The Vireo Users Group met formally for the first time on May 19, 2010, to discuss how a community of users can meet the needs of campuses using Vireo ETD software to manage the submission, approval, and publication of electronic theses and dissertations.
The group convened in the Perry Castaneda Library on the UT Austin campus. Users Group co-chairs Laura Hammons (Thesis Officer Director at Texas A&M University) and Jason Thomale (Metadata Librarian at Texas Tech University) led the meeting, which included a presentation about Vireo development and discussion about the structure and purpose of the group.
Following the meeting, the group launched a website on the TDL WordPress installation at http://blogs.tdl.org/vireo. The site is under development but already includes information from the May 19 meeting, including presentations and Vireo User Profiles from several member institutions.
The Texas Digital Library plans to release Vireo as an open-source application in September 2010. The software, which allows for online submission of ETDs by students and thesis office management of the document through an expert management interface, was developed by the Texas Digital Library with grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. Currently, three TDL member institutions use Vireo to manage their ETD programs, and the software is in testing at several other institutions, including the Angelo State University, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Houston, the University of Illinois and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For more information about Vireo, please visit the TDL website. Anyone currently utilizing Vireo or interested in the tool can participate in the Vireo Users Group. If you would like to be included in the Vireo Users Group listserv, please contact the TDL Program Coordinator at info@tdl.org.