Ken Varnum

About

I manage Library Web Systems, the department responsible for the library's web site, including ArticlesPlus (our implementation of Serials Solutions' Summon), Search Tools, and the library's proxy server. Our group provides Drupal for other parts of MLibrary, as well.

I serve on a number of library committees and working groups, including the Library Web Team, PARC (Public Access Resources Committee), and Senior Managers.  I am the vice-chair/chair-elect of the Librarians' Forum, our faculty governance body. I was a member of the RLG Sharing and Aggregating Social Metadata Working Group, served on the Code4Lib Journal's editorial committee for its first 7 issues, and am taking part in the NISO Open Discovery Initiative project.  My blog about innovative ways libraries use RSS is RSS4Lib.

Background

I received a BA in History and Russian from Grinnell College and Masters' degrees in Library Studies (with a concentration in archives) and Russian & East European Studies from the University of Michigan. Before coming to the University of Michigan Library, I worked for libraries at Tufts University (Boston), Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI), and the Open Media Research Institute (Prague, Czech Republic). 

Upcoming Presentations and Publications

• "Discovery Here, Discovery There: Pros and Cons of Local or Remote Hosting of Discovery Tools"
  Conversation Starter at ALA National, June 23, 2012
• "Developing a User-Centered Discovery Environment" with Scott Dennis, Kathleen Folger, and Suzanne Chapman. Planning and Implementing Resource Discovery Tools in Academic Libraries. IGI Global. Forthcoming, June 2012.
• "Library Favorites and Resource Modeling"
  Presentation at the LITA National Forum, October 2012.

Recent Publications and Presentations

See my personal site for a complete list.

• Drupal in Libraries. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. June 2012.
• "Don’t Go There! Providing Discovery Services Locally, Not at a Vendor’s Site"
  Presentation at the Michigan Library Association's Academic Libraries 2012 conference, 10 May 2012.
• "Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums"
  Presentation (with 5 others) on the conclusions of the Social Metadata Working Group on 9 March 2012.
• "Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums. Part 2: Survey Analysis. Smith-Yoshimura, Karen, Carol Jean Godby, Helice Koffler, Ken Varnum and Elizabeth Yakel. 2011. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Research. http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-03.pdf.
• "Serials Solutions’ Summon: Familiarity Breeds Success," Library Journal Reference Supplement, November 15, 2011. 
• “Keeping Your Feet on the Ground when Putting your (Lib)Guides in the Cloud” with Karen Reiman-Sendi and Albert A. Bertram. Getting Started with Cloud Computing: A LITA Guide. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. Edited by Heather Moulaison and Edward Corrado. 2011.
• Keeping Discovery in the Library (SlideShare)
  Presentation as part of a panel discussion at the 2011 Charleston Conference on 2 November 2011.
• Making the Case for CMS! (SlideShare) with Nina McHale
  Presented at Internet Librarian 2011 on 19 October 2011.
• Drupal & Summon: Keeping Article Discovery in the Library (SlideShare)
  Presented at LITA National Forum 2011 on 30 September 2011.