Every institution is unique and therefore the approach to support VIVO at an institution should reflect the composition and priorities of that institution.

Support Information

  • VIVO Benefits - Information about how the power of VIVO can be leveraged, by role.
  • VIVO FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions that have been raised during local outreach presentations, conferences, and emails to project members.
  • Semantic Web resources - Resources to learn about the semantic web, linked open data, and more.

A library-based model of support and dissemination

Many institutions have found that a library-based model of support and dissemination is ideal. As academic appointees, the information specialists provide outreach to departments, programs, centers and individual researchers, with whom they have enduring professional relationships and to whom they provide assistance to facilitate research. Through their liaison roles, these information specialists:

  • Bring to the project an understanding of both news-worthy and day-to-day activities and issues of importance that inform data element and design decisions. Examples of these might include research areas, collaborative initiatives and committees that are used to pre-populate pick lists that researchers can use while editing their profiles,
  • Collaborate with groups across departments and administrative units to add content streams and improve efficiency,
  • Demonstrate VIVO and its self- and proxy-editing capability at departments, institutes, centers and researcher’s offices to inform individuals; provide feedback from users to help inform the local efforts. Their experience as instructors of digital information resources endows them with a unique awareness of user behavior in a digital climate.
  • Have developed strong and trusted professional relationships with their research clients, and will be able to use these connections to facilitate all tasks performed in relation to this project.
  • Bring expertise in the areas of collaboration, e-science, digital initiatives, subject specialties, ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and more.

Outreach Contacts

With whom can you speak about VIVO?

  1. Provost
  2. Vice President for Research
  3. Deans
  4. Research Deans
  5. department chairs, administrators, administrative support
  6. Liaison librarians
  7. Research core facility directors
  8. faculty advocates
  9. Staff and administrators in the Research Office/Office of Sponsored Research
  10. Faculty Affairs
  11. Faculty, staff and administrators in specialized research cores/centers
  12. Postdoc office
  13. Dean of Graduate Education
  14. Dean of Medical Education
  15. Graduate students

Local Outreach Activities

  • Utilize campus PR opportunities (poster boards, announcement screens, message boards) to get the word out about your local VIVO installation
  • weekly/monthly "drop-in" VIVO presentation
  • VIVO brown bag
  • participate in faculty development seminars through your Office of Faculty Affairs, your CTSA, and many other groups
  • graduate student/postdoc orientation
  • posters about VIVO around campus
  • keep a stack of postcards or other information about VIVO with you and pass out while walking thought the hall
  • include a VIVO postcard or other information about the effort in orientation materials (new faculty, postdocs, grad students)
  • display a poster at department seminars and local conferences
  • work with your public affairs office to establish a semi-regular VIVO update for the campus newspaper (include version upgrades with new features highlighted, interface changes, presentations by team members, and more)
  • work with your public affairs office to get a feature article about VIVO
  • include VIVO on your business cards/use Moo cards
  • weekly/monthly "editing and supplementing your profile" workshop