SRG Group Minutes - August 13, 2008
Ideas for http://alacarte.library.oregonstate.edu/ page
- keep home page short & sweet
- change reviews to buzz
- examples of what can i do with this tool for example: SRG or ICA
- feature recently designed or created pages
- change on about page why course assignment pages to why Library a la carte--ditch content currently on the about page
- Don't like to read? create video demo of Library a la carte
- change about page to contact page --conform with similar sites
- change Support to Help? we don't support the tool to the same degree as the word support connotes
- put sys reqs under support/help
- create how it works page: tour, why should I use, expand on features section on the home page
- Feature one example on home page; put examples in menu and create examples page where we showcase examples with thumbnails of pages and include pages created outside of OSU
- be sure to list all things in the menu
- focus on the tool similar to libraryfind page
MM home page& menu due 8/22
LB contact page due 8/22
AB & JN how it works / why page due 8/29
KG create demo due 8/31
Blog: if KG willing to maintain content, go for it.
SRG Group Minutes - July 30, 2008
1. Updating the about page: http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/about/index.html Progress?
Stephen joined us and showed us his progress on http://alacarte.library.oregonstate.edu/. We like so far. With Margaret we need to rewrite the content. Suggest that we try to do at next week's meeting if we can. Stephen will have our Drupal accounts ready to go by then.
For the support page Stephen suggests adopting a layout and some of the terminology similar to OSU Drupal Documentation page (http://oregonstate.edu/webprojects/drupal/).
Stephen and Kim will take lead on writing content for the download page.
Homework for us all: peruse other sites for ideas on how they "market" / describe / etc their products. For example Kim looks at 37signals; many of the sites covered by infodoodads could work or go2web2.0.
2. Divvy up work on the about/help web pages. The about pages are here http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/about/index.html.
The help manual will consist of the support pages, screencasts, FAQs. Links for developers will be on the download page.
We brainstormed other modules to create help modules for and volunteered for some. We'll ask other librarians to create a help module. The list is here.
3. Review content for the Overview section. Here is our draft: http://wiki.library.oregonstate.edu/confluence/display/SRG/Draft+of+Subject+Guides+Overview+Info
We reviewed the content. AMD updated Jane's draft and we made some additional minor changes. Similar content for the ICA pages can be drafted byt the ICA group.
4. Other? Kim is working on enhancements and bugs, including: changing the recaptcha, a more button in the databases module, allowing multiple subjects for classes, handling slash courses, tags, image uploader.
5. Announcement! Kim discussing with Jeremy the possibility of OSU Libraries offering a hosted service of Library a la Carte for interested libraries.
6. Discussed how we will foster promotion (librarians send emails in fall to depts & announce new SRGs; feature on what's new on library home page).
SRG Group Minutes - July 30, 2008
Information for the Library a la Carte page
Blog; About (what it is); documentation/download combined; Screenshots become help; Features and About combined
Steven will join us every couple meetings. He is going to use Drupal.
Tuesday recap (informal discussion about SRGs with librarians): Get help with a subject page conversation...ditch browse by topic and add browse by tags at bottom left. We want to use phrases with spaces, unlike delicious, is there anyway to do phrases without underscores. People want the general chat. Click on Subject Specialist -- people want a straight list of librarians and want the subjects to not be hyperlinked (or something) but team 200 is going to deal with this, and when clicking on name it will go to drupal profiles. Featured Guides people want to swap locations with About These Guides; and consider a visual cue (like Kim suggested a star). * let's do it one way one term and the other way the other term and compare clicks for user-centered testing. Let's put one guide in "Featured Guides" and then a "next" link. In Browse SRG highlight when something was last updated -- decided not to do this because it may imply up-front that some SRG's are out of date, when this is not necessarily true. Consider a search box. Might do a notes to self on the dashboard. Under About these Guides have " for course guides go here".
Click to reveal email is not popular. We will do a little survey.
Librarian profile get rid of bullets and labels. However, ADA guidelines prefer labels for readers (imagine listening to the information). Support RSS feeds and different types. Librarian generated tags more meaningful than an automatically generated tag.
For future: ask librarians if they want to measure how consistent we are with terminology, tab use, if they want to establish consistency and how much.
SRG Group Minutes - July 23, 2008
Agenda
1. Writing the help docs for the srg part of the tool. This will include taking screenshots, writing content, and updating a word doc. Overhaul the ICA User Manual. Student workers will help with the FAQ & Help within the tool. Those updates can be pulled into the User Manual. KG will write up what needs to be done & then we can divvy up.
