 Well, I guess I'll go ahead and start. We'll take questions at the end. I think is what Stacey was saying in the Q&A tab So please feel free to jump in there at any point when you think of a question But I'll go ahead and introduce our panel today where you are doing a presentation on Vario It's titled streamlining connections among students graduate schools libraries and beyond Vario users share their experiences and my name is Emily Wookner I am with the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and I am joined by Lindsay Ford From the University of Houston Clear Lake Library and also Karen Manning and Fred Rasko from Georgia Tech Library And we're going to talk to you a little bit about what Vario is and how it's helped us Help students and help departments better So just a little background about Vario Vario is an open-source software that was developed by the Texas Digital Library in collaboration with Texas A&M and other TDL members and Vario users and The idea behind Vario is that students submit their thesis through Vario's platform The university library or graduate college whoever does those reviews of the thesis can do it Right there and then when the thesis is done you can push it forward to the library The library can upload it into the inter the repository institutional repository and then also pass it on to ProQuest So it's really a one-stop shop for working with students on their thesis and dissertation It has been very useful for all of us and we're so excited to show you and tell you a little bit about Some of the ways that we use Vario Vario was released in 2010 and most recently we released Vario IV Vario IV has a lot of new bells and whistles, a lot of new enhancements to make this process so much easier For students and staff alike Vario is used in dozens of universities and in the US and internationally Vario is open-source and so since it's there, people can go, anybody can go and download it So it's really hard to tell how many exact people are using Vario and where they are And that's kind of the beauty of it, you know, it's so accessible to whoever wants to download a copy and implement that at their university And another really interesting feature is that Vario users get to give input on any of the new features and enhancements that the TDL and programming team make to Vario So it's a very big shared experience, we all share what we do, how we do it with each other and we give input on making things better And how to improve these experiences based on the things that we've learned or things that we've seen other people doing One of the things, you know, I mentioned that Vario is used by so many people and it's hard to know exactly how many people One of the new initiatives that TDL is doing is they're launching what's called Vario Stories And so I thought it was very fitting to use that as our segue into our presentation And we're going to share with you our Vario stories So I'll start at the University of Illinois We have around 20,000 graduate students, this is a lot This is a very big number that, you know, we were at 17,000 last year or at 20 this year Not all of them are going to write a thesis or a dissertation so I will not be reviewing all 20,000 of them We began using Vario in 2010 and we really eased into it in that we had just a couple of departments try it It's kind of like a pilot, see what they think, test the waters and we ended up adopting it fully in 2010 We are still using Vario 2 though we're upgrading to Vario 3 very soon and then to Vario 4 So we have a lot of catching up to do to get to Vario 4, but we, as I'll talk about in a second Our programming team built a lot of things for us to integrate in Vario 2 Which made our personal processes a lot easier We deposit around 1300 theses or dissertations each semester And the way it works is that, you know, the student submits to the graduate college We can communicate with the student through Vario to let them know if there are any visions they need Or if we're missing any materials from them, the student can upload it right into Vario When we're done and we've cleaned up all of the deposits, we go ahead and push them to the library The library does all of their metadata checks and uploads it into the institutional repository And then the library is able to send it to all the documents to ProQuest straight from Vario Some of the things that have really helped us is that Vario keeps all of our information in one place We are looking at all sorts of things in the student's document We're looking to make sure their name is spelled correctly Their name is what they think their name is You know that they are in the program that they think they're in Because we all know these things sometimes happen And so Vario for us is linked to the Active Directory So it pulls that information in for us so that we can verify that, yep, that's how that student spells their name That's the program that they think they're in And if there are problems, we can get those sorted before we go through with the final deposit We keep reviewer notes and feedback in there This is particularly helpful because there are other people that help me in the thesis office So if I have something that I've observed about a student, I can jot that down there And somebody else like Derek or Mike can see that note and then be able to act on it Students can also upload their supplemental files, license agreements, copyright letters So it really is the one-stop shop for our students So many fewer technologies to have to juggle During a process that's very stressful and very challenging It's easy for our students to use, the interface is very easy, very accessible Our departments also find it very easy and useful to use And on the administrative side of Vario it is also very easy to know what to do to get done what you need to do There are also some things that are helpful in that we can make small changes It's user-friendly for me as someone who isn't a programmer and doesn't know a lot of the technical terms and things I can make small changes that I need to make without asking a programmer or asking someone else to make those fixes So for example, if there are certain terms that your university uses So research director or director of research or advisor, whatever that is You can customize that in Vario and it saves a lot of confusion for students later on I'm going to go ahead and pass forward the mic to Lindsay Who's going to talk a little bit about how University of Houston works with