Geo4LibCamp 2016 Statements

Stephen Balogh, New York University, sgb334@nyu.edu: Very interested in search and discovery interfaces, and providing GIS data to users in the most versatile formats. Also very interested in metadata descriptions of GIS data, dealing with dataset versioning, and abilities to coordinate metadata description/cataloging between institutions.
Andrew Battista, New York University, ab6137@nyu.edu: I have been involved in the development of GeoBlacklight during the past year at NYU. Recently, we've talked with Kim, Jack, and Darren about the need to revisit metadata creation practices in order to vet the quality of data and improve the functionality of GeoBlacklight. I would like to be a part of the discussions involved with creating GeoBlacklight and larger spatial data infrastructure projects.
Mara Blake, University of Michigan, mrblake@umich.edu: As a Spatial and Numeric Data Librarian at the Clark Library at the University of Michigan, I work with our library's collection of geospatial datasets, which we are trying to make more discoverable and accessible. I also help users discover and access geospatial data that are available outside of our collection. I am currently working with the Committee on Institutional Collaboration (CIC) Geospatial Data Discovery Project to create and enhance metadata for openly available datasets in Michigan, as well as scanned maps from the University of Michigan's collection. The project will create a discovery system for these datasets and datasets from the nine other institutions participating in the project. The University of Michigan currently puts geospatial datasets on a flat file server; we are currently looking into a longer-term plan to put them in Hydra/Fedora.
Darcy Branchini, Mann Library, Cornell University, dad284@cornell.edu: I have worked extensively as a developer on the New York Climate Change Science Clearinghouse (NYCCSC) website (beta release). On this site, we integrated a 'browse by location' feature that allows a user to sort geospatially referenced content by zooming or panning using a map. The site is built on Blacklight; however, we did not utilize GeoBlacklight. As we wind-down development on the NYCCSC site, we will begin to wind-up development on the Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository (CUGIR). We are already in the beginning stages of discussing technology options, and we are strongly considering GeoBlacklight. The timing of this camp is perfect. It will allow me to build on my previous experience with NYCCSC and Blacklight, and it's an opportunity to gain a better understanding of GeoBlacklight, Hydra, and Fedora, as we begin to design and develop CUGIR.
Tom Brittnacher, UC Santa Barbara, tombritt@ucsb.edu: As the Geospatial Data Curator at UC Santa Barbara Library, Tom Brittnacher manages metadata and develops workflows for the Library's digital geospatial materials using AACR2/RDA in MARC and ISO 19115/19139. As the Library plans its GeoBlacklight implementation, Tom will be contributing to the development of workflows and preparing geospatial materials for ingest into the library's repository (Alexandria Digital Research Library, or ADRL). Tom in keenly interested in understanding how and which metadata field values are passed from one schema to another through the ingest process so as to facilitate discovery. He is also interested in how digital objects and collections are organized, managed and packaged such that geospatial datasets can be identified, evaluated and downloaded by users.
Donald Brower, University of Notre Dame, dbrower@nd.edu: At Notre Dame, we have already incorporated some geospatial data into a specialized repository (the VecNet Malaria database) and we are interested in expanding this to our institutional repository. Since we do not yet have extensive geospatial collections (though we have plans), getting the framework correct early is our biggest priority.
Kim Durante, Stanford University, kdurante@stanford.edu: I am interested in better ways of sharing and reusing metadata between institutions. I would like to explore expanding the OpenGeoMetadata application in order to support multi-institutional contributions, that require little to no manual wrangling of metadata once they are submitted/downloaded. I am also interested in exploring component metadata as a means to provide more modular metadata access to feature catalogs, lineage and data quality reports, and relationships between datasets. I would like to investigate better methods of expressing licensing information and controlled vocabulary concetps using URIs instead of free-text.I am interested in better ways of sharing and reusing metadata between institutions. I would like to explore expanding the OpenGeoMetadata application in order to support multi-institutional contributions, that require little to no manual wrangling of metadata once they are submitted/downloaded. I am also interested in exploring component metadata as a means to provide more modular metadata access to feature catalogs, lineage and data quality reports, and relationships between datasets. I would like to investigate better methods of expressing licensing information and controlled vocabulary concetps using URIs instead of free-text.I am interested in better ways of sharing and reusing metadata between institutions. I would like to explore expanding the OpenGeoMetadata application in order to support multi-institutional contributions, that require little to no manual wrangling of metadata once they are submitted/downloaded. I am also interested in exploring component metadata as a means to provide more modular metadata access to feature catalogs, lineage and data quality reports, and relationships between datasets. I would like to investigate better methods of expressing licensing information and controlled vocabulary concetps using URIs instead of free-text.