Note: ALISON LOVES THIS!
2. the two groups (ICA/SRG) work together on updating the about website. I plan on either moving it into the tool or into Drupal so that everyone can add content. Kim will move the content then we'll divvy up work.
3. Prepare for next Tuesday's discussion. Bring projector. Points for discussion:
This is a conceptual discussion about SRG's plus a few specific questions, not how to or followup training.
- do we want tabs or module headers to have a naming consistency?
- use of library terms vs. user centered language
- decide on general chat widget on browse by subject & master subject pages
- elements for browse by subject & master subject pages
- what makes a good page "good"?
- how much consistency between pages do we want (Bellingham question)
- what is a SRG? rethinking SRGs and rethinking how to present content
- other?
Articles: the one MM gave us
Possible outcome: guidelines for SRGs
Outcome: decisions on templates
4. A question about why some of us have so many of the same modules came up this week & here's some info about that.
Everyone will probably have multiple copies of some of their modules since every time you created a quickstart it made a copy each time you added it to a page, thus there are a lot of copies around.
One option to clean up duplicate modules:decide which module you like best and give it a unique private label
delete the copies you don't want (this will delete the module from all pages where it currently resides)
add module to the pages that you want it on
preview the pages and edit the module's location as needed
This process will leave you with one copy of the same module that you are reusing on all of the pages you select. Moreover, when you edit this module those edits will show up on all the pages where the module resides.
Another option is to make a variation of your module. Here's how you can do this:choose your module
rename the private label & make whatever other changes you want
add the module to pages
This process will give you unique versions of the same module. Moreover, when you edit this module those edits only show up on that module.
Questions? Help? Call KG. or the SRG group.
5. Problemas with the template. Rethink templates because headers are busting out. KG take to graphic designer to help solve.
6. Images, facebook badges also bust the template. Education approach first. KG does control size & position in IE because otherwise it looks really bad. Laurie & Kim will make a Jing about how best to do this.
7. Check your pages to make sure they work!
8. the correct address for our forums is http://cms.library.oregonstate.edu/forum.
9. Db of db module: issue w/ full-text field; decision: remove automatically pulling in full-text; librarian can address full-text or not in their description. Will still pull in coverage dates.
SRG Training - July 17, 2008
Training for SRG's from 10-11:30 in Autzen. The training was recorded and that recording is attached to the SRG training wiki page.
Notes from training: Education pages: KG will ask student worker to convert
Reminder that there is a 20 character limit on the tabs
Reminder that any images used in the librarian profile where lost & will have to be re-uploaded.
SRG Group Minutes - July 16, 2008
Planned for training.
SRG Group Minutes - July 9, 2008
Jane (notes), Kim, Laurie, Valery
1. Review training for librarians on new tool: what we plan to cover, test the recording (Alison won't be here, so we're on our own!)
Reviewed our plan for next week. Jane created a hand out of what we will be covering.
2. Update on changes to tool?
Kim did user testing last week. Issues with icons, bugs and modules were brought out. Kim resolved all and made additional changes.
We talked about use case of wanting to rename global modules. We concluded that we will allow for modules to have a private label.
3. Update on templates for master & browse by subject pages
We will roll out these pages in September so we can wait to complete our discussion on these until after we get additional input from subject librarians and after next week's training.
4. Forums: check to see if anyone commented
Reviewed comments and responded.
Misc.
Kim got requests for 4 demo accounts after ALA. Laurie's talk was mentioned.
Action items:
JN: send out reminder email about forum, training & asking about putting the general chat widget on the browse by subject page (done)
JN: start on content for section on overview information about what a subject guide is for students & faculty
JN: test the smart board recording to make sure we know how to use it (done-note: jane has microphone; check that correct output/input devices are selected)
All: next week do a run through for the training
All: test the tool! Note on the wiki page Testing & Bugs (rather than emailing Kim) any issues found. Rosie is still working on some layout issues so don't be surprised if you bump into those. Include in your notes what you were doing.
SRG Group Minutes - July 2, 2008
Jane, Kim, Alison (notes), Laurie, Valery
1. We will postpone the training session to allow for further refinement of the tool and time to get feedback from librarians about template. Alison will find new training session (after July 15).
