Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA) Blog

Using VuFind’s inherent ability to index OAI metadata, I have successfully been able to index metadata coming from a PastPerfect implementation.

Starting somewhere near version 1.2, VuFind supports the indexing of arbitrary metadata types. Content from OAI repositories was the original example. Later, I figured out how to index EAD files. This was a break through for the “Portal”. Give credit to open source software.

With the addition of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center (PAHRC) into the Catholic Research Resources Alliance, a new metdata format needed to be accepted — metadata other than EAD or MARC. PAHRC uses “cataloging” software called PastPerfect. From what I can tell, it is a sophisticated FoxPro/Microsoft Access database application. It provides the means for institutions to do data entry, and have their holdings searched, and ultimately displayed on the Web.

PastPerfect can export its metadata in a form of Dublin Core. After working closely with Shawn Weldon, Faith Charlton (both of PAHRC), and Brian Gomez (Past Perfect, Inc), the metadata exported by PAHRC was tweaked to be less ambiguous and more accurate. Once this was done I was able to harvest the metadata, parse it into something usable by VuFind’s Solr indexer, and make it available through the Portal. I did this with a script called pastperfect-index.pl. The result is a set of searchable records from PAHRC.

My current implementation is specific to PAHRC, and when other PastPerfect libraries/archives come on board, it will not be too difficult to abstract my implementation to support other institutions. That work is left to the future, when and if it occurs.

Fun with open source software!

There is some concern about duplicate records in the “Catholic Portal”, and this posting introduces the topic to a wider audience.

The “Catholic Portal” is intended to contain links to and content of a rare and infrequently held nature. Every once in a while search results return duplicate records. For example, yesterday, it was brought to our attention that there are five records with the title Life Of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton. On one hand, few if any of these records are duplicates because between the five of them they are held by two different institutions. And each institution owns multiple editions. In the sense of a “catalog”, this is perfectly acceptable, if not expected. On the other hand, the Portal is not a catalog but rather an index, and each of the five items are really a variation on a theme. Should these records be merged?

Demian Katz shared with me and the Portal’s Digital Access Committee a query that can be applied the Portal’s underlying Solr index, here, with carriage returns added for readability:

http://localhost:8080/solr/biblio/select/?
q=*%3A*&rows=0&start=0&facet=true&facet.mincount=2&
facet.limit=-1&facet.field=oclc_num&facet.field=isbn

The result of this query is a list of OCLC and ISBN numbers which occur in the index at least two times. According to the result, which only matches on the OCLC or ISBN keys, there are no records in the index appearing more than three times. Furthermore, there are about 1,100 duplicated OCLC numbers and about 300 duplicated ISBN numbers. Considering the total number of records (93,000) in the index, this represents a total duplication rate of approximately 1.5%. Is this value too high?

In an ideal world, there would be no duplicate records and/or duplicates would be merged into a single record. Unfortunately, the definition of “duplicate” is ambiguous, and a process for eliminating duplicates has not been implemented. To a Walt Witman scholar, the difference between various editions of The Leaves Of Grass is definitely significant. Thus, sometimes the differences in editions is very important. Other times and for other people, this is not always so important. In an ideal world, there would be no duplicates and a single record would warrant a de-duplication process, but the expense of de-duplicating that single record may be very high, especially if there is no de-duplication process in place. How many records — or what percentage of records — warrants a de-duplication process, especially considering the other things that have been set as priorities for the Portal? Honestly, I don’t know the answer.

Marta Deyrup and Martha Loesch, catalogers at (CRRA instution) Seton Hall University, and Pat Lawton, digital projects librarian for the CRRA, have released the results of their Survey of Digitized Rare Catholica held by Catholic universities, colleges, seminaries and archives in the U.S. and Canada. You may view the Summary Report of Results and the results data.

I was recently told to delete thousands upon thousands of records from the “Catholic Portal”, and through the magic of the Solr’s Web-based API and a full-featured HTTP client I was able to do this surgery with laser beam accuracy.

Specifically, I needed to delete all of the records in the Portal from the University of Notre Dame Archives because the Archives wanted to totally replace what finding aids were available. This meant deleting more than a 100,000 records from the underlying index. After a bit of investigation, I learned that at the following one-liner from the command line would do the trick:

curl http://localhost:8080/solr/biblio/update?commit=true -H "Content-Type: text/xml" --data-binary '<delete><query>id:unaead_*</query></delete>'

In short, curl is a command-line HTTP client. It is being told to first connect to the local host on port 8080. It is then told to find all the records matching the query “id:unaead_*” and delete them from the index named biblio. Once that is done, the underlying index is expected to commit the changes. Deleting these records took about ten minutes. I was then able to use my previously created scripts to harvest, validate, transform, and index the Archives’ content painlessly.