Kevin Dyke, University of Minnesota, krdyke@gmail.com: At Minnesota we are working with our "home grown" research datasets and we are also integrating data from across the state of Minnesota into our discovery channels. We currently have OpenGeoportal up and running (z.umn.edu/libogp). As there are a number of OpenGeoportal instances out there, I think creating/maintaining a pathway from OpenGeoportal to GeoBlacklight is an important issue. Also, we work with a lot of Esri data and services (again from our own data as well as the rest of the state), and need them to integrate well with any discovery platform. Finally, we are not at this point acting as a storehouse for all of Minnesota's spatial data. Rather, our OpenGeoportal instance points at a multitude of different websites for download and preview of datasets. I'm wondering how others at somewhat resource scarce institutions are doing anything similar.
P. Kieran Etienne, Washington University in Saint Louis, contact@informatician.me: Washington University is currently in the process of shifting repository infrastructure from DLXS, Omeka, and other applications to a centralized Hydra-based environment. I fulfill roles of systems administration and development toward those ends. Our Data/GIS services department is looking to shift to the Hydra framework as well. My intent is to become familiar with the Data/GIS departments needs (before the unconference) and help facilitate the use of GeoHydra in our near future.
Scott Fisher, California Digital Library / University of California, scott.fisher@ucop.edu: We are working with geospatial metadata entry and also search and discovery across a few offerings. Most recently we are integrating into a dataset deposit and discovery product called DASH. While most offerings are not exclusively geospatially focused, it is becoming a common part of many types of metadata.
James Griffin, Lafayette College Libraries, jrgriffiniii@gmail.com: As the digital library developer, I am currently involved in implementing discovery, preservation, and data visualization services for both raster and vector data sets managed within our digital repository, as well as for assets managed by third-party services.
Darren Hardy, Stanford University, drh@stanford.edu: Darren Hardy is a GIS Software Engineer at Stanford University, where he develops open-source geospatial digital library software and services. His interdisciplinary research focuses on crowd-sourcing geographic information, geospatial data discovery and management, and spatial effects on information behaviors. He has 20 years experience developing software systems and contributing to funded research projects including Ocean Health Index, Volunteered Geographic Information, Alexandria Digital Library, and the Harvest information discovery and access system. He has also worked as a software engineer for industry start-ups Netscape, Vignette, Affinia, and Napster. He earned Ph.D. and Masters degrees in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
John Huck, University of Alberta Libraries, john.huck@ualberta.ca: University of Alberta Libraries is currently interested primarily in digitized (raster) maps. While we would eventually like to add infrastructure to support geospatial data, we do not have significant holdings in this area and our GIS librarian, Larry Laliberte, meets current local needs through one-on-one consultations. We can serve GIS data from a Dataverse instance when we need to. We are interested in digitized maps because UA Libraries has one of the largest collections of paper maps in Canada, with an emphasis on the history of the Canadian prairie provinces. A few hundred historical maps have been digitized and added to our primary digital collection, called Peel's Prairie Provinces, which also includes many newspapers, postcards, monographs, reverse-address directories ("Henderson" directories), pamphlets, and other ephemera, all relating to the history of the prairie provinces. More maps are being digitized and we expect this activity to increase. Currently, our digitized maps have bounding box metadata (in MODS) that we use to generate the spatial extent (footprint) of the map on a Google map next to the map image. We have been very interested in drawing out the geographic aspect of different types of material in this collection in order to make connections between resources. For instance, we have successfully linked census data with Henderson directories, fire insurance maps and our newspaper archives for historical GIS purposes on an experimental basis. Ultimately we would like to add more of this type of spatial linking to the main collection. UA Libraries is committed to transitioning as many of its digital collections as possible to a Hydra environment. We have begun with our institutional repository, which we moved from a Fedora 3 installation with custom front-end to a Fedora 4 installation with Sufia in October of 2015. Other digital collections will follow, but we have not made any firm decisions about which Hydra heads we will use.
