CLIC Co-Sponsors Spark Fest

CLIC is pleased to be a co-sponsor of Spark Fest: Twin Cities Digital Humanities Symposium to be held on May 14-15, 2013.

Symposium Overview

Have you been following developments in digital humanities? Are you ready to take the plunge and develop new projects? Would you like to take your digital humanities projects to the next level?

The Twin Cities Digital Humanities Symposium is an opportunity for scholars (faculty and graduate students) from humanities and computer science fields, academic technologists, programmers, research consultants, librarians, and other academic support staff from Minnesota to come together to spark new research. The symposium will offer inspiring examples of digital humanities scholarship, provide an opportunity to discuss tools and issues at the heart of the research, allow you to network with potential research partners, and -- more than anything -- provide ample opportunity for participant discussion. This research retreat is designed to facilitate brainstorming, problem solving, and inspiration.

Spark Fest is organized by the University of Minnesota Libraries and Macalester College DeWitt Wallace Library. The symposium is co-sponsored by CLIC (Cooperating Libraries in Consortium) and the UMN College of Liberal Arts Office of Information Technology.

Task Force Update

To learn more about the latest next-generation library platform products, CLIC’s ILS Task Force (TF) spent the past several weeks reviewing documentation and meeting with library systems vendors, including Ex Libris Alma, OCLC WorldShare, III Sierra, and ProQuest Intota. The CLIC Committees and COIs have also been busy reviewing information and preparing input for the Task Force to use in drafting CLIC’s Request for Quote & Information (RFQ/I).

The following is CLIC's proposed timeline for selection of a next-generation library platform:

March 2013

TF receives pre-demo input from Committees and COIs.

April 2013

TF drafts and sends out RFQ/I and receives responses from vendors.

CLIC Board and TF meet to determine which vendors to invite for demos.

May-June 2013

Vendor demos are held, open to all staff of CLIC member libraries.

TF receives post-demo input from Committees, COIs, and library staff.

June-July 2013

TF reviews all input from the CLIC community.

TF prepares a report with analysis and recommendations for the CLIC Board.

CLIC Board receives the report at the July Board meeting.

August-October 2013

CLIC Board selects vendor and negotiates agreement.

November 2013 – May 2014 

TF and CLIC Committees work with the vendor to prepare for migration.

June 2014

Migration to new system is completed.