It is a pleasure when things work in the way they were designed! Now if I could only get my local indexing process to work faster.

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011 I had the opportunity to attend and present at the second annual VuStuff meeting held at Falvey Library, Villanova University (Philadelphia). This posting documents my experience there, but in a nutshell, this small and intimate meeting provided a venue for interesting discussion on the topic of modern librarianship.

Liberty Bell

cheese steak sandwich

Joe Lucia (Villanova University) initialized the meeting and set the stage by recommending a book called The Googlization of Everything. It advocates the creation of an open knowledge commons similar to the ones at the root of the fledgling Digital Public Library of America. To paraphrase his remarks, “Everything we do in our shop here embrases the open knowledge commons concept… Libraries are not just purveyors of content, but also creators of content — The New Resource Sharing. We [librarians] can become agents of information creation.”

The first presentation was given by Amy Baker Williams (University of Pittsburgh), and she described her process for conserving the maps of local coal mines. In the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) area there are many coal mines dating back as far as 1750. Some of the oldest maps of the mines date from 1850. A few years ago some miners were trapped in a mine, and if maps of the mines had been easily accessible, then rescue efforts would have been simplified. Since then concerted efforts have been made to preserve, digitize, and make accessible as many of these coal mining maps as possible in order to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. I found the process used to flatten the maps to be the most interesting. Basically they are re-hydrated and unrolled. Moving the maps from the conservation lab to the scanning location was also interesting because, ironically, the maps are rolled up again for transportation as well as long-term storage. For more detail, see the website.

My presentation was next, and I shared with the audience how the Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA) is using VuFind to implement the “Catholic Portal”. I first described the mission and history of the CRRA. I then outlined the Portal’s technical architecture as well as the process I used to index EAD files. Finally, I described how text mining functions have been integrated into the Portal’s interface emphasizing the possibilities for libraries in general.

Falvey Library

mural

During lunch we broke up into groups, and I sat with the folks interested in the digital humanities. For the most part we went around the table sharing common war stories. Most of our initiatives where fledgling, but there was plenty of enthusiasm.

After lunch a sort of “unconference” session was facilitated by David Upsal (Villanova University). The discussion topic that made itself apparent was the challenge of the profession to serve both traditional librarianship as well as librarianship in the current environment. If my memory serves me correctly, some of the suggested solutions included more resources (people and money), permission to “play” with new technology, a redefinition of library purpose, and greater collaboration between different types of libraries (public, academic, etc.)

The next presentation was given by Eric Zino (LYRASIS) who described how LYRASIS has been working with the Sloan Foundation and the Internet Archive to facilitate the digitization of 20,000,000 pages of library content. Approximately 160 libraries have been participating in the project with LYRASIS. Subsidized by the Foundation, partipants package up their content and ship it to the Internet Archive. The content gets digitized, returned to the owning library, and the digital versions are made accessible at the Archive. From my perspective, this is exactly how any other library works with the Archive, except in this case LYRASIS does a bit of hand-holding during the process. Not all media is digitized by the Archive though. Some things, such as microfilm, are scanned by a different vendor — Creekside Digital.

The last presentation of the day was given by Bob Behary (Duquesne University), and he shared with the audience how Duquesne is digitizing a newspaper called the Pittsburgh Catholic. The project was initiated by a Catholic order called the Spiritans (the founding order of Duquesne University) with evangelism at its root. At first digitized versions of the newspaper were put on CDs and distributed. This has evolved over time, and now the content is housed in a ContentDM system. The collection has proven useful in a number of ways, including: local & regional church histories, literature allusions (such as Emily Dickinson), and United States history. Behary listed a number of key considerations for any digitization effort: 1) get administrative support, 2) make sure the project fits within the mission of the institution, 3) make sure to use sustainable technology, and 4) ensure knowledgable research advocates are a part of the process.

Vuee Award

Art Museum staircase

I believe the meeting was attended by fifty to seventy-five people. Most were from the immediate area, and it offered a easy opportunity for professional development. Kudos to the folks at Villanova for hosting the event. Just before the meeting concluded I was awarded the second annual “Vuee” for best presentation. It is a small shoebox-sized container in the shape of a book. I was very flattered. “Thank you very much!”

