Although most library users won’t notice any difference, changes are coming to an important back-end system the Duke University Libraries uses to handle everything from checking out books to managing thousands of databases and online resources.  Between now and summer 2024, we will sunset our legacy library enterprise system and transition to the Ex Libris Alma Library Services Platform.

Most large research libraries like Duke’s rely on various commercial and open-source software products to handle the everyday work of library staff, integrating systems for broad interoperability and accessibility while at the same time providing a high-quality user experience to library patrons.

While Duke has long contributed to the development of open-source library technologies (we were the founding institution of the Open Library Environment and a charter member of FOLIO), the decision to implement Alma was made after an extensive internal review of the specific library needs of the Duke community, including the separately administered libraries serving the schools of Business, Law, Divinity, and Medicine, as well as Duke Kunshan University Library. After evaluating financial considerations, impact on staffing, and the sustainability of wide-ranging library technology projects in which Duke has invested heavily, library leadership decided to move forward with Alma.

“We are in a better place today because of the contributions and work of our staff, who have laid the foundation for stronger, more sustainable library system at Duke,” said Joseph Salem, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs. “These investments, collaborations, and projects have been worthwhile in preparing us for an impactful future serving the Duke community.”

“We have a notable history of innovation through leveraging and integrating multiple technology platforms for library users,” said Tim McGeary, Associate University Librarian for Digital Strategies & Technology. “We remain proud of FOLIO, our contributions and collaboration, and of our colleagues that have fully implemented FOLIO.  We will work with the FOLIO community during this transition to minimize impact on leadership and staff collaboration, and we will fulfill the financial commitments we have made in shared development projects. We also remain proud of our partnership with Index Data, which will continue through hosting and supporting the Library Data Platform. Index Data’s dedication to FOLIO, Project ReShare, and open-source technology development in libraries is strong, and we look forward to future partnerships.”

Project plans for implementing Alma are being developed and will be communicated soon.

We recently updated the unified All search results page linked from the Duke Libraries homepage. Users may notice the following updates to the interface:

• Catalog results: Items from the catalog displayed in either the Books & Media or the Archival Materials sections include the following updates:
  • Item availability is displayed using either a green check mark or a red x
  • The call number is displayed for titles with only one item
  • A view online link is displayed for titles that are online
  • Cover images have been moved to the right
• Chat with a Librarian: Patrons will now click to expand the chat box to use it, and the new modal is always accessible by patrons in contrast to the old version that disappeared completely once dismissed.
• Removing two unused sections: The Images and Other Resources sections of the results page have been removed. Data for the 2020 calendar year show that links within these two sections each received less than 0.3% of all clicks on the page — these sections were simply not being used.
• Related searches: Terms related to the current search are displayed near the bottom of the page, allowing patrons to quickly perform a new search (this feature only appears for some searches).
• More search options: Options to search beyond the initial results using tools such as Research Databases, Online Journal Titles, etc. (displayed at the bottom of the page) have been reformatted to conserve space and to include an icon indicating that each link leads to a different website.

Changes to underlying technology

Most of the work to implement this new version is behind the scenes and focuses on the following changes.

New framework

Our old version of the unified results page was built using the Drupal 7 content management system that supports our main website; however, Drupal 7 will soon be replaced with a newer version of Drupal. Rather than migrate our unified search results page to the newer version of Drupal, we opted to migrate to an application called Quicksearch that was developed by our colleagues at North Carolina State University (NC State) and is built with the Ruby on Rails framework.

Since many of our discovery tools are Rails-based, this is a framework that is familiar to our developers, and using NC State’s Quicksearch as our starting point also saved time.

Because the new unified search results page is now a separate application from Drupal, it has a new URL, quicksearch.library.duke.edu, but the primary starting point for accessing it will continue to be the All tab on the library homepage.

Website search

The website search section of our unified search results page previously used a deprecated version of Google Custom Search Engine that was not accessible from Duke Kunshan University. We have switched to a website search based on two open source tools, Nutch (a web crawler) and Solr (a search platform). Using Nutch and Solr for our Website search will allow us to continue displaying ad-free results, will cost less to maintain over time, will be usable by patrons at Duke Kunshan University, and will help us maintain patron privacy.

Purpose

The unified search results page provides users with quick access to content across several of the discovery platforms provided by Duke University Libraries, allowing users to see wide ranging results when starting from the All tab on the library homepage. Users with more granular research needs are invited to explore more focused research paths listed on our Search & Find portal page.

Teamwork

Moving our unified search results page to a new framework is the result of a collaborative project undertaken by IT staff within the library. The Digital Strategies and Technologies Scrum Team completed the implementation; special thanks goes to Cory Lown, Derrek Croney, Michael Daul, Sean Aery, and Zeke Graves.

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and over the next few weeks Duke’s IT security office will be sharing tips and resources to help students, faculty, and staff protect their digital security.

Here in the Libraries, we’re doing our own part to make our web presence more secure. During fall break, the Duke University Libraries web site will begin using the HTTPS protocol by default. HTTPS, which means Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, ensures an encrypted connection, providing greater privacy and security than the HTTP protocol many of our sites have previously used. This change will apply to web sites that we maintain directly, such as our homepage and our digitized collections, and to hundreds of the databases and journals that we subscribe to.