Jon Jablonski, Map & Imagery Lab, jonjab@ucsb.edu: A back-end digital object repository infrastructure has become a new necessity in research libraries. Specialized data collections, such as geospatial, demographic, and text corpora, no longer need to convince their campuses and administrators that mass storage and enterprise-class databases are a requirement for effective online libraries. But now that such infrastructures are the rule rather than the exception, we risk that the overhead costs of collaboration may eat up any economies of scale. A meeting such as that Stanford is offering may offer us some of those savings back. What we hope to get in return is a solid, hands-on understanding of how to leverage standard open-source geotools alongside our Esri environment, how Stanford's GeoBlacklight stack is put together in such a ways that we can apply solutions to our own environment, and begin to alter the models of some of our our more exotic datasets in order to prepare them for deployment in an SDI.
Eric James, Yale Library, eric.james@yale.edu: As a developer I'm becoming more and more interested in GIS and would like to gain experience to support these efforts in the Yale Libraries. I would like to get a better understanding of metadata issues and GIS tools and offer any programming and repository experience I am able to provide.
Eliot Jordan, Princeton University Library, eliotj@princeton.edu: I am a Geospatial Infrastructure Developer in the Systems Office at Princeton University Library. I'm a committer on the GeoBlacklight project, and am currently a participant and facilitator in the Hydra GIS Data Modeling Working Group. Previously, I worked as a GIS analyst and developer for the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. At Princeton, we are building search and discovery tools for our sizable scanned map and geospatial data collection. In addition, we are developing a Fedora 4/Hydra-based digital repository for preservation of these objects. We have a number of challenges that we are working through, including incomplete and inconsistent metadata, duplicate datasets and images, QA/QC issues with part-time helpers (students), making huge collections of data easily searchable (Sanborn maps, topo maps, aerial imagery), lack of great metadata authoring tools, and many others that I look forward to discussing with the community.
Huda Khan, Cornell University, hjk54@cornell.edu: how to integrate geospatial data/GIS within the hydra technology stack (which includes FEDORA) along with GeoBlacklight.
Amy Koshoffer, University of Cincinnati, Koshofae@ucmail.uc.edu: I am interested in attending the Geo4LibCamp to support users of our institutional repository Scholar@uc. I currently serve as the convener of our GIS working group and am involved in development and support for library based GIS initiatives on our campus. This new energy and support will lead to more access to GIS tools and increase of GIS data. I wear another hat as a member of our early adopter working group and a liaison to early adopters of our institutional repository. The early adopter working group has been collecting user feedback and building use cases that can contribute to future functionality. I work with faculty, students and staff as they contribute content to our repository and I document their experience with our IR and potential needs. At UC, we have a very strong advocate of our repository in the classics department. This advocate is heavily involved in projects generating GIS data (Durres Regional Archaeological Project Permanent link: http://scholar.uc.edu/show/j9602146z ) and would like that users of Scholar can interact with this content using tools such as Geoblacklight. I am relatively new to this area and look forward to learning and contributing.
Stace Maples, Stanford Geospatial Center, stacemaples@stanford.edu: I am interested in representing stakeholder needs and issues in this forum. I currently work closely with Stanford Library DLSS to create and evangelize about SUL geo-related collections and services.
Marc McGee, Harvard University, mmcgee@fas.harvard.edu: As a geospatial metadata professional I am looking forward to participating in Geo4LibCamp to exchange knowledge with professional geospatial colleagues towards the common goals of making more geospatial data available and discoverable. I am eager to collaborate with other participants to: -Expand OpenGeoMetadata partnerships to encourage more metadata contributors. -Further develop shared metadata creation best practices and resolve issues related to metadata production and standardization with OpenGeoMetadata partners. -Share information about metadata production tools. -Learn more about requirements for running GeoBlacklight. -Explore questions related to modeling geospatial metadata in a linked data environment.
Jennifer Moore, WUSTL Libraries, j.moore@wustl.edu: Our institution is implementing Hydra/Fedora as our digital asset management system. Our group, Data & GIS Services, is exploring the potential of using GeoHydra as our geospatial data repository and GeoBlacklight as our discovery layer. We hope to learn as much as we can about implementation and metadata.