Vario Hello Okay, so I guess I'll start as well with a little bit about our university We're much smaller in the scale of things I guess than my colleagues today We have university-wide approximately 9,400 students And about a quarter of those are graduate students We began using Vario We initiated our pilot program in 2015 with our relatively new doctoral program at the time in education And then in 2016, all of the DCs and dissertation became electronic and we've used Vario since then Since its inception, we've had 240 submissions, which averages about 35 submissions per semester Which is slowly growing each semester, but it's still much more manageable Which is helpful, you don't need to go on yet, we're just going to talk for a second At our university, so basically the library oversees all of the ETDs including dissertation theses and master's level projects It's basically me and one of the librarian, we handle all aspects of the process We primarily work with doctoral students while another librarian works with DCs and projects We work with the deans to set deadlines to ensure the requirements that they make on their faculty and the chairs of the committees And the documentation they provide their students is in line with our workflow And we also work with advising to make sure they've done that part of it To meet all the other requirements for graduation that's required for publication But other than that, we handle everything else, we provide format templates And we work with students on their formats, we require them to have consultations with us and we kind of go over things with them We also approve the final submissions and then we publish the approved DCs and dissertations to our repository And kind of how Virium has helped us now the next slide So I looked at it kind of from two different sides, first of all from the student side The interface is very helpful to the process in general, it's user friendly This is kind of a screenshot of my sample page that I show the students We don't really get very many questions on what do I do next because it pretty easily walks them through the process And we do provide a lot of support documentation and we go over them with how to submit in the format checks But various features like the digital sticky notes and things like that We can tell them in person but it helps I think be there right when they're filling out the fields so they know what they're doing They have a lot of other things going on at that time so these little things sometimes get forgotten Notifications, so when they submit they get the email that automatically lets them know that it was submitted So there's no question as to okay well did it go through or do I need to email to see what's going on It's pretty clear from that perspective And it also notifies me too which is helpful for me so I don't forget So I know to go in and look at everything and finalize it The corrections are easy to do I don't actually and well I can send them the notes about corrections in video I typically don't email so it doesn't it's just easier for me But when it comes time to upload them it's very easy for them to go back into their submission And change that document out to where it's the most recent modified version And in terms of the overall design since this is geared specifically to ETDs I think I find that extremely helpful because there aren't all these other features or different things that we have to ignore That kind of might make the process more clunky or confusing At the end of all this they just want to get it submitted and they don't want to have to deal with all these extra things that they don't need And this is kind of from the administrative side of it I like the fact that it helps me keep things well organized Even though our volume isn't the same as some others It can still like if they're all at different stages in the process And that sort of thing it helps me know what's going on or helps me remember You know what I need to do next and if somebody has kind of forgotten what they're doing to prompt them along It also helps to easily assign whoever it does have another part Like we for example we work with advising Like I mentioned earlier to make sure that they did everything And I may have approved their format but we check with them to see make sure everything else is done so we can publish it And so I'll assign it to them and then they let me know after they've approved it then I know I can do my next step And so that makes it streamlines it a little bit And the same thing with cataloging because I publish it but then our cataloger goes and messes with some of the back end stuff to make sure that all that stuff is squared away And this kind of also goes in with the approvals Like the chair has to go in and make sure the document that they submitted was the one that they signed off on And they also approve it if we have an embargo or anything which we don't get a ton of those But to make sure if something is needed that they're able to that they did the right thing And so it's their the email is generated to them and they can know okay approve it and then I know that they approved it It just it just handles everything all of this stuff could potentially be kind of complicated and it just helps helps sort of centralize that And in terms of publishing I publish it and then I let the cataloger do the rest but it's just it's pretty straightforward in that sense You know I publish it and it's goes into our deep basement with that Okay that's that's that's in a nutshell how it works for us and how we think it is very very helpful So we'll pass it to Karen and Fred next Hey so I'm Fred Rasko scholarly communication librarian at Georgia Tech Georgia Tech has 20,000 grad students like Illinois but about 14,000 or so of them are in the online only like master's programs And they're definitely not going to write a thesis or a dissertation So the remaining graduate students not all of them that dissertation either So we end up at Georgia Tech getting about 200 to 300 each semester that's spring summer fall semester So those times we get about 200 to 300 submissions into the graduate office Karen and I are both from the library side but we do work very closely with the the graduate side and it goes back to 2004 When we first started accepting digital only theses and dissertations So at Georgia Tech it's been digital only submission since 2004 And we initially used a deposit software that was originally developed at Virginia Tech which required