March 2018 137 C&RL News Jiebei Luo Using Google apps to manage embargo records Automating institutional repository reminders ACRL TechConnect Jiebei Luo is reference librarian at Skidmore College’s Lucy Scribner Library, email: jluo@skidmore.edu © 2018 Jiebei Luo Using multiple Google apps, the Lucy Scrib-ner Library at Skidmore College creates an automated reminder to manage embargo records of the scholarly works deposited in the college’s institutional repository (IR), Cre- ative Matter. This cloud-based em- bargo reminder can be applicable to other academic libraries that em- ploy Digital Com- mons or similar IR platforms without built-in embargo reminder func- tions. T h e L u c y Scribner Library employs Digi- tal Commons, a product of Be- press, as the IR platform to man- age and publish the creative scholarship from faculty, staff, students, and community members.1 Managing deposited articles with embargo restrictions or other similar delay- access requirements becomes a challenge in the repository administrator’s daily work. Our needs Digital Commons provides an embargo field at the submission page as an optional field for items with embargo control need.2 During the submission process, the site administrator selects the length of the embargo period and uploads the full-text file that can be accessi- ble after the embargo period expires. In other words, when the embargo restriction is lifted, the full text will be automatically released to the public. H o w e v e r , the Digital Com- mons automated embargo func- tionality does not fully meet o u r s p e c i f i c needs for man- aging embargo records. Rather than automati- cally releasing the full-text con- tent without any controls from the library, we prefer an automatic running re- minder to keep track of all embargoed articles with various date restrictions and notify the relevant parties when the embargo period of the item is about to expire. Upon receiving the notification, the library can then choose to Figure 1: Desired workflow before the embargo period ex- pires. View this article online for detail images. mailto:jluo%40skidmore.edu?subject= C&RL News March 2018 138 send an email with the article page link to notify the author that the full text will be accessible in our repository or double check journal-specific author rights regarding the version of the manu- script allowed to be publically accessible. This desired workflow is illustrated in Figure 1. In addition, given the complications involved in publishing embargoed articles, e.g., articles come from different academic disciplines with varying publication dates and versions allowed for IR deposit, we need a centralized storage site that records the embargo information and other spe- cific require- ments of all embargo re- stricted items. Finally, we would prefer an embargo reminder tool that is easy to use and free of extra subscription charge, which can help the library save not only addi- tional spending, but also training time for staff and work students. Upon researching various open source tools, we find that Google apps have the potential to meet our requirements for the embargo reminder. By leveraging and con- necting multiple Google apps, we create an automatic and cloud-based workflow, consisting of Google Forms (information entry), Google Sheets (data storage and cal- endar trigger), Google Calendar (containing calendar event and sending notification), and Google Drive (cloud storage). Installation and implementation Step 1: Preparing and setting up Google Forms Upon creating a Google account, we set up a Google Form for recording the neces- sary information of the items with embargo restrictions. The fields in our Google Form include author name, email address, publi- cation title, journal name, publication date, and embargo period. The fields for publi- cation date and embargo period are used to calculate the embargo expiration date, and we need to make sure that these two fields are calculable and consistent in terms of their time units. For the Publication Date field, we use the dropdown calendar to en- ter the publica- tion date. For the Embargo Period field, we set month as the time unit for the ease of calculation and provide the em- bargo period op- tions in a drop- down list, e.g., 6 (6 months); 12 (1 year); 24 (2 years), etc. Lastly, under the Google Forms Responses tab, we connect the form with the Google Sheet that stores embargo infor- mation. Step 2: Setting up Google Sheets We use the Google Sheets built-in formula, ArrayFormula, to calculate the embargo ex- piration date. We then invoke formMule, an open source Google Sheets add-on script written by New Visions Cloud Lab,3 to trig- ger a Google Calendar event, which serves as the embargo reminder in our application. Figure 3 provides an example. The article information entered through the Google Form spans from Column A to Column J. When a new record is inserted, the ArrayFor- mula inserted in K1 automatically calculates the embargo expiration date by adding the Figure 2: Embargo record fields in Google Forms. March 2018 139 C&RL News publication date (Column I, timestamp infor- mation) to the Embargo Period (Column J, number of months) for the entire Column K. Once the formMule add-on is installed, we