We recently had the pleasure of hosting 21 Digital Commons Community admins from all over the country. They were here in sunny Berkeley, CA for bepressU’s three-day intensive Repository Manager Certification Course. Helena Marvin of University of Missouri, St. Louis, summed up the positive atmosphere: “Classes=amazing, One-on-One with a Consultant=even more amazing!”
Consulting Services rounded up their best tips and tricks to give admins a leg up in one of the most demanding jobs in scholarly communication. This year our Product Team also offered admins insights about getting creative with their workflows and led hands-on exercises in designing user interfaces. The Product Team saw this workshop as a natural extension of their iterative, community-based principles of development.
Autumn Mortenson from Ouachita Baptist University spoke to everyone’s appreciation of networking with other admins, “I learned many features and best practices I was unaware of! I loved seeing what other IRs (and their managers) are doing!”
Danielle Loftus from University of South Dakota shared, “I’m just getting started. Learning about all the possibilities is great before setting up,” while more experienced IR admins took advantage of one-on-one time with their Consultants to delve into advanced topics.
Debra Andreadis from Denison University said that she came away with “Lots of useful examples and ideas. Innovative ways to use the different publication types were extremely useful.”
Jonathan Beeker from North Carolina Central School of Law said, “I enjoyed the mix of hands on and higher-level discussion. I came at the perfect time to move my focus to development and outreach.”
We hope many of the admins returned to their campuses with DeAnn Brame of Winthrop University’s confidence and excitement: “I feel re-energized about DC and positive about upcoming projects.” We know we feel energized by meeting our admins in person during these courses and are glad to share a cup of coffee along with IR support.
Participants in alphabetical order:
Debra Andreadis, Denison University
Laura Ax-Fultz, Dickinson Law
Jonathan Beeker, North Carolina Central School of Law
Michael Biondo, South Dakota State University
Elaine Bradshaw, University of Oklahoma College of Law
DeAnn Brame, Winthrop University
Mason Brown, Hunter College
Jenelys Cox, University of Denver
Lea Iadorola, Lynn University
Barbara Kaplan, Florida State University College of Law
Hsianghui Liu-Spencer, Carleton College
Danielle Loftus, University of South Dakota
Kim Marcisek, Western Washington University
Lena Marvin, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Autumn Mortenson, Ouachita Baptist University
Paul Onac, University of South Florida
Michael Pujals, Dominican University of California
Karen Ramsden, Montclair State University
Marian Taliaferro, College of William and Mary
Felipe Tan, Andrews University
Maura Valentino, Central Washington University