Colleagues,

The registration deadline for this CRRA/Duquesne sponsored event is this Friday, October 15, 2011.  We are pleased that many of you have already registered for the event and if you have thought about registering, please do so now.  There is no fee to register.

The event features Catholic scholars, archivists, and librarians gathering together to consider the state of Catholic scholarship and how we can act together to advance and enhance freely available global access and discovery of important Catholic resources. The event will take place at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) on Nov. 9-10.

We encourage librarians, scholars, and archivists interested in learning more about opportunities to make scholarly resources accessible to join in and meet new friends and colleagues.

A full roster of events and registration information is available at http://bit.ly/Duquesne_Symposium .   The registration deadline is this Friday, October 15, 2011.

We hope that you will join us in what promises to be a stimulating and productive conversation about Catholic scholarly research and the ways in which librarians and archivists support this research.

On behalf of Duquesne University and the Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA),
•         Jennifer Younger, chair, Board of Directors at younger.1@nd.edu
•         Laverna Saunders, University Librarian, Gumberg Library, Duquesne University at lsaunders@duq.edu
•         Pat Lawton, CRRA Digital Projects Librarian at plawton@nd.edu

Last week a number of us visited the archives of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and I went away thoroughly impressed. Fireproof walls and doors. Systematic digitization. The implementation of retention policies. The papers of cardinals, rows and rows of baptismal records, and even the transcripts of school children. Very professional. Large. Seemingly well-equipped. Knowledgable staff. The are taking their responsibility seriously.

The July/August 2011 CRRA Update is now available at: http://bit.ly/crra_JulyAug2011.

CRRA Update

July/August 2011

We begin a new semester and a month of many welcomes!  Join us in welcoming the Catholic Theological Union, board members, board and committee chairs, a new baby (Otto Ray Katz), the Five Year Strategic Plan Task Force members, and executive director, Jennifer Younger.

Welcome, Catholic Theological Union!

We are pleased to welcome Catholic Theological Union (CTU) The Paul Bechtold Library, under the leadership of Melody McMahon, to the CRRA.  Lisa Gonzalez, Electronic Resources Librarian, will join Melody in her work with CRRA, and will serve as a member of the Digital Access Committee.  Welcome, CTU, Melody and Lisa!  One of our goals for the coming year is to implement an instance of Archivists’ Toolkit, for which CTU has generously volunteered to act as a pilot user.

Catholic Theological Union is the largest Catholic graduate school of theology and ministry in the United States. Founded in 1968 in the spirit of Vatican II, there are currently 32 religious orders that send students to CTU, as well as lay students from the United States and around the world.  The Bechtold Library collection is particularly strong in materials pertaining to religious orders, Franciscan studies and catechetical materials. The library contains over 150,000 volumes, and has a varied art collection that was included in the Art and Architecture in Illinois Libraries project.

The library houses both the Weber-Killgallon Center collection of catechetical materials and the Stuhlmueller Room, which contains the personal library of Carroll Stuhlmueller. Stuhlmueller, a Passionist priest and Biblical scholar, served on the faculty of CTU until his death in 1994. In addition,collections housed in the CTU archives include the papers of catechists Gerard Weber and Irene H.

Murphy, the archives of the North American Academy of Liturgy, and the papers of the Women Religious Imprisoned Under Eastern European Communism project.

Melody Layton McMahon, Director of the Paul Bechtold Library

Melody Layton McMahonstarted her career as a music librarian (Juilliard, Cleveland Institute of Music) and then worked for twelve years at John Carroll University, a Jesuit liberal arts university. Always having an interest in theological librarianship, she came to CTU in 2008. She has been an active participant in the Catholic Library Association, the Ohio Theological Library Association, the Chicago Area Theological Library Association, and the American Theological Library Association, serving on a number of committees.

In recent years, Melody’s vocational interests have extended into writing, including numerous reviews,  an article on faculty-library collaboration in Theological Education (2005), co-editing an anthology of writings on theological librarianship (A Broadening Conversation: Classic Readings in Theological Librarianship, 2006), and serving as the Critical Reviews Editor for the recently-launched online journal Theological Librarianship: an Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association  (www.theolib.org). (M.S., School of Library Service, Columbia University; M.A., St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology)

Lisa Gonzalez, Electronic Resources Librarian, Paul Bechtold Library
Lisa Gonzalez has worked in libraries in Illinois and California, including Trinity Christian College and Azusa Pacific University. Lisa earned her M.L.I.S. from Dominican University and an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She has worked as the Electronic Resources Librarian at CTU since September 2008, and currently serves as the Communications Officer for CATLA, as well as serving as a member of the I-OPAC Team for the I-Share group catalog in Illinois.