2. Email to SLs: training date change, link to images of templates (SRG and browse by subject), forum feedback (appearance, layout of content, use of colors). Ask SLs if they want a general chat widget on the "browse by subject page" and if there is any other info they would like on that page. Email Kim if don't want to use forum.
3. For the browse by subject page: content on the right side could have info about what SRGs are, how they are useful to students and faculty. Example: http://www.library.wisc.edu/lcp/index.html
4. When publishing an SRG we will require "group by" choice and a contact module.
5. Master subject page: left side - librarians, related ICAs. right side - chat
SRG Group Minutes - June 25, 2008
Jane, Kim, Alison, Laurie, Valery (notes)
1. Update on changes to design of pages?
Kim showed us: colored tabs, visual icons, alternating lines have alternating colors. For visual people---sidebar color matches the color of the selected tab.
Re: an Archive place for saved pages not currently in use, need to define what Archive means, where it is stored, how do librarians pull pages from there. What is the workflow? do we unpublish something to archive it? How do we want it to work?
2. Training librarians on new tool: any update?
Team will be able to play with it in a few days to prepare for the training (next Tuesday-Thursday, with the training set for the following Monday). We can get some of the people not going to ALA to do some user testing.
Alison will make sure to send training materials we develop to Bend and Newport. Unlikely that our librarians from there will be able to attend the training, although with the new tool so similar to the ICAPs we don't think they will have too much trouble catching on without it.
Things to include in the training instructions:
Ask everyone to bring either one of their existing guides or info enough to create a new guide to the training.
Tell people what the new features are.
Demo creating new guide and also converting an old one.
Outline of Session:
A. Kim (20-30 minutes)--
- Demo how to create a subject page
- Highlight new features: modules, global modules, maybe database
- Comments/course reserves
- Relationship to ICAs---look more like guides but librarians won't need to make any changes; reuse of content & modules; ICAlayout change
B. Practice: let people loose on it! Team answer questions, offer suggestions, etc.
C. Give a timeline: when we will go live, when they should have pages cone by (Sept. 1); that old pages not put into the new tool will not be online (so they have from July 7 through Sept.1). They can create and publish pages, but they will not be linked until the new index page is created Sept.1. Like with ICAs, they can send the url to faculty before Sept. 1 so they can see them and include the url in their handouts, but they won't be linked on the website until Sept. 1.
D. Questions/Follow up help/Follow up email
SRG members willing to answer questions.
Record the session on SmartBoard, which can be played back on Windows MediaPlayer.
3. Editing permissions in Database of Database: when we pull a database entry into the tool librarians will not have ownership of DoD (ie., cannot make changes in DoD). However, description of a database can be changed in the guides. Title set, but pulling other information into the SRG will be optional (ie, dates of coverage, database provider). Choice of a database will be from an a-z list. We do want the ability to add multiple database listings to a module.
4. Library á la carte logo update on design?
Ran out of time for this.
5. Update on changes to tool?
Discussion on the page design took up the rest of the meeting. Things agreed on:
Browse By Subject
- good to keep most content "above the fold"
- include random selection of a featured guide
- add a search box sometime down the road
- like the idea of having tags/tag cloud
- include box with links to other types of guides (ICAs)
- get help from a librarian link
- chat box/get help box
- link to librarians list
Left hand navigation bar: takes up space but has important information. Decided we want to drop this from the page.
How to list the guides?
Name "Tips and Tools" needs some discussion. Subject or Tips & tools?--assign as a master subject and it will go into this sectionFinish the discussion by email because Kim needs a decision soon (before people are back from ALA?)
Rough design: 
SRG Group Minutes - June 18, 2008 Jane, Kim, Valery, Laurie, Alison, Margaret
1. feedback from Bellinghamtrip / stuff to chew on - Margaret & Kim
- we don't require anything on our pages so the look isn't consistent across pages, as well as the vocabulary/descriptions
- right now the tool doesn't allow for a finer level of content reuse. we don't have the level of granularity at the databases level
- index pages - it would be nice to have different ways of filtering the page (e.g. tags, most popular)
Decisions:
a) Set up a meeting with all subject librarians to discuss best practices for web content and terminology sometime after 7/7/08. We don't feel that ICAs or SRGs should have requirements, but a discussion about these topics should take place after the training session and librarians have had time to use the tool to created SRGs.
b) Have the tool be able to pull in the links and other fields from the current database of databases. The links should be controlled by the "owner" of the DofD, but a librarian could choose which fields to bring in and those fields could be edited. This will allow links that are updated in the DofD to update links in all pages/modules created with the tool.
