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April 1997
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SAFAHRIS and Information Technology
Lehigh Initiates New Pennsylvania Library Cooperative
New IR Staff Named
New Lehigh Home Page Debuts
Innovative Projects Enhance Learning
Greene Remembered for Music Lectures
The SAFAHRIS Project emerged from inside Information Resources, yet for most Information Resources. What is the relationship of IR to SAFAHRIS?
AH: The precipitating cause of SAFAHRIS was aging technology: the operating systems and software, the mainframe hardware itself, and the antiquated desktop environment, which is dependent on terminal emulators rather than active clients. Another factor was the "Year 2000 problem" featured in the news media. However, after we began, we recognized that there was a need to address the larger campuswide issues of how we could best use institutional information as a strategic resource to improve our operations and processes. Technological obsolescence forced us to deal with these critical strategic issues sooner than we might have otherwise.
RG: The needs of the various campus constituencies filter into Information Resources; we have the "privilege" of serving as the central clearinghouse for frustration. As such, we have the most complete picture of the magnitude of the problem and therefore we are in a good position to help facilitate this process.
The Phase I SAFAHRIS Progress report states that a primary motivation is to use "enterprise information as a resource to improve decisions and provide services" What does this mean? Can you give some examples?
RG: In the past, institutional information was considered almost a personal, or at best a departmental, domain. We need systems that enable us to get past that so that units can take responsibility for entering or capturing data, maintaining it, and sharing it for the good of the whole institution. There are obvious efficiencies to be gained from not entering the same data repeatedly but this concept attempts to go beyond that.
AH: A helpful term that some people are using these days is "stewardship of data" rather than ownership. Our present system requirements have forced us to limit access much more than we would like.
RG: One example might be in student information. Because of the limitations of the systems, important data is either not captured at all or not shared when it would be useful for longitudinal studies of student retention or for planning an alumni campaign. We can't even track student majors across systems now.
What changes will enable Lehigh to do these kinds of things? Can we extend the life of our old technology?
AH: We need both new technology and improved processes. With our present technology, changing the way we capture, store, and maintain information is at best highly impractical and at worst impossible. Although theoretically we could extend our existing systems by fixing different pieces and parts, it has already become functionally obsolete. Although information technology is not an end in itself, its usefulness as a tool should not be underestimated.
RG: The Process Reengineering Team has been rethinking what certain processes should look like in the future. Team members have given considerable time to this task.
According to the Progress Report, SAFAHRIS has now entered Phase 1.5. What does that entail and why call it 1.5?
AH: The naming of Phase 1.5 was quite intentionalwe wanted to communicate that it is a transitional stage.
RG: There are two, interrelated objectives in 1.5. One is to gather information from the marketplace on what products and what opportunities for partnering are out there. By midApril we plan to issue a request for information with responses due by midMay. This will give us a broader basis for planning with the new technology. The second objective is to sell the campus at large on the reengineering processes. This will also give us a chance to develop the organizational strategy for implementing change before Phase 2.
Phase 2 is described as the redesign of student services processes. Why was only one area chosen? Why student services? What kinds of information technology will be used to implement this?
RG: It's important to solve some persistent problems in highimpact areas. The Leaders (the President, Vice Presidents, and Vice Provost Hirshon) identified some criteria for developing priorities; for example, they were looking for crossfunctional projects with multiple constituents. Student services impact many areas within university academic and business functions.
AH: We'd like to see extensive use of the Web in delivering student services— information any place, any time. The system should be very convenient and flexible. We've been putting resources into strengthening that area in anticipation of these kinds of developments.
What are other universities doing in this area? Is Lehigh ahead or behind in process reengineering and the use of information technology to strengthen institutional processes?
AH: We are about at the same place as some of the major players: MIT, Duke, Michigan, Delaware, Pittsburgh, and Stanford to name a few. Some of them have a Year 2000 problem motivating them. Other universities may be starting with different systems for reengineeringmaybe human resources or finance instead of student services, depending on the local needs and priorities. However, even those who are behind us recognize that the Web has changed everything; everyone on campus now wants easy access to information. Early adoption of new technology in this area will prove to be a competitive advantage for Lehigh in much the same way that campus and residential networking have been.
