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Two options are available and approved for automated meeting summaries to help record notes during virtual meetings. Zoom AI Companion is provided as part of our university license and is available through the Zoom application at no charge. Microsoft provides intelligent meeting recaps through Teams Premium and has been approved for use.
Learn more about Zoom AI Companion and Teams Premium, including where use of these tools has been approved.
It’s MULSA’s 75th anniversary and we are working on a 75th anniversary cookbook! Please submit your favorite, treasured, fun, creative, etc. recipes: https://forms.gle/QFBYrkMkXnLfm9A5A
The Digital Initiatives team has been working to digitize historical commencement programs in the past year. In one year, 176 programs were scanned. We uploaded 135 programs and will upload the last 41 program in the next few months. You can find the digitized collection on MOspace: https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/86901
We are very proud of this project because we not only created high-quality scans as we always do, but also made efforts to improve the digital accessibility on the PDF files we created for this project. Each PDF file of the commencement programs has corrected OCR and is screen reader friendly.
A digitization project usually starts with a planning process that defines the scope of the project, evaluates the condition of the physical items, and decides on the equipment, technical and metadata standards to be used for the project. Then, the project will be assigned to staff and students for the scanning, editing, quality controlling, and uploading processes. This project started in September 2023 with the planning process and handed over to a team of one student and 2 staff to execute the digitization workflow. Our student employee Evie worked about 12 hours per week on scanning and editing images.
Though we always take care, when possible, to provide OCR that is generally readable and searchable, certain items such as these commencement programs provide important details about Mizzou history and Mizzou alumni. Alumni, family members, and researchers often find commencement programs to be meaningful. Accuracy of the content is crucial for digitized commencement programs because users would want to search and find specific information such as student names, degree programs, awards and honors in the commencement.
We first use a software that automatically does OCR (optical character recognition) and then follow up with a few more manual steps to ensure digital accessibility, including:
According to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), digital accessibility is the inclusive practice of ensuring that websites, tools and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. Furthermore, when digital tools are correctly designed, developed, and updated, generally all users have equal access to information and functionality.
Digital Initiatives team has been interested in learning about digital accessibility since a couple of years ago. We attended multiple webinars and training sessions and discussed how to apply what we learned into practice. The commencement programs project is a great learning experience for both staff and students, and we hope this digital collection serves all users equally.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
Library Accessibility Toolkit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z0Pc6cLz1JjTUAysWkm16TKk-dQXDZ03NAOMGSMpoZQ/edit#heading=h.3oa7rh5pxjpe
The Head of Special Collections position has posted. Please help us spread the word. Applicants may apply online at http://hrs.missouri.edu/find-a-job/academic with Job ID 53208.
Thank you to the members of the Search Committee:
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It’s with mixed emotions that I share that Rae Thudium’s last day with the University of Missouri Libraries is Wednesday, December 11th. She has accepted the position of Head of Veterinary Libraries at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Rae will definitely be missed here at Mizzou and she has made such a positive impact during her time as Head of the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library since 2021. Please join me in wishing Rae well on her new adventure at Penn. I am working to develop a plan for covering the Vet Med Library so more details to be announced.
–Chris Pryor
It’s MULSA’s 75th anniversary and we are working on a 75th anniversary cookbook! Please submit your favorite, treasured, fun, creative, etc. recipes: https://forms.gle/QFBYrkMkXnLfm9A5A