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<http://www.indiana.edu/>
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News Release
Last modified: Monday, September 20, 2010
Planning grant paves way for open source
Variations on Video project at IU Libraries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 20, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A $49,504 grant from the
federal Institute of Museum and Library Services
will enable the Indiana University Libraries to
plan the next phase of development for its
Variations digital music library system.
Variations is an open-source system providing
online access to selected sound recordings and
musical scores. It was developed at IU and is now
used by multiple college and university libraries.
In collaboration with Northwestern University
Library, staff in IU's Digital Library Program
will develop a roadmap for adapting the software
to manage and deliver digital video collections
through the new Variations on Video project.
This project builds upon the past success of
Variations as well as on IU's and Northwestern's
extensive histories in providing access to
digitized audio and video collections.
The collaboration will include participants from
the University of Miami, New York University,
Ohio State University and Stanford University, as
well as representatives from DuraSpace and
Opencast Matterhorn, two higher education open
source initiatives focused on content management.
Expanding beyond the music focus of the current
Variations system, Variations on Video will
investigate the needs of those who would benefit
from improved access to digital video collections
managed by academic libraries.
"Because of the explosion of demand for digital
video access, university libraries are looking
for a way to more easily integrate
library-managed video collections into teaching,
learning and research activities," said Jon Dunn,
director of Library Technologies and Digital
Libraries at IU and project director for the new
grant.
"Users of the system will be able to control
access to their collections according to license
agreements, copyright and local institutional
policies. In addition to the input from the
planning group, user data from surveys,
observations and interviews of faculty and
students will help us tailor a suite of
interactive video tools that will be superior to
the common Web video players that only allow
limited interaction and control."
As part of the project, the planning group will
engage librarians and technologists to help
identify the technical needs for a digital video
collections delivery and management system.
According to Claire Stewart, head of Digital
Collections at the Northwestern University
Library and project lead for Northwestern on the
grant, technologies and standards for digital
video delivery over the Web and to mobile devices
are a moving target.
"Making sound technical decisions will be one of
the key challenges the planning group will face,"
Stewart said.
The team will also develop a plan for the
software development work required. In order for
the project to be successful, universities will
need to collaborate on the development and
ongoing maintenance of the system as well as on
testing and evaluation.
Brenda Johnson, Ruth Lilly Dean of University
Libraries, is confident the project is important
to universities and other institutions. "There is
a great deal of interest and demand from
implementers and evaluators of Variations as well
as from additional institutions that we have
contacted in developing this proposal. Adding
support for video to the existing rich set of
pedagogical tools will broaden the appeal of
Variations beyond music to other subjects."
The IU Digital Library Program is a collaborative
effort of the IU Libraries and the Office of the
Vice President for Information Technology, with
faculty leadership from the School of Library and
Information Science and the School of Informatics
and Computing.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is
the primary source of federal support for the
nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
The Institute's mission is to create strong
libraries and museums that connect people to
information and ideas. The Institute works at the
national level and in coordination with state and
local organizations to sustain heritage, culture,
and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation;
and support professional development. To learn
more about the Institute, please visit
<http://www.imls.gov/>www.imls.gov.
For more information on the Variations on Video
project, see
<http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/vov/>http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/vov/.
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____________________________________________________
M. Claire Stewart
Head, Digital Collections
Northwestern University Library
(847) 467-1437
claire-stew...@northwestern.edu
http://hdl.handle.net/2166/claire
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
distributors.