2. Review designs
Decisions:
a) column sizes - 55/45
b) rounded boxes white/gray
c) have Renee try a color behind the left column instead of an image
d) tabs - the tool will control the # of tabs and # of characters within the tabs (i.e. people will be limited to the # of tabs they can create per page.
e) Related SRGs - for now leave it dynamically-generated. Will revisit this later.
f) no contact information in the metadata line
g) left column - either choose a librarian module or custom profile. Having a custom profile will solve the problem when a page isn't "owned" by just one person.
h) use the smaller black header (another possibility is to use the small black/green header like on the ILL page)
i) need option for contact information to be generic such as Physical Sciences Librarians
3. Master subject page
What to name the stuff on the current General Information and Reference page. The SRGs currently on this page don't all seem to go together. Some are "how to find" guides and others are general information. Suggested How to find. Discussion about differentiating the Statistics Methodology SRG and the Statistics Resources SRG. Valery later suggested How to find....Statistical Data.
Decisions:
The page should be broken into two pages (Thing 1 and Thing 2). Need to come up with labels.
4. Library á la carte logo identity
Something that conveys the idea of choice/choosing.
SRG Group Minutes - June 11, 2008
rounded boxes on right side
contrasting boxes
no dots
tab becoming white as you move along clicking tabs
more contrast in tab color and text color
title: slight gradient in color background and no bar
no breadcrumbs: use link to all subject guides instead
no image on banner - just like ScholarArchive page - this will give us more space
Clear link to homepage
Add meebo chat box on the left side (can be the "custom-size"). Also include image on left side.
One example with an image behind left bar and one with nothing.
Last updated should be on every tab and print on every tab (along bar at bottom). FYI for librarians change something so the page updates; librarians should unpublish a page before editing.
Related course pages and subject guides list will expand and contract each term.
We are not going to do Centers and Institutes. If people want they can do it manually.
No goofy colored links.
White background.
We will begin thinking of ideas for logo. Consider using student designers or 99designs.com. We all like the tagline, "Library information made to order." Jane and Jeremy will look into the TM
For the future: Screencast instructions for library a la carte (5 modules for the 5 of us). Examples: How to add a chat, how to add flickr, how to add...
SRG Group Minutes - June 4, 2008 Jane Valery Kim LaurieAgenda
1. review Renee's designs
2. any task analysis & use case we haven't completed or that come up
3. other??
Reviewed Renee's designs. Several comments: prefer the generic content on the left rather than on the top; prefer the rounded, light-colored boxes with two columns and tabs; KG emphasizes that we bear in mind designing to a screen size of 10 24 x 7 6/8.
Ask Renee to pursue light on light; with and w/o light post image; show demo -we like the dot at the end of the bar & the overall demo look; different colors of columns, extend margin out; gradient title; more white space; title of page; what to do about breadcrumbs...put on left?; round-y corners
KG will work with Renee on further changes to designs.
Kim asked some questions confirm that when delete module from modules list you delete from all pages; when delete module from page only delete from that page
no bulk copying of global modules instead go to and edit it or copy another
global modules content types only unique name within content types; is this a problem? this means you can have different content types w/ the same name
global modules will have a global name and a header name
can't save modules across pages -when in a list of modules
to get us used to working with the width we'll see in real time; we'll work with that size screen
hannah, andrea and loretta doing the testing
SRG Group Minutes - May 28, 2008 Alison Jane Laurie Valery Kim
We discussed our mockups:
VK library logo on top; UM Amherst; nav bar on the left for the guide; use of tabs for general research in the library; breadcrumbs
LB tabs for the guide; boxes of content; other tabs don't have intro meebo, etc; the other tabs are subcategories of the main tab; kind of like an index or recipe card
JN similar to LB
Discussed removing the pages from the OSU Libraries' template, gives us more space. Susan McEvoy will be creating a 2ndary page template and these would fall under that template.
AB suggests having a Search this Site box on our pages. KG informed us that the search this site will be on the library header.
Tabs that feature type of resource or sub-subject.
SRG browse by subject page: no chat; yes template with the navigation bar.
Master Subjects: what do we want on this page http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/srg/ag_for.html and the other "master subject" pages? do we want the navigation bar? descriptions of the subjects? chat? a list of related librarians? Note that we need to ask the new Education librarian if they will make sub-subjects or if they want to list Education under Social Sciences.
