica. Ideas and documents are shared using the BaseCamp tool.

Timeline

• Original start was summer 2019 but was put aside due to other priorities after some initial successful testing with basic functionality and training courses.
• Resumed late summer 2020 after merging of the UAHC and SPC collection management tool, ArchivesSpace. Basic functionality rechecked.
• Integration with ArchivesSpace was setup and verified in fall 2020.
• Ingesting of content from previous Archivematica system begun fall 2020. Continue into 2021.
• Other test cases from evaluation plan execution began late 2020. Continue into 2021.
• Preservica user procedures drafting Nov 2020 - Jan 2021.
• Evaluation report draft started December 2020.
• Ingesting content for user experience evaluation Dec 2020 - Jan 2021.
• Public Interface support from MSUL Web Services, Jan - Feb 2021.
• Selected User Experience Evaluation Jan - Mar 2021.
• Complete Evaluation Report Spring 2021. Make recommendations.

Collaboration with MSU St. Andrews facility to train staff on book design in MS Word to develop a compilation of student writing and research proceedings from the MSU St. Andrews Writing Fellowship. We printed 150 copies of Still Connected and 100 copies of Proceedings of the MSU St. Andrews Summer Research Fellowship. This collaboration brought in about $2400 to the Libraries for the consultation and book production, and it will likely be an annual collaboration. This collaboration strengthens the partnership between the MSU Library and the MSU St. Andrews facility. The service provided expertise to the St. Andrews research fellowship program and training for staff at the St. Andrews facility. The books we produced increase the visibility of MSU Libraries and MSU in general and the print-on-demand nature of the service provides an innovative way to disseminate student work.

The following LibGuides have been created providing a collection of information focused on the central theme of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The collaborators are continuously looking to expand and update these guides with more information and resources to increase DEI awareness across the Libraries, MSU Campus, and the general public.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the U.S., colleagues from the Library's Diversity Advisory Committee created a LibGuide compiling MSU Libraries’ and broader online resources to facilitate learning about the long path to voting equality. The guide outlines strategies for research, highlights sources specific to suffrage in Michigan, and explores how black women shaped the U.S. suffrage movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a critical force for change. https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/19thAmendment

A LibGuide was created through collaboration between MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center and the Libraries that is related to waste management, zero waste principles, and the connections to environmental racism/justice. This guide includes information and resources on waste management, consumerism, and the environmental justice impacts of disposing the products we buy. Promotion of the guide to other campus units has generated interest in additional collaboration with the library. https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/environmentaljustice

A LibGuide was created to provide MSU Libraries' staff with information on DEI and related topics. The information presented in this guide can act as an introduction or users can familiarize themselves more intimately with DEI education. Resources and tools will be periodically reviewed and continuously added to the guide in hopes of increasing awareness, improving intercultural understanding, and providing staff with the tools they need and desire to advance their DEI education. https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/staffdevelopment_dei

The COVID-19 video resources were created to assist the MSU community navigate library services that continue to be available after the MSU Library shut down during spring 2020. These videos have been shared widely, and have provided patrons with reassurance and direction for using the library during an uncertain time. A video was also created with information about navigating COVID-19 news to help our community stay informed and avoid misinformation. This video has been adopted by Lansing Community College as well.

Per their website, the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) is a gateway to graduate education at Big Ten Academic Alliance universities. The goal of the program is to increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue graduate study and research careers. SROP helps prepare undergraduates for graduate study through intensive research experiences with faculty mentors and enrichment activities. SROP has been happening at MSU for more than 10 years, but not until 2019 did Erik Ponder get involved to promote the library as a resource for SROP interns while on campus. After his brief talk to the 2019 cohort, Erik realized the library could be much more involved in the program, and he set out to convince program director Steven Thomas to give MSU Libraries a larger role. Steven agreed to bring the interns to the library for an afternoon at the beginning of the 10-week program, and Erik created a committee tasked to plan a tailored library introduction. When campus closed, SROP was reimagined as a virtual 4-week program with 28 interns rather than 80, and the MSUL session went virtual as well.

https://grad.msu.edu/srop

The exhibit “Women at MSU: 150 Groundbreaking Years” in the Special Collections Gallery celebrates 150 years since the first women were admitted to what is now Michigan State University. The project brings together colleagues and materials from the MSU Museum, the University Archives and Historical Collections, and the Main Library as well as Special Collections. Spanning from the admission of the first women in 1870 to the Women’s Rights Hearings in 1972 called by President Wharton, the exhibit includes pamphlets, textbooks, women’s handbooks, photographs, student notebooks and scrapbooks, and an audio recording from the 1972 Women’s Rights Hearing. There will be a companion online exhibit for those who are not able to visit the gallery in person.

This exhibit has provided a unique opportunity for colleagues across the libraries, archives, and museum to collaborate and connect to increase our visibility in the MSU community. This collaboration is especially important considering the relatively new reorganization of the University Archives and the MSU Museum under the leadership of the Dean of the Libraries. The exhibit offers a chance to connect the community to the history of women at MSU and to reframe our history from their perspective through the collection items that will be displayed. It will also surely be a way to bring awareness of our collections to Alumni. Since this exhibit is a collaborative effort across departments, it will also expose the community to the different resources and services available at the Main Library, the Murray and Hong Special Collections, the University Archives and Historical Collection, and the MSU Museum.

In response to the ongoing pandemic and the shift of a large number of classes to online, instructional designers within MSU IT Services created professional development training and a peer-review process to provide feedback and assistance to instructors as they create their courses. Librarians have volunteered to serve as facilitators and lead groups of instructors through a modified version of the Quality Matters process to review their courses. Following a two-week Quality Matters training, facilitators provide guidance to faculty on how to perform course reviews, answer questions on the rubric used in the review process, review the completed rubrics, and assist faculty in developing a remediation plan for their course. Over 450 instructors have signed up for the review process, and facilitators work with a new group of approximately 5-6 instructors every two weeks. Through this process, librarians are adding to their instructional design expertise and are partnering with instructors across campus to improve course design, reducing barriers for students and leading to better academic outcomes.