Amy Neeser, University of Michigan, aneeser@umich.edu: As the Research Data Curation Librarian, I work with researchers to identify, recruit, ingest and deposit data in the library's digital repository. I provide outreach in research data services to the research community and consult with researchers on metadata standards and data.
Miriam Olivares, Yale University | CSSSI, miriam.olivares@yale.edu: I recently joined the CSSSI as the GIS Librarian. My group and Yale Library IT were already planning to deploy GeoBlacklight for data sharing and discovery. I am attending along with my colleague Eric James, Library IT, who would be supporting the scripting/development side of GeoBlacklight deployment. I am hoping to provide feedback to Eric as the GIS user and on my return to share the knowledge with several members of our GIS team, search engine and metadata experts.
Michael Page, Emory University, michael.page@emory.edu: Emory University's Library and Information Technology Services is in the process of implementing Geoserver and GeoBlacklight as our platform for distributing geospatial data and digitized maps for project and research use. We have an extensive local data library, which we have previously explored disseminating via GeoNetwork and OpenGeoportal platforms. Our library is implementing Hyrdra as our repository platform therefore making GeoBlacklight an ideal discovery interface for our geospatial collections. We are seeking to bring a developer, librarian, and a manager to the camp to strengthen our team effort while gaining new skills and to share our previous experiences with other institutions. Our specific interest lies in implementing especially the geospatial ecosystem of Hydra-Geoserver-GeoBlacklight as a means of data discovery and delivery. This includes best practices in metadata standards, harvesting records from partner institutions, thesauri creation, and extracting data from Geoserver via the REST API for digital projects. Our goal at the completion of the week would be to have an actionable plan for this implementation in a relatively short period of time.
Alvin Pollock, University of California Berkeley, apollock@library.berkeley.edu: I'm currently working with the Sufia head of Hydra to create a Berkeley interface for the ingestion of archival material. I'm still learning Ruby and the process is quite slow for me. I'm hoping to learn more about customizing Hydra at Geo4LibCamp and talking to people who have already done similar things to what we are trying to do, including batch ingestion of images, shape data, and metadata and batch generation of MARC records.
Susan Powell, UC Berkeley Library, smpowell@berkeley.edu: I am interested in learning and talking more about how the components of geospatial repository fit together, both in terms of its own internal relationships, and in the context of the larger universe of institutional repositories. I would also like to explore the collection development aspects of managing a geospatial repository.
Erich Purpur, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries, epurpur@unr.edu: I am a part of UNR Libraries and we provide geospatial data and services to the campus community. This includes point of need ArcGIS support as well as hosting a geospatial data portal.
Jack Reed, Stanford University, pjreed@stanford.edu: Jack Reed is a Geospatial Web Engineer at Stanford University. He works on increasing access to geospatial data at Stanford University Libraries. A contributor to open-source software, Jack is active in the GIS, library, and open-data communities. He also serves on the executive committee of The International Association for Geoscience Diversity.
Andy Rutkowski, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), arutkowski@library.ucla.edu: UCLA had a homegrown geoportal that was maintained by the campus GIS coordinator who was in the Institute for Digital Research Education (IDRE). This portal was recently retired and a new portal developed by the Geography dept. with input from the Library and IDRE has been created. This new portal uses CKAN. I am coming to this to get a better understanding of the portal landscape and also think about how best to develop a workflow for creating metadata for our current GIS data. UCLA is not ready to begin development of our own instance of geoblacklight but if we were to do so down the road I would like to have our data ready and a better idea of all the pieces needed to do so.
Bess Sadler, Stanford University, bess@stanford.edu: Bess Sadler is the Manager for Application Development in the Digital Library Systems and Services Department at Stanford University Library. She has been building open source library software for over a decade and is a cofounder of the widely used Project Blacklight (http://projectblacklight) and Project Hydra (http://projecthydra.org).