To get tabs; task analysis of creating a new tab.
Make tabs ? Assign master subject ? name sub-subject ? pick template ? name tab ? add modules (repeat from name tab untill done)
?
add modules
Eventually enable print this page and print this guide.
Tab kicks in when want multiple tabs. Choose a template for tabs or no tabs and later be able to edit your page so you can add a tab.
Redundant to have librarian profile on each tabbed page so thinking to not force librarians to include a profile on each tabbed page.
Metadata will be treated like ICA pages each page will have a section for metadata.
KG will connect with Renee, student graphic designer. Renee will work off of our mockup templates (attached) to create various mockups, hopefully by next Wed June 4.
Next week: discuss Renee's mockups
SRG Group Minutes - May 21, 2008 Jane Laurie Valery Kim
1. Finish up our use cases for: Publish /unpublish SRG Click confirm, Done.
Customize dashboard -in order to see all SRGs you have in one list, dashboard will be tabbed (ie, My ICA Pages, My SRGs, My Modules etc.) Tell Kim we did not assign Required, Depends, Include. Kim did informal testing on the dashboard with Valery and Jane. She will continue to do informal testing and will pull in other people.
2. With the goal of determining which we will do and roughly planning out steps and due dates we should discuss this: create what the new tool looks like - librarians write use cases, create paper prototypes, task analysis, help determine how we will group, filter, and search for SRG's.
Kim is well on her way with redesigning the tool.
3. Some questions to address tomorrow from last week are:We need to define "use case". Students' perspective or librarian? We are using casual use case technique to describe some of the new actions of the redesigned ICA tool. Casual use case is where you can use a few textual paragraphs to summarize your use case. For more on casual use case see here http://alistair.cockburn.us/index.php/Use_cases,_ten_years_later and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_case.
Who creates the paper prototype? Kim or us? We will create some mock ups individually, discuss them as a group, then give a group mockup or two to Renee our student graphic designer. She will create new templates for our review. Through Kim we will ask for changes. At some point soon after we will share the mockups with fellow librarians to get their feedback.
Casual use case from today describing sharing of modules.
If LB shares module1 with JN, either can make it global. Module1 will show up on the list of global modules only once if both share it to the global list. VK can make a copy, "make mine", of module1. This will make a copy that will be listed in VK's private modules.
If LB makes a change to module1, it affects LB's copy & the global module but not VK's.
If JN deletes her copy from her private module list and LB does not then the module stays in the global list. If a shared module has an owner then it does not get deleted from the global list. Once all owners (LB & JN) delete the module from their private lists then it will be deleted from the global list. After VK makes a copy of the global module1, then she can edit or delete it. If VK deletes her copy, the copy in the global list will not be affected because she is not an owner (LB & JN are).
Private module ? copy ? save This task analysis will let us make customized modules that can be used on different pages or guides. These modules will not require a unique name.
Global modules ? make mine/steal this ? edit ? save to private modules There's a use case for making one or more modules mine. Add to dashboard message area an announcement for example: there are 5 new global modules!
Add global ? Give global name
When starting from a page to add modules you will go to add module or create new modules.
We discussed the dashboard area which will consist of links to My Guides, My Pages, My Modules. The group confirmed that when seeing a list of Guides, Pages or Modules we prefer to order them by facet browsing rather than filtering. Facet browsing will let us sort the list by title, date, etc. The dashboard will also include a section on My Account comprising statistics (eventually!!), tools, help. Links to this wiki and to a forum can also be included if we want.
We discussed using tabs and sub-tabs to view global modules and filtering by title, author, date, etc.
We discussed using some type of image or coloring to differentiate between ICA & SRGs.
We will include breadcrumbs and metadata at the top and bottom respectively of the SRG pages.
4. Preliminary graphic design work. What do we want the SRG's to look like. The first question to address is do we want the guides to have multiple pages like any of the ones listed here: http://wiki.library.oregonstate.edu/confluence/display/SRG/Other+SRGs%2C+software+and+tools or do we want a single page using anchor links or some other approach not yet discussed? If you have time to check out some of the different layouts before the meeting that'd be great.
Action item for next week: Mock up on paper or powerpoint or whatever inspires you examples of what you would like the SRG's to look like. If you have ideas about the "master subjects" pages, mock up those (http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/srg/ag_for.html).
