On January 14, 2013, the OhioLINK community was informed that the Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETD) service was down for emergency maintenance. Few in the community could have predicted that single event would trigger a tidal wave of changes that ultimately resulted in a complete system rebuild. Panel participants will discuss the situation from their perspectives as OhioLINK ETD stakeholders. Implementing a new consortial system is a tricky undertaking even with adequate time to plan for the development. What additional pressures come into play when an emergency necessitates rapid development and implementation? What is the impact of changing to a new system in the middle of the academic year during the weeks leading up to the community’s busiest ETD season? How will the hundreds of papers submitted but not approved before the system went down be handled? What adjustments will stakeholders need to make in the short term to realize the long term benefit of an improved consortial ETD submission and approval system? What improvements have been realized with the new system? Communication is vitally important during times of transition. What successes and/or failures of communication can be identified in hindsight? How would the situation be different if the Ohio ETD community had not gathered in the summer of 2012 to discuss their needs and desires for a better system that provided a foundation for functional requirements? What are these new functions and how are they working so far? What future enhancements are on the horizon for the new system? The panelists will discuss these and other issues in a session designed for active audience participation
