Gail McMillan | Virginia Tech (original) (raw)

Papers by Gail McMillan

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in th... more I met a traveller from an antique land Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. Percy Bysshe Shelley

The International Archive of Women in Architecture grew by 67.5 cubic feet (cf), with the creatio... more The International Archive of Women in Architecture grew by 67.5 cubic feet (cf), with the creation of seven new collections and additions to 15 existing collections. Largely due to supplemental library funding for architecture graduate student assistants and a grant from the Beverly Willis Architectural Foundation, 15 collections (35 cf) were processed and have detailed finding aids. The IAWA now has 290 collections (~1200 cf).

College & Research Libraries News

D Lib Magazine, 2010

Information privacy is an important consideration when transitioning university collections from ... more Information privacy is an important consideration when transitioning university collections from paper to electronic access. Yet the protection of-and limits to-student privacy regulations have rarely been addressed in the literature for online electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and its relevance to student work should be a consideration when widely distributing scholarship like e-portfolios, ETDs, and senior capstone projects. In this article, we share several campus approaches to FERPA and electronic student work. This law applies to all public K-12 educational institutions and most postsecondary institutions

For many people "digital libraries" mean information on the Internet that is available to them ei... more For many people "digital libraries" mean information on the Internet that is available to them either directly or indirectly through search engines, indexes or library catalogs. While digital libraries imply abundance, they do not necessarily connote the broad range of services or quality resources that libraries provide. Digital libraries are perceived as being solely mechanical or electronic, providing only online resources and lacking people serving people. If the digital library is actually to be a library and not a soulless, heartless construct, then it needs to evolve beyond mere storage and access to digitized information. A library is a fusion of resources in a variety of forms, including services and people supporting the entire life cycle of information beginning with creation, to dissemination and use, through to preservation. A digital library works best when it is an integral part of a library that provides its users with access to information that has been evaluated, organized, and preserved in the most useful formats. Digital libraries and traditional libraries share common goals and should interact as if they shared a common soul. If they do, the [digital] library will accomplish more than it could separately and serve its users on the highest order.

Many digital library discussions focus on computer processing and neglect the range of services t... more Many digital library discussions focus on computer processing and neglect the range of services that libraries traditionally provide. The digital library is not equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is also a series of activities that brings together collections, services, and people in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use, and preservation of information. A digital library should be a seamless extension of the library that provides faculty and students with access to information in any format that has been evaluated, organized, archived, and preserved. Access to evolving digital information is provided through global as well as personalized systems and through the services of information professionals. Digital libraries and traditional libraries should not be separate, but should coalesce to accomplish more than either can do independently to serve the user community on the highest order. Have a question? Ask a Librarian. About the SCP http://scholar.lib.vt.edu updated Feb. 17, 1999 (GMc) Copyright interpreting US law University Libraries' policies EJs electronic journals EReserve online class materials ETDs electronic theses and dissertations VT Imagebase over 14,000 digital images News Online local, regional, international Special Collections rare books, manuscripts, exhibits University Archive VIVA Special Collections committee of the Virtual Library of Virginia Virginia Tech Publications VT Digital Library Initiatives 1998 1996 "Put the Library in Digital Library" (a.k.a. "Digital Libraries Support Distributed Education") draft of a presentation for the 1999 Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, 'Racing Toward Tomorrow," Detroit, April 9, 1999 "Library Services and Resources for the University Community" (text and some illustrations) 'Strategie sur la biblioth•que virtuelle dans le contexte actuel' for the SŽminaire residentiel de formation l'intention de directeurs de grandes biblioth•ques Suisse,

College Research Libraries, Apr 5, 2012

An increasing number of higher education institutions worldwide are requiring submission of elect... more An increasing number of higher education institutions worldwide are requiring submission of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) by graduate students and are subsequently providing open access to these works in online repositories. Faculty advisors and graduate students are concerned that such unfiltered access to their work could diminish future publishing opportunities. This study investigated social sciences, arts and humanities journal editors' and university press directors' attitudes toward ETDs. The findings indicate that manuscripts which are revisions of openly accessible ETDs are always welcome for submission or considered on a case by case basis by 82.8% of journal editors and 53.7% of university press directors polled.

 "It's totally sweet." 2005  "They are great. I have gotten a lot of useful information from th... more  "It's totally sweet." 2005  "They are great. I have gotten a lot of useful information from the ones on campus that have not yet had journal articles published from them, and have a more complete lit review than a journal article." 2004  "The $20.00 archiving fee is a bummer." 2003  "The ETD procedure described on the web site is simple and professional." 2003  "I think the ETD initiative is just great. There isn't a more effective way to disseminate knowledge." 2002  "ETDs are one of the great resources for other knowledge seekers." 2002

This study examines two research questions: (1) How do users in different locations find Auburn U... more This study examines two research questions: (1) How do users in different locations find Auburn University Electronic Theses and Dissertations? (2) Do users in different locations interact differently with the collection and, if so, how? Design/methodology/approach: Google Analytics data for user visits, landing pages, and page views were separated into groups based on user location. Visits data were also correlated with source (referring Web site), and landing pages and page views were grouped by type. Findings: Most local users came to the repository via Auburn University Web pages. This group usually landed on the collection home page and used internal navigation pages to find what they needed. Submission page views showed that most ETD depositors were local. Most out-of-state users came to the repository via Web search engines. This group usually landed directly on bibliographic information pages for individual ETDs. They used internal navigation pages less frequently than local users. Users located within the state but outside of the local area interacted with the collection in a way that was intermediate between these two groups. Practical implications: Institutions interested in improving repository access for depositors will probably find it helpful to focus on in-state usage reports, while institutions seeking to improve access for end-users should exclude in-state users from their assessments. Originality/value: This is the first detailed examination of ETDs usage published since 2001 and shows how filtering tools available in Google Analytics allow comparisons of user behavior based on location and source (referring Web site).

The evolving virtual library II, 1999

... Author, Gail McMillan, Publisher, Gardez! Verlag Michael Itschert St. Augustin, Germany, Germ... more ... Author, Gail McMillan, Publisher, Gardez! Verlag Michael Itschert St. Augustin, Germany, Germany. ... Collaborative Colleagues: Gail McMillan: colleagues. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2010 ACM, Inc. ...

Virginia Libraries, 2001

Since the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia has played an important role in American history and ... more Since the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia has played an important role in American history and it has an especially important part to play in African-American studies. Until the mid-nineteenth century, Virginia had a larger African-American population than any other state, and its ...

College & Research Libraries News

D Lib Magazine, 2010

College Research Libraries, Apr 5, 2012

The evolving virtual library II, 1999

Virginia Libraries, 2001

While few would argue about the importance of digital preservation, but it often gets a low prior... more While few would argue about the importance of digital preservation, but it often gets a low priority when institutions are planning and implementing their ETD initiatives. However, the NDLTD has joined forces with the MetaArchive Cooperative to establish the ETD Preservation Network.

By adapting the open-source software, LOCKSS, the MetaArchive provides is a secure dark archive for ETDs that is run and maintained by partnering institutions--currently Boston College, Emory University, Florida State, Rice, and Virginia Tech. This collaborative, distributed, digital preservation network is cost-effective and not technology or staff intensive for any member institution.

As a founding member of both the NDLTD and the MetaArchive Cooperative as well as part of the original ETD implementation team at Virginia Tech, I will provide a practical grounding in the distributed digital preservation network for ETDs.