Megan Slemons, Emory University, megan.slemons@emory.edu: Emory University's Library and Information Technology Services is in the process of implementing Geoserver and GeoBlacklight as our platform for distributing geospatial data and digitized maps for project and research use. We have an extensive local data library, which we have previously explored disseminating via GeoNetwork and OpenGeoportal platforms. Our library is implementing Hyrdra as our repository platform therefore making GeoBlacklight an ideal discovery interface for our geospatial collections. We are seeking to bring a developer, librarian, and a manager to the camp to strengthen our team effort while gaining new skills and to share our previous experiences with other institutions. Our specific interest lies in implementing especially the geospatial ecosystem of Hydra-Geoserver-GeoBlacklight as a means of data discovery and delivery. This includes best practices in metadata standards, harvesting records from partner institutions, thesauri creation, and extracting data from Geoserver via the REST API for digital projects. Our goal at the completion of the week would be to have an actionable plan for this implementation in a relatively short period of time.
Kathy Stroud, University of Oregon Libraries, kstroud@uoregon.edu: I'm interested in creating and managing metadata for our shapefiles, scanned maps, and aerial photographs that we hope to serve through our institutional repository which is using hydra.
Julie Sweetkind-Singer, Stanford University, juliets@stanford.edu: Julie Sweetkind-Singer is the Assistant Director of Geospatial, Cartographic & Scientific Data and Services and Head of the Earth Sciences Library.
Jay Varner, Emory University Library, jay.varner@emory.edu: Emory University's Library and Information Technology Services is in the process of implementing Geoserver and GeoBlacklight as our platform for distributing geospatial data and digitized maps for project and research use. We have an extensive local data library, which we have previously explored disseminating via GeoNetwork and OpenGeoportal platforms. Our library is implementing Hyrdra as our repository platform therefore making GeoBlacklight an ideal discovery interface for our geospatial collections. We are seeking to bring a developer, librarian, and a manager to the camp to strengthen our team effort while gaining new skills and to share our previous experiences with other institutions. Our specific interest lies in implementing especially the geospatial ecosystem of Hydra-Geoserver-Geoblacklight as a means of data discovery and delivery. This includes best practices in metadata standards, harvesting records from partner institutions, thesauri creation, and extracting data from Geoserver via the REST API for digital projects. Our goal at the completion of the week would be to have an actionable plan for this implementation in a relatively short period of time.
Christopher Vinson, Clemson University Libraries, vinsonc@clemson.edu: Clemson University Libraries has recently opened a GIS enter (http://www.clemsongis.org/) in fall 2015. The GIS enter is dedicated to assisting faculty and students in the integration of geospatial technologies within scholarly activates across disciplines. This includes, but is not limited to, hands-on training, consultations, workshops, and the development geospatial dataset resources. My role in the GIS enter is to assist in the evaluation of repository options for GIS datasets, ensure adequate metadata application, and evaluate GIS data for acquisition. As such, my specific interests in attending the GeoLib amp are: to gain hands-on experience implementing a geospatial repository and both learn and implement best practices in metadata for GIS datasets for management and discovery. While this may not be covered in the conference, any advice from the experts on GIS dataset acquisition (ideal vendors and dataset components, negotiation tactics) and curation (building unique/regional GIS resources) would be of interest.
Mollie Webb, Washington University in St. Louis, molliewebb@wustl.edu: Our institution is implementing Hydra/Fedora as our digital asset management system. Our group, Data & GIS Services, is exploring the potential of using GeoHydra as our geospatial data repository and GeoBlacklight as our discovery layer. We hope to learn as much as we can about implementation and metadata.
Rachel Wittmann, Clemson University Libraries, rwittma@clemson.edu: Clemson University Libraries has recently opened a GIS enter (http://www.clemsongis.org/) in fall 2015. The GIS enter is dedicated to assisting faculty and students in the integration of geospatial technologies within scholarly activates across disciplines. This includes, but is not limited to, hands-on training, consultations, workshops, and the development geospatial dataset resources. My role in the GIS enter is to assist in the evaluation of repository options for GIS datasets, ensure adequate metadata application, and evaluate GIS data for acquisition. As such, my specific interests in attending the GeoLib amp are: to gain hands-on experience implementing a geospatial repository and both learn and implement best practices in metadata for GIS datasets for management and discovery. While this may not be covered in the conference, any advice from the experts on GIS dataset acquisition (ideal vendors and dataset components, negotiation tactics) and curation (building unique/regional GIS resources) would be of interest.