SRG Group Minutes -
May 14, 2008
Jane, Laurie, Alison, Valery
Things we were going to do by May 15:
Create what "it" looks like - librarians write use cases, create paper prototypes, task analysis, help determine how we will group, filter, and search for SRG's.
Things that were not completed by May 15 deadline:
We need to define "use case". Students' perspective or librarian?
Who creates the paper prototype? Kim or us?
Jane will set up a meeting for next week on Thursday or Friday
To do by June 15:
Work with graphic designer to create SRG template
To view flowcharts for May 14, see the "Attachment" tabs above and select "flowchartsmay14"
SRG Group Minutes -
May 7, 2008
Jane, Kim, Laurie, Alison, Valery
Reviewed comments from the discussion board. Decisions:
- Mathematics and Statistical Applications master category instead of putting in Physical Sciences. Will seek input from more people about this.
- Per Bonnie's recommendation we will have a "Natural Resources" category in master list and include Forestry, Fisheries & Wildlife and Rangeland Resources there.
- We will add an Earth and Environmental Sciences master category for the various Geosciences
- We will change name of Toxicology to the department name (Environmental and Molecular Toxicology)
- SRGs can be mapped to multiple master categories, so we can put Plays etc in Humanities as well as Reference categories. Will check with Loretta about the humanities listings.
- We can include an alphabetical list or alpha links at top of Browse by Subject section
ANALYSIS OF OUR MAJOR TASKS
- Create SRGs, modules (done)
- Share SRGs, modules (done)
- Edit SRGs, Modules (done)
- Delete SRG, Modules (done)
- Copy SRG, Modules (done)
- Preview SRG, module (done)
- Publish /unpublish SRG
- Customize dashboard -in order to see all SRGs you have in one list. Dashboard will be tabbed (ie, My ICA Page, My SRGs, etc.)
Don't need a Notify feature---email is good enough
Task Analyses
- R - Required
- D - Depends
- I - Include
Notes:
- Decided to add Tags to modules
- Need to discuss un-sharing
- Q: Will changing the module shared from Global automatically change it on all the pages?
- Need to include Add Modules to Page to high level tasks
NEXT TIME:
- Kim will not be with us.
- Continue with the Task Analysis.
--Valery King
SRG Group Minutes April 30, 2008
Activity on mapping subjects, coming up with controlled and uncontrolled lists.
Master subject list is controlled list and subjects have a default list and then librarians can add.
Decided that any librarians can add guides to master subject areas.
Decided that each subject page is unique.
Came up w/ master subject list and will use the list of subjects currently used in the ICAs see the get help w/ a class drop down.
Subjects will be available to be mapped to all master subjects, Librarian choice.
Our portal page will have different ways of finding srgs: by master subject, deprt, etc.
The tool will generate the master subject pages and we'll decide what the pages look like later on.
- Agriculture
- Business & Economics (probably includes DHE)
- Education
- Engineering
- Health Sciences
- Arts & Humanities
- Physical Sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Social Sciences (included HDFS)
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Natural Resources
- Mathmatics
- Multicultural Resources
- Government Information & Law
- Reference information (better phrasing?)
Oceanic & Atmospheric sciences will be split between Physical & Biological sciences as appropriate.
High Level Goals (requirements for the tool)
Major tasks that librarian will take when using the tool
create page, edit, delete, publish, share, preview, view all of my SRGs, copy your own and others guides to start a new one or ..., create new modules (also share & copy modules)
share we can share globally like a creative commons model; librarian can choose to be global and/or choose to add a signature i.e. this page was created by so and so
pull modules from me or from others and be able to share modules; so have modules that can be added to pages; create a module and then be able to distribute to whatever pages and share it with others; have a share modules same as w/ the pages; my icas, my guides, my modules
Next week: task analysis, what are the steps for each major tasks; review librarian input
These are notes for April 16 & April 22 meetings.
On 4/16 Alison Jane & Kim briefly met to discuss survey results. On 4/22 Alison, Jane, Kim & Laurie met to discuss the survey results and to prioritize them for the order in which Kim will develop them.
We will prioritize for development the categories of content that librarians ranked at above 60%, except library catalogs which are key to some disciplines. We plan to have the content below labeled 1st ready for librarian use by July 15, 2008. Kim may also get some of the ones labeled 2nd done by July 15.
