VIRGINIA HERITAGE
University of Virginia Library Statement of Service Commitment
September 17, 2007
This document outlines the service provided by the University of Virginia Library for Virginia Heritage.
I. Contact Information
All support issues, requests, and questions are to be directed to the Virginia Heritage project manager:
Edward GaynorAlbert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4110434-924-3138
II. Definition
Virginia Heritage is a non-exclusive collective publishing, search, and delivery mechanism for library and archival collection “Finding Aids” or “Guides” for institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
III. Participation
Institutional participation in Virginia Heritage is voluntary and requires no payment.
IV. Scope of Service
A. The University of Virginia Library hosts the Virginia Heritage web site, including descriptive pages and search and delivery functions that are publicly accessible, and administrative and instructional documentation that are accessible only to Virginia Heritage participants.
1. The site is secured using methods set by the University of Virginia Library.
2. The ability to update the web site is limited to University of Virginia Library staff.
B. The University of Virginia Library supports uploading or “publishing” of Guides encoded as Encoded Archival Description (EAD) XML files, using a specified EAD DTD.
1. Each Participant is given a unique user account. Participants login into the Virginia Heritage system through a secure web interface that enables them to upload and maintain their own Guides.
2. Each Participant’s Guides are housed together in a single, exclusive directory.
3. The publishing process supports parsing of the files against the DTD, and provides feedback if and when Guides do not meet the Virginia Heritage encoding standard.
4. If support or delivery mechanisms require it, the University of Virginia may revise the standards required for the encoding of Guides, giving at least four weeks notice.
5. When a new Participant is added to the project, appropriate server space will be assigned and authenticated login configured.
6. Participants are responsible for the creation and uploading of their own EAD files.
7. Participants can download their own EAD files through the Virginia Heritage administrative website.
C. The University of Virginia Library provides an indexing, search, and delivery service for Finding Aids and Guides.
1. The service is publicly accessible.
2. The content is re-indexed every 24 hours.
3. Browsing of the entire Virginia Heritage contents is available.
4. Simple keyword searching and advanced fielded searching is provided.
5. Search results include title, owning institution and hit counts used in relevancy ranking.
6. Guides are viewable in the browser in HTML format as full guides or by section.
7. A “Search within this Guide” function is available when viewing an individual Guide.
8. Guides can be individually downloaded in XML format.
9. Guides are exposed to web crawlers and search engines, including OCLC’s ArchiveGrid. Crawling will be monitored; excessive crawling may be curtailed.
D. If changes or updates to the service are required, or new training needs defined, specifications will be developed by the project manager or submitted to him in writing.
1. The University of Virginia Library will review all specifications against resources and appropriate technologies and respond with an estimate of time needed to implement them, or explain why they cannot be implemented.
2. An advisory group consisting of project manager Edward Gaynor, University of Virginia technical manager Leslie Johnston, and representatives from three Virginia Heritage Participant institutions will be created and convened periodically. The advisory group will address participant needs for documentation and training.
E. Participants in Virginia Heritage have the right at any time to withdraw from active participation in the project.
1. Participants must give at least four weeks notice that they intend to formally withdraw and submit no more guides to the project.
2. Following notification of a Participant’s withdrawal from the project, the University of Virginia Library may, in consultation with the Participant, choose to remove the Participant’s Guides from the service.
V. Availability and Technical Support
A. The University of Virginia Library makes the Virginia Heritage service available for use on a 24*7 basis.
B. University of Virginia Library staff are available to respond to problems Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Failures encountered and reported outside that time frame will be acted upon the next business day. Because hardware support is provided by external vendor contract, the University of Virginia Library cannot guarantee specific hardware service response times.
C. The service is hosted on a server designated by the University of Virginia Library. The server is housed in a UPS protected rack and connected to the network via gigabit Ethernet.
D. The University of Virginia Library maintains the system infrastructure with the latest versions of appropriate operating system and software. In order to ensure that all systems are fully protected and are consistent with the operation of other systems on the network, the University of Virginia Library applies the latest patches to all its servers as they become available. We will provide as much advance notice as possible.
E. The University of Virginia Library reserves the right to make decisions about appropriate technologies to be used in the implementation of this service. If local support decisions change, the University of Virginia Library may re-implement all portions of the service as required. Notification will be provided to the participants.
F. The University of Virginia Library proactively monitors the operation of the components of the server and initiates parts replacement when potentially failing components are identified. Participants will be advised in advance of non-availability for reasons of routine maintenance. Emergency situations may result in non-availability of the system.
G. The University of Virginia Library backs up all Virginia Heritage data and application software on a weekly schedule. In the event that system or data recovery is required, the University of Virginia Library will work to effect system recovery in a timely fashion. In the event of a failure requiring the recovery of multiple servers, the University of Virginia Library priority will be to recover services critical to the operation of the University.
Virginia Heritage Service Commitment Page 1