take advantage of its calendar merge function to trigger a Google Calendar event. As shown in Figure 4, we set up the calendar merge under “Step 2b: Set up calendar merge.” Next, we check “Turn on calendar-event merge feature” and “Trigger event creation on form submit” to allow the Google sheet to trigger a Google Calendar event when a new embargo record is simul- taneously inserted through the Google Form. Also at the setup stage, we need to enter the designated Google Calendar information and the desired event type. Lastly, we specify the column that will trigger the Google Calendar event, which is Column K (Embargo Expires Date) in our case. Once the initial setups are completed, every time a new embargo record is inserted through the Google Form, a new Google Calendar event will be automatically triggered through this workflow. Step 3: Setting up Google Calendar In the final step, we set up the reminder type in Google Calendar, including notifica- tion channels and recipients when the em- bargo period expires. Given that Skidmore College uses Microsoft Outlook and event notifications from Google Calendar cannot be synced with Outlook Calendar, sending the reminder via email is the preferred and more reliable choice in our workflow. Benefits and applications The primary benefit of using Google apps to manage embargo records is the automation of the entire process. After the necessary in- formation is submitted through the Google Form, the rest of the steps are automatically completed through Google Sheets, Google Sheets add-on formMule, and Google Cal- endar. When managing an IR, processing the requests for delay access requires addi- tional attention and proper handling. Different publication dates, along with different embargo periods and versions of manuscript requirements further complicate the work involved. Moreover, potential changes in library personnel, including the site administrator, library staff, and work students, make it almost impossible to keep track of all embargo records over time. This automated embargo reminder alleviates these complications by creating a calendar event with all the necessary information upon en- tering a new item. The process of collecting and publish- ing scholarly work involves participation of multiple parties (as illustrated in Figure 1). The cloud-based nature of this embargo reminder allows information to be entered from multiple locations (e.g., sharing the Google Form via the link or embedding the Figure 3: ArrayFormula calculates the embargo expiration date and Google Sheets add-on formMule then simultaneously triggers a Google Calendar event. C&RL News March 2018 140 form in a web page). When the embargo is about to expire, the Google Calendar will send the notifications to all parties involved in the final publication stage. Meanwhile, we are able to maintain the accuracy and consistency of the embargo records once we limit the access to the Google Sheet to specific personnel, e.g., IR administrator. Conclusion With the working environment migrating from desktop to cloud, library academ- ics and practitioners become more used to the concept of sharing and the ben- efit of timely updates brought by cloud- based tools.4 Through integrating multiple Google apps with their distinct function- alities, we create an embargo reminder workflow that is automatic, easy for li- brary personnel to implement, and free of extra cost. Although this cloud-based em- bargo reminder is designed to compen- sate for the lack of notification functions in Digital Commons, it is also applicable to other proprietary IR platforms with- out built-in embargo reminder functions. Moreover, besides managing embargo re- cords, the workflow can be conveniently adapted and employed to other library projects that involve joint effort and re- cord management over time. Acknowledgement I thank session participants at the 2016 NYLA Annual Conference and 2017 Digital Com- mons New England User Group Meeting for their helpful comments. Notes 1. Bepress: https://www.bepress.com/. 2. Access Control and Embargoes, “ O p t i o n s f o r R e s t r i c t i n g C o n t e n t ” : h t t p s : / / w w w . b e p r e s s . c o m / r e f e r e n c e _guide_dc/access-control/, accessed on August 20, 2017. 3. The formMule Google Sheets add- on script: https://sites.google.com/a /newvisions.org/scripts_resources/scripts /formmule, accessed on August 20, 2017. 4. T. Ivins, “Data-driven decisions: Creating automated reports with data f r o m m u l t i p l e G o o g l e F o r m s , ” Col- lege & Research Libraries News, 77(2), 8 6 – 8 9 , d o i : h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 5 8 6 0 /crln.77.2.9447. Figure 4: Google Calendar merge settings in Google Sheets add-on formMule. mailto:/?subject= https://www.bepress.com/reference _guide_dc/access-control/ https://www.bepress.com/reference _guide_dc/access-control/ https://sites.google.com/a/newvisions.org/scripts_resources/scripts/formmule https://sites.google.com/a/newvisions.org/scripts_resources/scripts/formmule https://sites.google.com/a/newvisions.org/scripts_resources/scripts/formmule https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.77.2.9447 https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.77.2.9447