Now It’s Really Official
The press release:
Making Libraries Relevant in an Internet-Based Society
PSU’s Casey Bisson wins Mellon Award for innovative search software for libraries
PLYMOUTH, N.H. — You can’t trip over what’s not there. Every day millions of Internet users search online for information about millions of topics. And none of their search results include resources from the countless libraries around the world–until now.
Casey Bisson, information architect for Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library, has received the prestigious Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration for his ground-breaking software application known as WPopac. The Wpopac software will revolutionize the online search process by allowing titles and descriptions of library holdings to be found on the Internet.
The award was presented at a ceremony hosted by the Mellon Foundation on Monday, Dec. 4 at the fall meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information, in Washington, D.C. Bisson’s project was selected as one of only 10 recipients out of several hundred nominees for 2006, the first year the MATC awards have been granted. The decision was made by an all-star panel that included Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, and Mitchell Baker, CEO of the Mozilla Foundation.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports the thoughtful application of information technology to a wide range of scholarly purposes, including developing digital technologies to enhance research, teaching, and online and distance learning, and new technical approaches to archiving text and multimedia materials.
Christopher Mackie, program officer for the Mellon Foundation’s Research in Information Technology section, was pleased with how well WPopac fits the foundation’s criteria.
“The award committee was particularly excited by the way WPopac makes library patrons more active participants in their library experience,” Mackie said. “By allowing patrons to add information to library records online, the software allows the community to work together to make their library resources more informative and more valuable. When you couple this with the reduced costs of access that WPopac permits, and the enthusiasm with which it has been received by librarians and patrons alike, the committee judged the project to have a truly revolutionary potential.”
“For years we’ve been talking about the digital divide in terms of access, and we’ve been working hard to put computers and networks into every school and library,” Bisson said. “But those same libraries, and their communities, are invisible to people online. If libraries are to be more than study halls in the Internet age, if they are to continue their role as centers of knowledge in every community, they need to be findable and available online. They need the tools to represent their collections, their services, and the unique history of their communities online. That’s what WPopac does.”
Dwight Fischer, director of information technology at PSU, called Bisson’s work an appropriate centerpiece for the university’s transformed academic library. “Over the past year, Lamson Library has implemented what is known as a Learning Commons,” Fischer explained. “This joint effort between library and IT professionals brings more technologies, online research materials, academic tutoring, writing and reading services to a central location in the library. Library faculty and staff members work side-by-side with IT professionals, forming a collaborative team that better reflects the needs of today’s students. Casey’s project will help build more bridges to more information for more people. We’re very proud of him.”
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8 Responses to “Now It’s Really Official”
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December 4th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Congratulations, Casey! Well deserved!
Paul
December 5th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Casey: A singular honor, very well-deserved, and the current high water mark in the effort to make library’s 21st century organizations. Congratulations, and thank you for your efforts on behalf of us all.
December 5th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
Make that libraries, please.
Thanks
December 11th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Super super job, Casey,
We are itching to try this out. And we will give it a spin, when you are ready to release the code.
Thanks,
February 5th, 2007 at 6:35 am
You’ve probably been asked this question lots of times, but is there are timetable for the general release of WPopac?
Is there a way to join the beta test program?
March 9th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Congratulations on the award!
We run an organization called JerseyConnect (http://www.jerseyconnect.net), providing internet access and related services to libraries throughout New Jersey.
I ran into your project while looking for an solution for small libraries in the state that currently operate without an automated catalog, and others whose ILS support agreements represent an enormous portion of their operating budgets. I’m not sure your program would solve that problem 100%, but it may not be far off. Drop me a line if you’d be interested in working with us.
June 6th, 2007 at 6:48 am
Congratulations! Great project!
I´m waiting anxiously for the Scriblio.
June 21st, 2007 at 2:17 pm
[...] role in this began with the news that WPopac (as it was known then) was selected to receive a Mellon Award. As a comprehensive regional university with a rural campus and a focus on education, Plymouth [...]