We discussed the issue of incorporating faculty and student feedback in the process of redoing/updating the SRGs. We concluded that we would like to do a survey in the fall of faculty and students after librarians have updated SRGs. Since the SRG's released this fall will be created using a 1st release for the tool fall term would be good timing to get their feedback. We noted that whatever instrument we use to get feedback can be framed with the pages usability in mind. We added these tasks to our timeline.
Next Steps:
KG send out use case templates to SRG group. SRG group will start writing use case scenarios for the SRGs. Here is one description of what a use case is.
KG will create a forum space, like the one we used for the ICAs,so we can ask librarians for input as the ICA tool is developed for SRG needs. The SRG team will need to decide what topics the forum space will have and let Kim know so she can create their spaces.
% of respondents who selected definitely/very likely
1. librarian profile - 85% 1st
2. purpose statement - 61% 1st
3. related resources - 68% 1st
4. metadata - 53% 2nd
5. ejournals - 46% 2nd
6. databases - 100% 1st
7. databases: a to z listing - 15% drop?
8. catalogs - 45% 1st b/c of importance to Social Sciences/Humanities
9. relevant websites - 83% 1st
10. print reference materials - 53% 2nd
11. e-reference sources - 53% 2nd
12. associations - 53% 2nd
13. generic library info - 23% 2nd
14. subject headings/keywords - 23% 2nd
15. what's new - 38% 2nd
16. custom content - 76% 1st
17. quicklinks - 60% 1st
SRG Group Minutes April 8, 2008
We reviewed last week's work and created a survey for librarians.
We are doing the survey to 1. check that we are on the same page as the librarians and give them a chance to give us feedback and
2. to help us make a priority list of content types. This will inform development of the ICA tool for the SRGs.
Notes about the survey: Would you add this content type to your page?
How likely are you to use this content type?
choose n/a if not relevant to your subject area
5 choices n/a not likely likely very likely definitely
Future action items:
do we want to enable collaboration on a guide?
are we going to do any paper prototyping
determine when and how to gather faculty and student input
note: as a group we pretty much assumed that faculty and students value the pages...and we pretty much bypassed establishing their value as a reason to update them.
SRG Group Minutes March 27, 2008
Interaction with content elsewhere on OSU Libraries' site
Meaning = if something is on the website and you'd copy and paste it into a SRG, it could be included on this list
- ICAP
o Librarian profile info
o Widgets
o Custom content (e.g. ejournals, catalog)
- Database of databases
o Tool queries database list for name, coverage dates, description, OA/proprietary, etc., but allow librarians to edit
o Question to consider: Should the DoD be brought into the tool?
- E-journals
o Survey librarians to see if they want to show all, some, none, links, etc. (from subject categories)
o Ask students how they use e-journals page (browse vs. search)
- Catalog
o Subject headings?
For next meeting:
Review current SRGs and note differences, commonalities
Alison: Animal Sciences, Food Science, Forestry
Jane: History, Art, Language and Literature
Laurie: Business, Newspapers, Native American Studies
Valery: HRAF, Primary Sources, Sociology
Subject Research Guides group minutes March 20, 2008
Ruth made some small changes to our draft charge but nothing substantive; Jane will forward to the group.
Alison is willing to join us as our science librarian representative. We may meet at Vet Med library next week to accommodate Alison's schedule. Lit review meeting report (from this morning):
Reviewed list of found articles and assigned 4-5 to each of us. Jane created a Google doc to summarize findings from the articles, with our comments. Jane will add Kim and Alison to the g-docs list.
Define what we want for SRGs:
AUDIENCE
Currently, primary users are library staff
Primary:
- Undergrads (lowest common denominator, reading level
- RefDesk staff
- e-campus students b/c self help doc (how do they differ from other undergrads? Special content?---ask Maureen)
Secondary:
- General public
- Faculty
- Staff
- Grads
PURPOSE
- Undergrads: introductory guide to conducting university level research in a particular subject area (needs more discussion; complex)
- Refdesk staff: to help answer reference questions
- Grads: to inform what OSU offers for their program; for some also serves as guide to learning about how to conduct research in their area (such as lit review process)
- Faculty: often similar to Ref Desk staff; might recommend to students
- OSU Staff: unknown; could fit in with any group
- Public: knowledge level of undergrads, questions often at masters level, so they fit with either/both undergrads and grads
CONTENT
Varies according to needs in particular subject areas
We may add "recommended practices" info for librarians creating the guides
Common content may include:
- Librarian profile (include chat widget if desired)
- Introduction/explanatory text (decide what later)
- Related resources (include some automatically?)