Lisa serves as the newest member of the Digital Access Committee – welcome, Lisa!

Thank you to Departing Board members and Welcome to the 2011/12 Board

We owe thanks and a hearty “job well done” to three Board members who have served since the Board was set up in February 2008. Each of them has contributed mightily to defining and carrying out the CRRA mission, not only through their Board service but also in leading CRRA committees.  We have benefited from their unique blends of vision, commitment and proactive leadership and we thank you for giving so generously of your time and talents.

• Tom Leonhardt, St. Edward’s University and chair, Digital Access Committee
• Tim Meagher, The Catholic University of America and chair, Scholars Advisory Comm.
• Bob O’Neill, Boston College and chair, Collections Committee

In selecting new Board members, the Board considered factors relevant to overall Board composition.  We agreed it is desirable to have representation from small and large institutions as well as from sustaining members. We also wanted to bring in members from institutions not currently represented on the Board and to consider individuals who have expressed prior interest in Board service.  Although we did not specifically discuss geographic or gender distribution, the new Board is geographically diverse and gender-balanced. With the inclusion of the new position of executive director as an ex officio member, the Board increased from nine to ten members.

Roster of CRRA Board of Directors for 2011/12 (in alphabetical order)

• Theresa Byrd, University Librarian, University of San Diego
• Tyrone Cannon, Dean, University Libraries, University of San Francisco
• Steve Connaghan, Director of Libraries, The Catholic University of America
• Artemis Kirk, University Librarian, Georgetown University
• Joe Lucia, University Librarian and Director of Falvey Memorial Library, Villanova University
• Evelyn Minick, University Librarian, Saint Joseph’s University
• Susan Ohmer, Director, Office of Digital Asset Management, University of Notre Dame
• Tom Wall, University Librarian, Boston College
• Janice Welburn, Dean, University Libraries, Marquette University and Board chair
• Jennifer Younger, Executive Director, CRRA, ex officio 

CRRA Welcomes New Board and Committee Chairs
Stepping up to carry on the good work of our illustrious founding Board and committee chairs, Jennifer Younger, Tim Meagher, Bob O’Neill, and Tom Leonhardt are Janice Welburn (Board of Directors), Jean McManus (Scholars Advisory Committee), Matt Blessing (Collections Committee) and Demian Katz (Digital Access Committee).  We warmly welcome you and the opportunities your leadership will afford the Alliance. Please join us in welcoming our new board and committee chairs!

Janice Welburn, Chair, Board of Directors
Janice Welburn, Dean of University Libraries at Marquette University, continues Marquette’s role as a founding member of the CRRA.   Janice is the recipient of the prestigious 2011 Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development.

As Board member and co-chair of the Budget & Personnel Committee, Janice brings a thoughtful approach to understanding and advancing our mission. At Marquette, she actively engages a team that supports the CRRA through their activities. Activities include contribution of metadata records to the portal, committee participation and leadership of the successful collaborative CLIR grant for cataloging unique materials at Catholic, St. Catherine and Marquette; all of which have resulted in significant contributions to our growth and success.  This year, Janice anticipates the development of a five year plan for the CRRA that will inspire and guide our activities going forward.

Jean McManus, Chair, Scholars Advisory Committee
Jean McManus has an A.B. in English from Bryn Mawr College and an M.A. in Library Science from the University of Chicago. She has worked primarily in reference services and collection development, with formative stints in the worlds of serials and interlibrary loan. Since 1997, Jean has been at the University of Notre Dame (UND), and has been involved with CRRA and UND’s Team Catholic Portal since 2008.

Matt Blessing, Chair, Collections Committee
Matt Blessing is the head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University. Prior to joining Marquette he served as director of the Mass Communications History Center at the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Matt also currently serves on the boards of Wisconsin Heritage Online and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board.  He is also active within the Midwest Archives Conference.

Marquette University serves as the archives for numerous Catholic groups and organizations, including the Catholic Worker movement, Religious Formation Conference, Catholic Library Association, Women’s Ordination Conference, National Catholic Rural Life Movement, in addition to several historic American Indian schools and missions .  Marquette also preserves the manuscripts of prominent Catholic writers,  including J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy Day, and Penny Lernoux.

Matt has served as a member of the Collections Committee since the 2007 meeting at Notre Dame.