like some customized coding And some other technical wizardry to get from the deposited record into our repository which is called smart tech So Virio has definitely helped streamline that one place deposit and that place can store deposit into our repository seamlessly We started with Virio version 2 we upgraded to 3 in 2015 Karen talked a little bit later about version 4 in our future And we also used Virio for a long time And so Karen how would you take the next? Successes with Virio So we were following Virio in his development stage and we were anxious about transitioning to it And once our developers you know who were also excited about it we implemented it and have been happy with it ever since So what we've found is that Georgia Tech using Virio as our ETD submission system has proven to be an efficient method for students to graduate office in the library It's been a smoother experience for students whereas they used to have to create their own accounts and they had to do unique stuff And they had to get approved it was a back and forth something but now they're authenticated throughout campus integration with the Virio system So if they're on campus they can log in and they can easily access Virio If they're off campus there's a VPN and still allows them easy access through their authentication So we're happy with that integration The user interface has provided a lot of simplicity for the students and us They have easy and uncomplicated submissions We're able to go in and provide notes in the system as managers to say do this this way do this that way like customizing how we want them to format their stuff So that's easy they mostly follow directions but you know we're dealing with students But the notes the customization where you can put your own notes and sticky notes is really we're happy with that feature And they can deposit whereas one time the capability deposit files was maybe 40 bags or something But now they have the capability of depositing multiple large files in different types of files in format So we're happy that we're able to also do that because we also receive data And so we want to you know use that data a certain way also so we're happy that they're able to do that The review the review process for the graduate office has been streamlined and so easy for them They the students used to submit and get no notification of anything Now the graduate office is able well the virial system automatically sends notification of the submission It allows the graduate office to track changes to you know see the status of the submission To customize an email template the flexibility of being able to include the invite the advisors and you know others on the processes They're watching and reviewing it and then finally approve them for submission into the repository There's also a great feature the filtering tools that we find has been wonderful Because for us the library integrated with office we need those tools to figure out which ones are ready for deposit Or you know have been approved or whatever status embargo all of the features that you know allows us to track what it is before we deposit it into the repository So for us the integration has been wonderful We like I said found those filtering tools great because when it's time to just approve or publish that some masters These season dissertations were able to just filter and find them in and send them through a sword transfer package into our repository So it's quick access to the content and it's quite useful for locating and updating those approved these season dissertation So basically that some it's been a really seamless for us we've had a few issues previously but it's been a while with a sword deposit broke And we figured it out our developers figured out you know it's usually some file or something that's causing the issue but then very oh And we haven't really had too many more issues with that so from submission to depositing into the institutional repository The Graduate Office and Library are very happy with Virio and its ease of use and have developed a great working relationship And now pass it back to Fred Kind of a presentation of all going Yeah, and I'm just going to reiterate a few of those things going a little more deep about the process It's not clear every thesis and dissertation at Georgia Tech goes through this process and every thesis and dissertation at Georgia Tech ends up in the repository And so all submitments go through the Graduate Office it's one point for all students and the Graduate Office you know controls you know through Virio They say you know Fred we're having a little trouble hearing you you keep cutting out a little Yeah Oh I am sorry I hope it's not a network connection Okay am I still bringing it am I okay Yeah I can take it Oh I'm sorry thank you Karen Basically it's just a reiteration of some of the things and now we were talking I think one thing that he was trying to say we no longer have to Transfer out a PDF to paperwork to a third party vendor where now we have all of that embedded the license agreements we don't use any of that process anymore And it makes the we have openly accessible metadata that's freely shared so that's a wonderful thing to be able to have you know all of the metadata in one place and transfer it into another place so Anything else you want to add because I can move on to the next slide for it I'm sorry yeah I Yeah I can move on to the next one No worries So to in our last Part here we wanted to talk about the current status of Virio for people who use Virio they noted they have a 4.0 version We are currently in the process of upgrading to Virio 4 it's in progress We decided to go with the the Georgia Tech Library Library has a service model that we have adopted And it has paired our IT technologists with product owners and we consider Virio as a product and other software platforms So this required a great amount of time being devoted to developing and upgrading multiple platforms So as such we bought a vendor in to perform an upgrade from Virio 3 to Virio 4 that's our current status Well it's been a bit of a challenge and there's been some obstacles We had to get through the procurement process which we didn't realize would take so long and maybe it was due to you know the pandemic People just wasn't able to get a lot done but that was unexpected We didn't realize all the approval methods that we had to get for contract What we are used to having contractors were not used to happening in this environment