Jane Wildermuth honored by Academic Library Association of Ohio

Jane Wildermuth, head of Digital Initiatives and Repository Services for the Wright State University Libraries.

Jane Wildermuth, head of Digital Initiatives and Repository Services for the Wright State University Libraries, was honored for distinguished service by Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO).

Wildermuth received a TEDDY Award for distinguished service from ALAO’s Technical Electronic and Digital Services Interest Group. The TEDDY Award recognizes significant contributions to the technical, electronic or digital services fields. Wildermuth was honored at the association’s annual conference on Oct. 18 in Columbus.

“I am honored to receive the Academic Library Association of Ohio’s TEDDY Award. It truly means so much to me to be recognized by my peers,” Wildermuth said.

“Jane has been a long-time leader in Ohio for digital and repository library services and is very deserving of this award,” said Sue Polanka, university librarian at Wright State. “It is wonderful when the outstanding staff at the University Libraries are recognized for their achievements.”

The Academic Library Association of Ohio is a chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries. ALAO develops, promotes and improves library and information services in Ohio’s colleges and universities; advances the interests of academic librarianship and the personnel of academic libraries; and provides leadership and advocacy for the educational and policy concerns of academic libraries in Ohio.

Wildermuth oversees the collection, digitization and organization of scholarly and creative works and archival materials at Wright State.

CORE Scholar hosts scholarly works by Wright State faculty, staff and students as well as local, regional and university heritage materials. For instance, faculty papers, student posters, literary journals and materials from conferences and academic events are made available on CORE Scholar. Faculty members can also establish SelectedWorks pages to showcase their content. In addition, Digital Initiatives and Repository Services staff create metadata, format searchable PDFs and assist with copyright and licensing issues.

Since CORE Scholar was launched in 2012, more than 2.24 million items, including more than 33,000 papers, have been downloaded from the site.

As the first chair of the OhioLINK Digital Resource Management Committee in 2008, Wildermuth worked with library professionals throughout the state to develop standards and practices for institutional repositories, which are archives for collecting, preserving and disseminating digital materials. She also implemented the OhioLINK Digital Resource Commons and the Digital Commons from bepress at Wright State.

Since 2014, she has organized Ohio Institutional Repository Day, a biannual event in Columbus for information professionals who manage online collections of digital material.

Wildermuth joined Wright State in 1999 as a staff member in Special Collections and Archives. She created and became the head of Digital Services (now Digital Initiatives and Repository Services) in 2006.