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NIMAC UPDATE

NIMAC UPDATE. Julia Myers Nicole Gaines January 2009. NIMAC FACTS. What does the NIMAC do? The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format. NIMAC FACTS. What does the NIMAC do?

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NIMAC UPDATE

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  1. NIMAC UPDATE Julia Myers Nicole Gaines January 2009

  2. NIMAC FACTS What does the NIMAC do? The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format.

  3. NIMAC FACTS What does the NIMAC do? We also sign up registered users and provide the searchable web interface. The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format.

  4. NIMAC FACTS What does the NIMAC do? OverDrive, Inc., is the vendor who is providing the database software and off-site storage for the NIMAC’s file sets.

  5. Big News! New AU Definition! • Per a directive from OSEP, the NIMAC has expanded the definition of who may be designated as an Authorized User. • The new definition enables State Coordinators to name as Authorized Users any agency which qualifies as an “authorized entity” under Chafee.

  6. Big News! New AU Definition! • In order to accommodate the change, we have made minor changes to the language of both the NIMAC Coordination Agreement and the NIMAC Limitation of Use Agreement. • The new docs are now posted at our web site: http://www.nimac.us/authorized.html

  7. Big News! New AU Definition! • All State Coordinators have been sent a notice of the changes, as well as electronic copies of both documents. • In order to implement the policy right away, we are activating any pending accounts upon receipt of an email response of acceptance of the new Coordination Agreement.

  8. NIMAC Statistics Accepted File Sets: January 2008: 4,100 January 2009: 12,571 (This represents an increase of 306%.)

  9. NIMAC Statistics Publishers Working with NIMAC: January 2008: 49 January 2009: 75 (This represents an increase of 153%.)

  10. NIMAC Statistics States/Outlying Areas Coordinating: January 2008: 44 January 2009: 54 (This represents an increase of 28%.)

  11. NIMAC Statistics Authorized Users: January 2008: 58 (from 31 states) January 2009: 105 (from 51 states) (This represents an increase of 81%.)

  12. NIMAC Statistics Accessible Media Producers: January 2008: 45 January 2009: 105 (This represents an increase of 133%.)

  13. NIMAC Statistics Unique Downloads by AMPs: January 2008: 71 January 2009: 425 (This represents an increase of 600%.)

  14. NIMAC Statistics Unique Downloads by AUs: January 2008: 294 January 2009: 822 (This represents an increase of 279%.)

  15. NIMAS Inventory Number of Files Available: Textbooks: 2,690 Other: 1,171 Consumables: 1,174 Supplementary reading materials: 7,536 TOTAL:12,571

  16. NIMAS Inventory File Types by Percentage: Textbooks: 21.3% Other: 9.3% Consumables: 9.4% Supplementary reading materials: 60% TOTAL: 100%

  17. NIMAS Inventory Files Downloaded: Textbooks: 916 (73.4% of downloads) Other: 30 (2.4% of downloads) Consumable: 96 (7.7% of downloads) Supplementary reading materials: 205 (16.5% of downloads) TOTAL:1,247

  18. NIMAS Inventory Percentage of Total Inventory Downloaded as of 1/20/2009: Textbooks: 35% Other: 3% Consumable: 8% Supplementary reading materials: 3% Total Inventory: 10%

  19. Authorized User Downloads

  20. AMP Downloads

  21. Recap of NIMAC Growth

  22. Outreach and NIMAC • Outreach continues to be a key aspect of our work. • NIMAC routinely offers training webcasts and does further outreach through conference calls and participation in conferences and workshops.

  23. Outreach • Webcasts and Conference calls (59). • Workshops and conference presentations (20). • AAP SSWD and NIMAC joint first meeting, June 2008.

  24. Outreach NIMAC Advisory Council • Provides input to NIMAC on policy and operations. • Includes representatives from AMPs, AFB, AAP & AEP, OSEP, and states. • Meets on a quarterly basis via teleconference.

  25. More Outreach NIMAC User Group • Provides a forum for improving the NIMAC experience through collaboration and support of its users. • Includes actual users of the NIMAC from among authorized users, accessible media producers, and publishers. • Meets 6 times a year via teleconference.

  26. NIMAC Challenges: 1. File Volume • The NIMAC already has received and accepted more than the number of file sets expected for the entire five years of the project grant.

  27. Solutions: Building Capacity! • NIMAC and OverDrive have both added additional staff to handle the increased volume. • OverDrive has also added new servers and other hardware to better manage the greater workflow.

  28. NIMAC Challenges: 2. Metadata Quality • NIMAC to date has had to reject a large number of files due to incorrect or incomplete metadata (descriptive bibliographic information).  • In the past, correction of OPF data has required the resubmission of the file set by the publisher. • This sometimes led to lengthy delays as NIMAC awaited the corrected file sets.

