2019 Charleston Library Conference

Poster Contributor: Rachel Fleming-May, Associate Professor, University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences

In 2009, a small team began working on an annotated bibliography of assessment resources in connection with an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-grant funded research project. Over several months the design and objective of the project changed, and in 2011 a dynamic bibliographic database of 1000 individual resources, accompanied by a homegrown controlled vocabulary created by the initial team, went live. In the years since, the bibliographic database has continued to evolve and grow, and now includes over 4000 resources representing a broad collection of disciplines and item formats. As part of its latest expansion, the team added records for individual items (papers and posters) published in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Library Assessment Conference Proceedings, 2006-2016, previously not indexed in any other source. Most recently, the database was moved to a new content management system, which has changed its appearance and functionality.

This poster will focus on the challenge and adventure of conceiving, creating, maintaining, and adding value to such a large-scale resource. The presenters—the original creator of the first iteration of the database and its controlled vocabulary, the team member who made the most recent update and oversaw the database’s migration to its new online home, and the graduate student who is currently analyzing characteristics of the database contents and updating the controlled vocabulary—will describe the project from conception to its most recent transformation. Attendees with an interest in content management, project management, assessment, or scholarly communication will find value in this presentation, which will be an honest audit of the successes and stumbles the team experienced over the years. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions about the nuts-and-bolts of creating and maintaining such a resource, and will be encouraged to make suggestions for improving it.