What does this mean?

When you go to our web site using the old adress that begins with “http://” you will automatically be redirected to an address that begins with “https://” — for example, the full address of our homepage will be https://library.duke.edu.

You will know a web site is using HTTPS when the URL begins with “https://” and your web browser displays a closed padlock icon as seen in the following example:

Will the entire Library web site use HTTPS?

Most of the Library web site will use HTTPS; however, the portion of the Library web site that we refer to as the Classic Catalog will not transition from HTTP to HTTPS. Students, faculty, and staff may continue to use Classic Catalog “as is,” and it will continue to function as it always has without change. When using Classic Catalog, some newer web browsers will display a “Not Secure” warning when you type search terms into the search box.

As an alternative, we encourage you to use either the All search or Books & Media search to find resources at Duke University Libraries via the more secure HTTPS protocol. Both of these more secure search options are available within the library’s home page search box.

On October 25, 2017, we will remove the link to Classic Catalog from our home page, although this legacy platform will continue to be available “as is” at its current address.

Problems? Questions?

Additional information is available for your use in troubleshooting, reporting problems, and asking questions.

The Duke University Libraries have received a $52,647 grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board to help transform an abandoned prison into a sustainable farm and education center through the magic of virtual reality.

“It’s not easy to visualize how an abandoned and unused prison can be repurposed to help a struggling community,” said David Stein, Duke PepsiCo Education Technology Partnership Coordinator and principal investigator for the project. “We are ‘shackled’ by our preconceived notions of what prisons can be.”

The prison in question is an actual former correctional facility in rural Wagram, in one of the poorest counties in North Carolina with one of the state’s highest unemployment rates. The idea to “flip” the abandoned site into a sustainable farm is the mission of GrowingChange, a North Carolina nonprofit led by a team of formerly incarcerated youth.

GrowingChange gives young people in the criminal justice system job training and life skills through farming and service learning. Their goal is to create as a national model for reusing closed prisons.

Eight high school students in the Game Art & Design concentration at the Durham School of the Arts, working under veteran teacher Robert Bourgeois, will work with youth participants in GrowingChange to design a virtual reality version of the flipped prison, in order to help people visualize the site’s untapped potential. Jail cells will be transformed into aquaponics tanks, guard towers into climbing walls, the galley into a certified community kitchen, and the old “hot box” will become a recording studio.

In recent years, virtual reality technology has been rapidly transforming industries from journalism to documentary filmmaking by providing audiences 360-degree sensory experiences that are hard to forget. The grant will support the development and design of the virtual reality program, which GrowingChange can use to better communicate its vision.

Training and technical support in virtual reality content production will be provided throughout the project by the Virtual Reality Learning Experience (VRLE), an educational outreach and advocacy arm of Durham’s Lucid Dream, a virtual reality production studio based in the American Underground technology incubator. “This is exactly the sort of transformational story that cannot be sufficiently conveyed using traditional mediums like video and web,” said Mike McArdle, co-founder at Lucid Dream/VRLE. “This project is perfectly suited for the sort of immersive and visceral experience that VR enables.”

According to GrowingChange director Noran Sanford, “Just as our youth leaders have re-visualized their life, virtual reality allows them to share a new vision for Scotland, Hoke and Robeson Counties, home of North Carolina’s highest unemployment, poverty, and violent crime rates and the worst health outcomes. Classrooms, state leaders, and supporters touring a traveling museum exhibit will be able to walk along the top of the front guard tower and see the future vision of it becoming a climbing wall and repelling station. Through this process, our community will be able to re-visualize how youth from tough circumstances can become the leaders to help us change our grim statistics.”

The grant will be administered through the PepsiCo K-12 Technology Mentor Program, a partnership between the Duke University Libraries and Duke’s Office of Durham and Regional Affairs. The program, endowed by a grant from PepsiCo, encourages the use of educational technology in Durham Public Schools.

The grant is one of 63 service-learning, youth-led projects across the United States to receive funding this year by the State Farm Youth Advisory Board. Since its inception in 2006, the State Farm Youth Advisory Board has granted over $40 million, impacting over 21.5 million students.

“State Farm supports service-learning because it integrates service to the community into classroom curriculum using a hands-on approach to mastering subject material while fostering civic responsibility,” said Kim Conyers, Community Specialist for North Carolina. “The State Farm Youth Advisory Board is a prime example of State Farm’s commitment to education, our community and our youth.”

Media Contacts:

• State Farm: Michal Brower, media spokesperson for North Carolina, 863-318-3088
• Duke University Libraries: Aaron Welborn, director of communications, 919-660-5816
• GrowingChange: Noran Sanford, 910-280-4150
• Durham School of the Arts: Robert Bourgeois, 919-560-3926, ext. 23489
• Lucid Dream VR / VRLE: Joshua Setzer, 919-454-9075
• Duke PepsiCo Education Technology Coordinator: David Stein, 919-812-5873