  29. Solution: System Enhancements • Publishers will be able to correct OPF metadata directly in the NIMAC 2.0 system. (2.0 beta in test now.) • This will dramatically reduce the number of file set resubmissions. • This will speed up the certification time for hundreds of files that otherwise might have been delayed for weeks or months.

  30. Solution: System Enhancements • NIMAC 2.0 will also include functionality that will allow publishers to generate correctly formatted OPF metadata, with correct tags, by using the OverDrive Excel metadata spreadsheet. • We hope that this will dramatically reduce the number of errors in the OPFs by eliminating the need for “data entry” in OPFs by vendors.

  31. NIMAC Challenges:3. File Quality • Roughly 10 files out of 1,247 total files downloaded have been reported to NIMAC as having serious content problems. • This represents less than one tenth of 1% of all downloaded files. • NIMAC pulled these file sets and required publishers to correct the files and resubmit.

  32. NIMAC Challenges:3. File Quality • Despite extremely low number of reported problems, concerns expressed recently by transcribers and others lead us to believe that NIMAC users are not reporting problems. • Issues appear to involve both “best practices” concerns as well as problems such as missing content.

  33. NIMAC Challenges:3. File Quality • However, a related issue is that of the on-going need for training on how to convert NIMAS into accessible formats. • NIMAC occasionally receives calls or emails regarding “quality problems” which are in fact issues of NIMAS compatibility with a given software program, not problems with the file set itself.

  34. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems • NIMAC recently sent out an email soliciting feedback on quality that was widely distributed on several listservs. • Users were given detailed information on how to let us—and the NIMAS Technical Assistance Center—know about problems.

  35. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems A. Reporting CONTENT Issues Examples of such problems might be: • missing portions of text (not included in either the XML OR in image files) • missing images • numerous typographical errors not found in the print book • significant portions of text that do not match the print book with the identical ISBN

  36. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems Please email us the following information: • Your NIMAC user ID • NIMAS Identifier for the file set • Title of the book • Specific information regarding the problem, including page numbers where problems were found • What type of conversion, if any, you have done on the file set

  37. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems B.   Reporting TAGGING / Best Practices Issues Examples of such problems might be: • Page numbers not tagged • Text embedded in images not included in XML • Charts incorrectly tagged as lists, etc.

  38. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems • We ask that you send reports of these problems to chitchcock@cast.org and also copy nimac@aph.org. • Please include the same detailed information requested in the previous section.

  39. Solution: Outreach on Reporting Problems C.    SOFTWARE / Conversion Issues • While providing assistance in converting NIMAS into accessible formats is outside the scope of the NIMAC, we encourage users to contact the specific product vendor and/or the NIMAS Technical Assistance Center at CAST for guidance with these types of problems. • An example of this problem is the inability to open XML files in a specific program.

  40. NIMAC Challenges: 4. File Size • The size of the NIMAS file sets continues to pose a challenge for both NIMAC users and publishers providing files. • The specification calls for all images of the print book to be provided as separate image files in the file set. • The NIMAC has received several files in the six GB range and we have been alerted by publishers to expect files to exceed ten GB.

  41. Solutions • This remains an unsolved problem! • Guidance or direction from the NIMAS Standard Board? • Assistance to vendors from the NIMAS Technical Assistance Center?

  42. Future Directions: More Growth! • NIMAC has received notification that we will be receiving over 3,000 new file sets in the next month alone! • Unless the current recession adversely affects submissions, we expect to exceed last year’s submissions and reach over 20,000 file sets in the repository by the end of 2009!

  43. Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0! • NIMAC 2.0 is now in beta testing and we are hopeful that we will soon be able to announce a “go live” date. • The new version of the software will include enhancements for all of the NIMAC portals.

  44. Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0! NEW Authorized User portal features: • View information on which users have already downloaded the file set. • AMP contact information listings. • Publisher contact listings. • Additional status information in the Watchlist. • Report functionality.

  45. Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0! NEW AMP Portal features: • Publisher contact listings. • More information on the download queue display (ISBN). • Improved display (better organized.) • Archiving feature for download queue.

  46. Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0! NEW Publisher portal features: • Ability to download Uncertified Inventory. • Enhanced reporting functionality. • Enhanced search options. • More detailed brief display information.

  47. NIMAC Team • Julia Myers, Project Director • Nicole Gaines, NIMAC Manager • Johanna Argo, NIMAC Support Specialist • Tiffany Bradford, NIMAC Support Specialist • OverDrive NIMAC Team

  48. How to Reach Us • http://www.nimac.us • 502-899-2230 • 1-877-526-4622 (1-877-52-NIMAC) • NIMAC@aph.org

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