The first major PALCI initiative will be a direct loan program that will allow faculty and students to perform a single search of all member library collections and to request a needed book automatically from them. Staff at the owning library will retrieve the book and ship it to Lehigh via the existing ground delivery service within a few days. This program will improve significantly on the current system in which users must complete an ILL form and wait two to four weeks for delivery.
New protocols for interfacing disparate library systems (ANSI Z39.50) will enable users to perform these searches across systems and eliminate laborious shadow record keeping systems. This program complements interlibrary loan which will remain in place for journal articles, and for books and other materials not available through direct loan. After testing the system at a limited number of sites, phased implementation for all members is planned for 1998. Other benefits of PALCI membership such as volume discounts for online subscriptions to electronic resources, are under active investigation. Link to the PALCI home page at http://www.lehigh.edu/~inpalci . for more information.
Two new desktop computing consultants will begin in late April. William Bettermann from Easton Hospital and Bruce Eisenhard from ComCom Inc. in Allentown are assigned to the Academic Affairs and the Residential/General Teams respectively.
Information retrieval consultant Mary Moulton will begin work in June on the Arts & Sciences Team. Ms. Moulton comes from Ohio State University in Columbus with expertise in science librarianship.
In late March Randy Wambold, formerly database/analyst on the IR Systems and Networking Design Team, assumed the position of Academic Affairs Team Leader.
Technology Management Services Group Leader Roy Gruver announces the appointment of Sue Kleppinger to the position of programmer/analyst on the System and Networking Design Team. Ms. Kleppinger who has worked previously at East Penn Manufacturing and National Credit begins work in late April.
Chaired by IR Information Management Group Leader Joe Lucia, who also facilitated the work of the Task Force, the NIC held its first meeting in February. The NIC is charged with developing standard Lehigh conventions for Web pages and html documents; it will neither alter nor prescribe content. The NIC will also address the use of multiple interfaces. Because external clienteles such as prospective students and Lehigh alumni often connect to the page, one interface is no longer adequate to meet the needs of all constituencies. Customized entry points tailored to particular groups may be added as they have been at other universities.
Chemistry 76 experiments lend themselves to this innovation because they emphasize physical properties such as changes in temperature, color, and Ph over time. The grant supported the acquisition of portable computers and specialized software that are connected to laboratory apparatus via serial interface boxes with probes. Professor Kraihanzel observed that students can
now work more quickly in the lab so that experiments can be repeated and improved. They take an early first step in the progression to increasingly sophisticated analytical tools. He also noted that the learning curve for computer applications has shortened in recent years because students are better prepared. Using this project as a pilot, Chemistry plans to introduce more computer integration into its other freshman labs and its entire curriculum.
In its second round of awards in 1997, the Committee encouraged larger proposals with a multidisciplinary emphasis. In communicating the 1997 awards listed below to recipients, Chair George DuPaul asked them to plan to share their project results at a spring 1998 forum. Some projects are also supported by other programs like the Integrated Learning Experiences Working Group.
"Establishment of a broadband seismic station: A Lehigh Earth Observatory module," Professor Anne Meltzer, EES. This project will enable students from various disciplines to interface computers to equipment monitoring several hundred "events" (seismic disturbances) annually.
"Toward a hypertext history of philosophy," Professor Alexander Levine, Philosophy. The project will enable Philosophy I students to learn relationships among texts in novel ways. Classic philosophical texts and explanatory notes with pertinent graphics and sounds will be mounted and integrated on the Web.
"Creation of a Course in Online Publishing," Sharon Friedman, Jack Lule, Wally Trimble, and Dina Wills, Journalism & Communication. This project will result in a new course on the theory and practice of online publishing. A primary component will be a team project to plan, design and construct Web sites for outside clients such as nonprofit agencies and small businesses.
Greene prepared his audience by writing engaging and witty review articles for lecture notices. He played selections from his vast collection to illustrate lecture material. One devotee noted that during his lectures his amazing expertise was "interspersed with excellent recorded music and unique good humor...one could not help but be uplifted and spiritually refreshed. We shall miss this...which brought so much joy and expectation."
Professor Greene's music publications extended well beyond lecture notices. His major opus, Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers, was published in 1985. He also wrote jacket notes for the Musical Heritage Society, contributed to the American Record guide, and reviewed countless Lehigh Valley performances. Information Resources has plans underway for a memorial lecture.