Demian Katz, Chair, Digital Access Committee (DAC)
Demian Katz has a B.S. in Computer Science from West Chester University and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Pittsburgh.  Over the course of his career, he has worked both in and out of libraries as a computer programmer and as a provider of reference services.  He is currently employed by Villanova University, where he serves as the lead developer of the VuFind discovery software, and he is greatly enjoying the opportunity to apply both aspects of his background to a single job while working with an enthusiastic open source development community that includes the CRRA members behind the Catholic Portal.

Demian has served on the DAC committee since 2010 and – Demian is the proud father of the newly arrived Otto Ray Katz, born at 8:12 on 8/12!  Welcome to the world, Otto, and congratulations, Demian and family!

 

CRRA Welcomes Executive Director

Posted on behalf of Janice Welburn, chair, Board of Directors and co-chair, Budget & Personnel Committee and Artemis Kirk, co-chair, Budget & Personnel Committee

Jennifer Younger, CRRA Executive Director
In 2009, CRRA took decisive action to expand our capacity to carry out our mission by hiring a digital projects librarian, Pat Lawton, as our first staff member. As a result, we have in the last two years been able to set and achieve ambitious goals.  Working collaboratively across CRRA committees, the Board and individual members, we have grown from eight to twenty-seven members and the portal now provides access to over two hundred thousand items held by CRRA members. Scholars, librarians and archivists are noting the collections through their blogs and providing valuable input on highly valued resources to add to the portal.  Although many search queries come from individuals looking for the CRRA or the portal, we also see searches in which users are finding materials, such as the recent search query for “Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel” whose papers are at Boston College with related materials held by Marquette University.

Just as our alliance has grown, so have our needs. In January 2011, the Board determined that an executive director would assist the CRRA in continuing its growth and impact.  On behalf of the Board, we are pleased to announce that Jennifer Younger began her appointment as the Executive Director on July 1, 2011. Together, she and Pat Lawton form an effective partnership that will lead and serve us well. Please join us in welcoming Jennifer. — Janice Welburn and Artemis Kirk

 

CRRA to Develop Five Year Strategic Plan/Task Force Members Named

From Janice Welburn, chair, Board of Directors and the Board of Directors

In June 2011, the CRRA Board of Directors approved the establishment of a task force for the development of a five year strategic plan (FY2012/13-2016/17) to identify key directions and goals for the CRRA and the Catholic portal. The plan will include a statement of core values, vision and mission, the benefits of CRRA in advancing Catholic scholarship, as well as directions and strategies to carry out the mission and deliver value to stakeholders.

We proposed a task force of five to seven members to include representation from CRRA committees, the Board, members at large, and Pat Lawton, Jennifer Younger and Terry Ehling, Strategic Consultant, as ex officio members (CRRA May/June Update). The responses to the call for volunteers came quickly and we are pleased to name the following individuals to the CRRA Five Year Strategic Planning Task Force.  After consultation with the members, we will appoint a chair. As noted in the announcement, the Task Force will solicit input from members as part of its work. We can achieve our mission only through the direction and participation of our members. We thank you for volunteering to serve.

Task Force Members include:

 

1. Jonathan Bengtson, University of St. Michael’s College and member, Scholars Advisory Committee
2. Stephanie Clark, Georgetown and member-at-large
3. Ann Hanlon, Marquette University, member of Digital Access Committee
4. Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, Catholic University and member-at-large
5. Joe Lucia, Villanova University and Board member
6. Lorraine Olley, University of Saint Mary at the Lake/Mundelein Seminary and member, Collections Committee
7. Diane Parr Walker, Notre Dame and member-at-large
8. Tom Wall, Boston College and Board member

Mark Your Calendars … for the Duquesne Symposium November 9-10, 2011

Advancing Catholic Scholarly Research: A Symposium at
Duquesne University
November 9-10, 2011

 We are pleased to invite you, members of your staff, students and faculty at your institution to a symposium to be held November 9-10, 2011 at Duquesne University. Invited Catholic scholars and librarians will discuss the “state of the art” of Catholic scholarship, directions that scholarship is headed, and how libraries, archives, and member organizations support and nurture future Catholic scholars and scholarship.

We are honored to have Leslie Tentler (keynote speaker), Professor of History at Catholic University, Paula M. Kane, John and Lucine O’Brien Marous Associate Professor of Contemporary Catholic Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Joseph P. Lucia, University Librarian and Director, Falvey Memorial Library, Villanova University, Dr. Kevin Mongrain, Ryan Chair for Newman Studies, Duquesne University and Executive Director, National Institute for Newman Studies and Dr. Michael Galligan-Stierle, President and CEO, ACCU speaking to the symposium theme, “Advancing Catholic Scholarship.”