So we had some expectations that was not met And then we didn't know all of the stuff that we had to submit for a contractor And that all of the approvals and permissions and restrictions So we had to go through that whole process to get them clear to even do the work which took many months Way longer than what our day of the project So we have been quite delayed by that We had to have external dependencies which is our old office of information technology They have to move even things out of the new website Oh by the way our vendor is remote and so working remotely with the vendor And having to give them access to all these systems and creating websites that have to be approved by OIT office It was just stuff that was so unexpected Even giving them access to create the age version for us to work in before production has been a really long process Knowledge and data transfers from our developers to them is still ongoing We thought we were going to have a certain amount of data migrations and customizations and that has not happened And so basically we have been unable to meet that timeline So we are restructuring our upgrade We are still anxious to get it done but we step back a little bit So we can look at the whole process and maybe consider how much our in-house developers can do it So if anyone who is thinking about using the third party there is a lot of things you need to check some boxes before you go into that partnership And that is the end of our presentation Thank you Karen and Fred and Lindsay We are happy to answer any questions that you have But before we do that I just wanted to let you know that we do have a users group meeting today from 445 Oh is it, I don't know if it's actually 445 to 620 that sounds like a very long time But it starts at 445 and we would love to see you there if you have questions for us Or questions from some of our TDL colleagues who are here too We also have information online at this link that you can check out But are there any questions that anyone has for any of us? Or anything, not even questions if you want us to talk about something more, we can do that as well Yes I can, I can post that link in the chat I wanted to add that the Texas digital library developers are wonderful That Virio users group, the TDL developers, I have to give them great honors Because they're doing a fabulous job with this software They're very engaging with the community and they're very helpful and supportive of any issues So although we're using a third party, we still reach out to the developers so that they can also assist with this process So Kudos to the TDL Virio users group Well thank you again Emily and I think I had checked, I didn't see any questions Did anyone else have any questions for the group? I've been trying to copy and paste the link and put it in the chat and it's just not doing it So I'm going to try to type it out It's a long link with lots of numbers and things, I'm sorry guys No problem, I'll keep checking if we have any questions come up Oh Fred Can I pose a question? Yeah, yeah, for sure She mentioned in the chat about wanting to hear from our users outside of Texas And we're, you know, we know that Texas is a consortium of Virio users But we're also interested in knowing that it may be offered by the U.S. tech office That means I'm the part of the group Karen, I'm really sorry, I think you're cutting out now too Maybe it's the Georgia thing How about now, any better? Yes I was just wondering if you're coordinating for users outside of Texas Besides the online environment What is the type of support? Somebody has a bit of an issue We can't do that We're not going to share with maybe outside users and members Have you talked about some sort of work with the outside users Can also join as members and get the same support Okay everybody, I promise I didn't plant Karen here to ask that question Can y'all hear me? Yes Okay, yes Texas Digital Library Two years ago, our governing board decided that we would begin allowing membership outside of Texas So that we could host things like Virio Because we host seven different open source platforms for different purposes for our consortium in Texas And so we created an affiliate membership for anyone who would want to get our support for service and become that kind of member So yeah, we do offer it and we have two members outside of Texas now Both of them are using open journal system, not Virio yet We also haven't done a lot of work to really get the word out there that we're taking more folks We've been so focused on the Virio for migration And I do want to say especially to you and Fred We know the Virio for migration has been very tricky And it's none of ours are in production yet either in Texas, the 13 members here are not yet in production But we're hoping that we'll have the first before the end of next month Which is very exciting So yeah, we have everything on the website, all of our prices are open We're all trying to find out about that And you know that we'll help anyway Just stay in touch with us and some of the user group meeting on the third, we'd love to see you both there And Lindsay, I hope you're there Emily, I know you'll be there because you kind of have to be If anyone had any other questions, go ahead and type those into the chat I know right now I think we just have Courtney But she's really helpful at answering any of the questions you might have And Courtney, I'm not sure how many other folks might be having these connection problems as well Oh, did I sound, was that really broken up? No, no, you sounded great Okay Okay, is the VUG meeting going to be linked through the Oh, the Vrio's user group Yeah, we'll have that breakout session today through Hoppin Yeah, so it'll be later on Session 15, I think So no, it will not be linked through the Hoppin event But I think we were talking about maybe linking it here in the chat if possible I'm not sure No, it'll be through Hoppin It's breakout 15 All right, well I think with our streaming issues and everything, we should probably go ahead and shut the session down Is there any other questions? If so, feel free to type those into the chat I see Frank is here as well Hello Well, it looks like we don't have any more questions Oh wait, we have Emily She says she will meet us at the breakout in 15 All right, we'll see everybody there I appreciate everybody's understanding with the technical difficulties We'll try to get that figured out and see you soon in the breakout sessions Thank you again Bye