CDL Groups & Descriptions

California Digital Library advisory groups play an important role in CDL planning and operations activities. These groups advise the CDL about the collections, services, and technologies the CDL develops to facilitate scholarly research.

See sections below for CDL steering and working groups:

• Digital Library Services Advisory Group
• Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections (JSC)
• Shared Print Steering Task Force (SPSTF)
• Online Archive of California Working Group (OACWG)
• Structured Text Working Group (STWG)
• VDX Implementation Task Force

See sections below for CDL operations groups:

• Acquisitions Liaisons
• Catalog Input Liaisons
• Circulation Liaisons
• eScholarship Liaisons
• IP Profile and Network Liaisons
• Request Liaisons
• Resource Liaisons
• UC-eLinks Liaisons
• Users Council

See sections below for past CDL groups:

• East Asian Digital Resources Task Force
• Evaluation Liaisons
• Strategic Technology, Architecture, and Standards Working Group (STAS)
• Tools and Services Working Group (TSWG)

CDL Steering and Working Groups

Digital Library Services Group: The Digital Library Services Advisory Group is charged with exploring the benefits that can be gained through sharing services and collections, leveraging technology, and pooling financial resources among the UC libraries.

Joint Steering Committee on Shared Collections (JSC): The JSC is charged with developing principles and rationale for continued CDL collection development, and advising on sustainable budget models for the University of California shared digital collections.

Two groups, who are now defunct, reported to the JSC. The Science, Technology, and Industry Collection (STIC) Task Force worked on the development of digital collection frameworks and priorities in the fields of science, technology, and industry. The Ebook Task Force helped define operating guidelines and desirable features that would make ebooks more useful for instruction and research at UC.

Shared Print Steering Task Force (SPSTF): The SPSTF is charged with developing policies to support prospective Shared Print monograph collecting, reviewing initial proposals for such collections and refining the framework for monograph collecting, when appropriate.

Online Archive of California Working Group (OACWG): The OAC is a single, searchable database of materials such as manuscripts, photographs, and works of art held in libraries, museums, archives, and other institutions across California. The primary function of the OACWG is to advise the CDL and the OAC Steering Committee on issues concerning the administration, operation, and technical development of the OAC and metadata standards relevant to the OAC.

Structured Text Working Group (STWG): This group focuses on topics related to the Text Encoding Initiative, an organization that helps standardize the way that libraries, museums, publishers, and scholars encode text for online research and teaching.

VDX Implementation Task Force: The VDX Implementation Task Force provides guidance to the CDL and the UC campus libraries for the ongoing implementation of the VDX ILL Request tracking system.

CDL Operations Groups

Acquisitions Liaisons: The CDL Acquisitions Liaisons work with the CDL to identify existing campus subscriptions during the licensing process and track subscription renewals and cancellations at their campus where print is linked to the CDL's license for the electronic version. They also cooordinate the processing of campus coinvestment payments and inter-campus recharges.

Catalog Input Liaisons: The Catalog Input Liaisons on each campus are responsible for working with the CDL to develop ways to process bibliographic records received from their campus for input into the Melvyl® Catalog.

Circulation Liaisons: These liaisons help make the circulation information that is available in the local library systems at the UC campuses available in the Melvyl Catalog. The Melvyl Catalog now provides information on the circulation status for items held at most campus libraries.

eScholarship Liaisons: The eScholarship Liaisons represent local eScholarship efforts on the campuses, and assist faculty who are interested in submitting work to the eScholarship Repository with training and technical issues.

IP Profile and Network Liaisons: The Network Liaisons report their campus network changes to the CDL, and are a point of contact for the CDL to confirm campus network information.

Request Liaisons: The Request service allows users to request borrowable materials from another campus library. Two types of Request Liaisons are on each campus. The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Request Liaisons are responsible for communicating information about the Request function between the CDL, vendors, and the campus, while the Technical Request Liaisons focus on the technical issues.

Resource Liaisons: Campus-based Resource Liaisons monitor and conduct ongoing evaluation of major products or groups of products from a single producer. In particular, they focus on functionality, completeness of content, and performance. The Liaisons also make recommendations to producers for enhancements.

UC-eLinks Liaisons: Following the success of UC-eLinks in providing linking services among CDL-licensed resources, campus libraries expressed interest in using it for their locally licensed resources. The UC-eLinks liaisons assist in the implementation phase of adding local resources to campus versions of UC-eLinks.

Users Council: Members of the Users Council are responsible for communicating information between the CDL and their own institutions regarding public services and the use of CDL collections and services. They also act as liaisons between users and the CDL by monitoring, interpreting, summarizing, and evaluating comments about CDL collections and services.

Past CDL Groups

East Asian Digital Resources Task Force: The East Asian Digital Resources Task Force is no longer active. The task force was responsible for developing a systemwide strategy to take advantage of the increasing number of East Asian digital resouces. They prepared a white paper that outlines the current need for a sustainable infrastructure and explores possible approaches to management, services, and funding options.

Evaluation Liaisons: This group is no longer active. The Evaluation Liaisons assisted in planning and facilitating evaluation activities, e.g., web-based surveys and usability testing, which originated at CDL but necessarily required participation of campus students, faculty, and staff. The Evaluation Liaison program originated and was charged by SOPAG in 1999; it was most active during the period leading up to the launch of the redesigned Melvyl Catalog in 2003. (Learn more about current CDL evaluation and assessment activities.)

Strategic Technology, Architecture, and Standards Working Group (STAS): This group is no longer active. The STAS Working Group recommended and maintained architectural guidelines and standards for the UC shared digital collections. These guidelines provided a framework that facilitated the creation of integrated systems, and provided the flexibility to foster innovations in scholarly communication.

Tools and Services Working Group (TSWG): This group is no longer active. The TSWG developed principles and guidelines for the identification, evaluation, selection, and implementation of online tools and services.