- Relevant ICAP pages
- Other relevant SRGs
- OSU Departments/centers/etc
- Meta info
- Date of last update
- Standard OSU Libraries info (address, phone, hours link, disclaimer link, disabilities link)
- Ejournals
- Databases
- Catalogs
- Websites
- Reference works
- Associations
- Tabs or TOC
- Quicklinks???
--valery king, 3/21/08
Meeting agenda and notes March 13, 2008
Present: Jane Nichols (convenor), Kim Griggs, Laurie Bridges, Valery King, Paula McMillen (notes)
Jane briefly reviewed some suggestions from Team 200 which focused on updating the content and design. We agreed that ideally we would have something in place by June so subject librarians would have the summer to move to the new design. Jane suggested we use some project planning techniques to get started so we began by defining a draft charge.
We will:
1. Define SRG's:
s Purpose
s Content
s Audience
s Functionality
s Interaction with other content on the libraries' web pages
2. propose design elements or site architecture based on the above and then work with a graphic designer to create the look and feel
3. implement the new model using the ICAP tool We agreed that a literature review was important and Laurie will explore a means of developing a shared bibliography for compiling this.
Constraint Matrix
| |
Most |
Middle |
Least |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope |
? | ||
| Schedule | ? | ||
| Resources | ? |
Created an "is/is not" grid:
| Is | Is Not |
| For all students (grad and undergrad, on & off-campus, Ecampus | For community members |
| For librarians - to serve as stand-in for subject expert when working at Ref Desk or in virtual reference settings | An ICA, i.e., is not course-specific |
| For Faculty - as stand-in for subject expert in both research and instruction | A Guide for general library use questions, e.g., how to search the catalog or locate a book |
| Multi-level to serve varied needs of different audiences | |
| Broader than an ICA |
JN set up meeting for lit review discussion & reading
Discussed charge, make changes & send out for more comment/revisions. then take to ruth.
KG Urchin stats, keeps as far back as we need. Presented last 3 months.
Scope: We are using the ICAP tool.
| March | April | May | June | July 1st (changed to July 15th) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRG group defines what we want Competitive analysis of SRG's including our own - Small report of findings to analyze/identify what we want Input from librarians about what they want Define content that needs to be on the SRG and where it comes from Mapping of subjects to disciplines/centers/etc |
Forum in person and online Survey librarians on 3 examples yes/no/maybe what did you miss? (Survey up and ready by April 6) April 15-30 Gather findings survey, create forums for more general discussion on creating SRGs (i.e. collaboration with others, content reuse,...) April 15-May 15 Create what "it" looks like--librarians write use cases, create paper prototypes, get feedback from librarians Next week diagram all SRGs to how they map to subject areas. this will tell us what the related SRGs are, help determine how we will group, filter and search for the SRGs. (also relates to related ICAs and Academic Departments.) |
May 15-June 15 Kim Programs Work with graphic designer to create SRG template |
June 15-June 30th QA testing w/ SRG team & key users |
Working ICAP for SRGs |
Next week we each come with three cool SRG's
Valery ERIC, Jane Academic Search Premier & Google, Laurie Library databases
Case studies of SRG's - lit review things people; did content they are including; how they did a rapid turnaround
Jane will create a page for our competitive analysis. Done.
SRG's we reviewed and comments made:
Yale Women Studies and Yale American History - like that it's simple and easy to understand.
Yale Research in 4 easy steps - A link to this page appears at the top of the list of Subject Research Guides. Simple and easy to understand
What terminology will we use? Freshman language? Grad language? Faculty language?
We want an A-Z list and a browsable list
Do we want a hierarchical listing? For example Social Science leads to sociology, education, and women studies?
Libguides: Like the consistent look and librarian profile at the right. Librarian profile appeared on every tabbed page. We like tabs.
Rutgers - like the simple, spare, intro page.
Organizational possibilities: Department, Hot topics, Subject?
UW pages: Easy to understand, simple, not overwhelming. Consistent. Good use of breadcrumbs. Links to related SRG's and classes on the right.
NCSU - List of broad subjects and then click on the subject and you get a cute little call-out box that gives an entire list. The SRG's include tabs, related links, and tips on the side.
Villanova - Like the tabs
Plymouth - Interesting feature in the upper right (Bookmark & Share, RSS Feeds, Translate)
Lewis & Clark - friendly librarian picture and welcoming statement.