Momentum continues to build around The Ohio State University’s Managed IT Services (MITS), with news today that University Libraries is the newest MITS Core partner. The Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI) has more than 20 MITS Core partners enjoying the benefits of scale OTDI provides. It all leads to consistent and secure IT services with predictable and transparent budgeting.
"OTDI provided a framework enabling the Libraries to leverage economies of scale in providing core IT services to support research, teaching and learning," said Damon Jaggars, vice provost and dean of University Libraries. "The partnership will help us align with university standards and immediately improve our cybersecurity framework."
MITS Core offers IT services, computers and support that every employee needs to do their job, can assist university departments in saving money or running more efficiently. Core services include:
- One standard Windows or Apple laptop refreshed every four years
- IT Service Desk (ITSD) support – email, phone, in-person desktop support
- Managed Network Service (wired and wireless network connectivity)
- Active Directory Services
- Endpoint Management Services
- Level one and two audio visual support
- Risk and compliance support
- Dedicated relationship manager
- MITS dashboards for transparency to help data-driven decisions
- Asset management
- Professional services (communications, project management and solutions engineers for unique needs)
For OTDI’s vice president and chief information officer (CIO) Rob Lowden, MITS is a key tenant to his Stronger Together vision designed to create and support a unified IT identity for every Buckeye across the university.
“MITS is the right approach for the institution because it enables colleges and business units to focus on their own priorities while moving the organization to a higher level of security and strategic IT focus,” Lowden said. “I firmly believe that our role as IT professionals is to support the amazing work taking place on campus every day. We believe each department should be enabled to focus their time and energy on what is unique to their missions.”
Other benefits Libraries will enjoy include:
- Expanding the University Libraries partnership with OTDI to include the support of local infrastructure and help desk.
- Allowing for an enhanced focus on Libraries-specific technology projects and operations, amplifying opportunities for innovation within the Libraries core services and offerings.
- Improving the Libraries ability to optimize local computing within its environment.
- Gaining a team of dedicated IT experts and relationship managers that are not only there to help solve immediate issues, but to think strategically about how technology can enable the learning experience and help employees do their jobs.
As part of the new partnership, the Libraries existing Infrastructure and Support team will move to OTDI on July 1, 2026, to perform similar positions that match their skillset. Staff will be given the opportunity to develop additional skills and to grow into new IT operations that are not available within the Libraries.
Libraries joins a long list of colleges and business units from across the university as a MITS Core partner:
- Board of Trustees
- Business and Finance
- College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences
- College of Public Health
- College of Social Work
- John Glenn College of Public Affairs
- Moritz College of Law
- Office of Academic Affairs
- Office of Administration and Planning
- Office of Government Affairs
- Office of Human Resources
- Office of Legal Affairs
- Office of Marketing
- Office of the President
- Ohio State Lima
- Ohio State Mansfield
- Ohio State Marion
- Ohio State Newark and COTC
- Translational Data and Analytics Institute
- University Communications
- University Libraries
- Wexner Center for the Arts
College or business units interested in learning more about MITS or MITS Core can visit the OTDI website or contact Ginger Breon, associate vice president for enterprise support and executive director of research computing.