The Utah State Library Division (USLD) was created in 1957, initially operating out of a remodeled coach house. Led by the first library director, Russell Davis, he garnered interest through a bookmobile that served almost every county in the state. At the end of Davis’ tenure, librarians were focusing on keeping up with the rapid growth of technology.
The Challenge
Jump ahead to the early 2000s, and the newest technological challenge was clear: how to provide patrons with free, permanent access to government publications dating back to 1851, while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements and adapting to changing telecommunications.
USL has had a statutory duty since 2006 to provide online permanent public access to state publications (Utah Code Ann. Sec. 9-7-208). It extends from one of the State Library’s core missions of collecting and providing access to state publications.
Solution
PTFS developed a solution based on the Knowvation platform, called the Utah Government Digital Library (UGDL). The core function of this public-facing site is to manage a vast set of digital content from multiple Utah state agencies, counties, and cities, including:
- Utah State Publications
- Utah Local Publications
- U.S. Federal Publications
- Utah Public Health Library
- Utah Law Publications
- Legislative Publications
- Higher Education Publications
- Court Publications
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
- Utah State Agency Annual Reports
- Administrative Law Publications
- Utah Nonprofit Publications
- Local Agency Annual Reports
- Tribal Publications
- Higher Education Annual Reports
UGDL provides easy-to-use and continual access to over 115,000 publications, some dating back over 174 years ago. The information is provided by state agencies, city and county governments, and Utah-related federal publications, with new ones added monthly. Users can download or view maps, images, videos, statistics, reports, newsletters, and audio files on a vast array of topics.
Implementation
PTFS collaborated closely with the Utah State Library Division to ensure that Knowvation was tailored to department and patron needs and smoothly integrated into corresponding workflows.
Implementation highlights:
- Data Migration and Uploading: PTFS assisted USL and other participating libraries in migrating and uploading data and content into the new version of the Knowvation platform.
- Consortia Environment: The Knowvation platform is operable in a consortia environment, allowing multiple libraries to collaborate and share resources effectively.
- Hosted System: PTFS will provide a hosted system, ensuring reliable and secure access to the Knowvation platform.
- Customizable Public Interface: The Knowvation platform offers a customizable design for the public interface, allowing libraries to tailor the user experience to their specific needs.
- Compliance with IT Security Requirements: PTFS confirms compliance with the State of Utah IT Security requirements, ensuring the safety and security of the Knowvation platform.
PTFS adhered to industry standards for software testing and continuous improvements to test strategies to ensure that the Utah State Library Division keeps pace with technology and remains robust and reliable for its users.
Benefits
In a Snapshot:
- Permanent Digital Preservation: The UGDL solution provides permanent public access and digital preservation for Utah State Agency documents.
- 24/7 Access: The system provides convenient 24/7 access to public records via the Internet.
- Regulatory-Compliant: The system allows the state to keep in compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Real-Time Scalability: The Knowvation platform is flexible extensible and expandable. Utilizing Amazon Web Services for hosting allow real-time scalability that allows other local libraries across the state to build their own digital repositories while maintaining performance ad response times that provide a gratifying user experience.
Through the partnership between USLD and PTFS, the Utah Government Digital Library site has been able to bridge the gap between providing 24/7 access to a growing collection of 115,000 government publications while ensuring the regulatory requirements are maintained. In addition, the platform is available to local libraries across the state to build their own digital repositories, independent of the USL, relevant to their communities and collections.
The Utah State Library Division has used Knowvation as their digital library repository platform from its inception in 2007. PTFS has been the sole provider of hosting (Amazon Web Services), support and maintenance since the system first went live.
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