UH Libraries Newsletter Fall 2018

TDL is a consortium of Texas higher education institutions that builds
capacity for preserving, managing, and providing access to unique digital
collections of enduring value. The University of Houston, Texas Tech, Texas
A&M, and the University of Texas libraries founded TDL in 2005 and it has
since grown to comprise almost two dozen academic libraries across the
state of Texas both public and private.
DIGITAL LIBRARY
Governing Board Chair
Please describe your role as chair of the TDL Board.
In my role as chair of the Governing Board of the Texas Digital Library, I preside over the Board consisting
of the four founding institutions and representatives elected from the other institutions. The chair works
closely with the executive director and the other members of the Executive Committee to set the agenda for the
board meetings and represents TDL.
What are TDL’s strategic goals for 2018-19?
TDL has an impressive set of goals that reflect the themes of building our communities, enhancing technology and services,
and enhancing our team. This year we will:
• Increase contributions to the open source software and digital preservation communities
• Continue new member recruitment efforts and internal outreach to existing members
• Pursue opportunities for collaborative projects that attract external funding
• Continue the roadmap for systems improvement and automation
• Explore and plan for new services
• Internally, we will document and solidify our processes across multiple communication and project management tools.
Please talk about some of TDL’s recent initiatives.
Digital presentation is one of the primary activities of TDL. For example:
• TDL has been working with partners at the Portal to Texas History and Houston Public Library to develop a metadata
aggregation service that will serve as an expanded hub for the Digital Public Library of America.
• TDL provides digital preservation storage (DPS) services to its members as well as training, consulting, and resourcesharing
coordination. The number of members using the DPS services has doubled in the past two years.
• TDL chartered a digital preservation services interest group to encourage user engagement and to promote the use of
digital preservation services.
• Accessibility is important to TDL and we are assessing the accessibility of TDL hosted repositories.
TDL is one of the many exciting initiatives occurring in the library community in Texas. It is forward-thinking, strategic, and
all of its activities, tactics, objectives, and goals align with its strategic plan. The digital library community in Texas is strong
and all of our institutions are fortunate that the founders knew that this was the right path to take in 2005. The Texas Digital
Library is a national leader in digital libraries and in digital preservation and it is an honor to be the chair of the TDL Board
this year. 9