Other events will include a Digital Projects Showcase, highlighting innovative technologies, best practices, future trends, and related scholarship related to our theme. CRRA members are especially encouraged to participate in the showcase by submitting poster proposals by September 26: <http://www.catholicresearch.net/info/events/Call_for_Posters.pdf>.

A full roster of events and registration information is available at http://bit.ly/Duquesne_Symposium. The registration deadline is October 15, 2011. Registration is open and space is limited.

We hope you will join us in what promises to be a stimulating and productive conversation about Catholic scholarly research and the ways in which librarians and archivists support this research.

On behalf of Duquesne University and the Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA),

·         Jennifer Younger, chair, Board of Directors at younger.1@nd.edu

·         Laverna Saunders, University Librarian, Gumberg Library, Duquesne University at lsaunders@duq.edu

·         Pat Lawton, CRRA Digital Projects Librarian at plawton@nd.edu

 

Please mark your calendars …
… to attend a roundtable discussion on “Building a Catholic Archival Network” at the American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA) meeting in Chicago on Friday, January 6, 2012 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at the Chicago Downtown Marriott, Northwestern Room. This topic is of vital importance to many of us and we invite you to join in as participants present their vantage points to realizing a network of Catholic archival resources.  Please join us.

Speakers will include:

Emilie Gagnet Lumis [Archdiocese of New Orleans, lleumas@arch-no.org]
Patricia A. Lawton [Catholic Research Resources Alliance, plawton@nd.edu]
Ellen D. Pierce [Maryknoll Mission Archives; epierce@maryknoll.org]
Chair: Robert E. Carbonneau [Passionist Historical Archives, NJ; RobCarb@cpprov.org]

Thank you, Malachy McCarthy, for taking the lead to assemble this discussion! We look forward to seeing you in Chicago.
CRRA Update is an electronic newsletter distributed via email to provide members with an update of CRRA activities.  Please contact Pat at 574.631.1324 or email plawton@nd.edu with your questions, comments, or news to share.

Announcing the Self-Subscribe Option to CRRA Update
We are testing a self-subscribe option for those interested in receiving the CRRA Update.  The self-subscribe option will make it easy for individuals from member institutions and beyond to sign up.

For current subscribers, there is nothing you need to do!  You will remain on our mailing list and will continue to receive Updates until you tell us to stop.  : )

We have tested the self-subscribe option over the last couple of months and it has worked well.  Please encourage colleagues interested in receiving our newsletter to sign up. We will monitor the list of subscribers and will continue to add names of all on our mailing list to our Contacts page under “Other Institutional Contacts.”

To self-subscribe to the CRRA Update:

1. Address a message to listserv@listserv.nd.edu
2. Enter “subscribe crra-updates-l” in the body of the message
3. Leave the subject line blank
4. Send

You will then need to confirm your subscription and you will then be subscribed.   List subscribers are then entered on the CRRA list of other institutional contacts: <http://www.catholicresearch.net/About/Contact>.

We appreciate any feedback you may have concerning this option.

All CRRA events and events of possible interest to members are posted to the CRRA calendar, please bookmark this link for future reference.

Check our progress and news on the CRRA blog: http://www.catholicresearch.net/blog/.

 

———
CRRA Calendar: http://tiny.cc/Calendar798
Duquesne/CRRA Symposium:
- Call for Posters http://www.catholicresearch.net/info/events/Call_for_Posters.pdf
- Symposium Details http://bit.ly/Duquesne_Symposium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress is being made when it comes to “Catholic Portal” VuFind statistics reporting.

Yesterday I broke down and re-wrote my log file import application. Instead of parsing the log, ingesting the results, and then post processing, I re-wrote the application so it does all of this in one pass. I also enhanced the program so it could take command line input. Specifically, if no arguments are supplied, then it will import yesterday’s log data. Otherwise it expects two inputs: 1) a beginning date, and 2) an ending date. If given these inputs, then I can drop the entire database and re-create it almost effortlessly. The script is called log-load.pl, and it is now running under cron so the database gets updated daily.

The next step is to create and automate reporting functions. I have already created a number of SQL queries. They are designed to be run from a shell script which outputs results to plain text files. These plain text files are presently put on the Web in a temporary location. This process is rather brain-dead. The next steps will include creating some sort of Web-based front-end allowing readers (increasingly I don’t use the word “users”) to complete some sort of form and get real-time results.

Wish me luck.