The Main Library collections page isn’t finished yet. There will be a description as you described. The reason for putting contact info at the top of the page is that we expected some people will look for it on the Collections page rather than the Departments page. You’re right, perhaps we don’t need redundancy, especially since users might just use “Search” when they’re looking for contact info. We’re trying to anticipate how different users might look for information; perhaps we’re not guessing right. We’ll think more about this.

The contents of the “Research Databases” section depend in part on how much we can integrate SubjectsPlus into the site. We definitely need the A-Z list of databases. We’d also like this to be the home for New and Trial Databases, and maybe even Most Popular Databases at some point. We included “By subject” because there was so much distress when we removed it from the current CMS. Perhaps with “Subject Guides” in the sidebar, if we don’t include “By subject” this time around, no one will miss it. We’ll think more about this too!

I was expecting to see brief descriptions of the various types of collections (gov docs, vt coll, periodicals, foreign language, browsing, microfilms, etc. Instead I get a department listing. We already have a spot for that. Departments aren’t collections.

Also, I’m pleased to see Subject Guides prominently featured but I don’t know that it makes sense to have a link that says research databases that appears to just be another way of getting to the subject guides. There’s tons on the subject guides that aren’t databases. Maybe instead it should be a Research Databases A-Z that links to the new title list. More comments later.

Collection Management will go under “Library Departments.” I worked on this a lot over the weekend, and Bryan worked on it a lot yesterday. Now Bryan is out unexpectedly. I’ll see what I can do without him. We will notify librarians when the site is ready for them to create their pages.

My additional 2 cents on the idea of putting a tab for Equipment on the portal search: Regardless of whether or not it’s in Collections, I think equipment should definitely NOT be included as a tab in the search portal. I think it makes sense to have library resources, databases, and services in the search portal. I view equipment more as a technology resource, and think it would be out of place next to the other resources we will include there. It shouldn’t be given the equal prominence as proprietary databases or our library catalog (especially since equipment can already be searched VIA the catalog…), especially if it’s included in other places on the Library page (which it will be). Let’s not waste real estate on videos in the search portal, either. There are many other ways to get to videos (via Midcat, subject guides, probably also elsewhere on the site). I’d be way more keen on seeing GoogleScholar as a search portal tab than either equipment or videos!

I also like Terry’s idea of moving Browsing, Fac Authors, and Media into the Main lib section of the Collections page. That not only seems more concise but also more appropriate since those resources are much smaller in scope and size than the other collections included there.

Thanks to you and Bryan for all your hard work so far! It’s going to be such an improvement!

1) I think ILL should have a tab under the PORTAL section – heavily used service.
2) PORTAL: I’m unsure why we’d break down Articles into 2 sections. We live in an interdisciplinary world.
3) PORTAL: Why preference videos? Why not CDs? Why not e-books? Or why not leave out specific formats and rely searching specific collections in MIDCAT if necessary? (All of these are also already under the “Find…” section.)
4) Collections: a) Browsing, Fac Authors, and “Media” could be well described as part of the Main Library section. b) Reserves has a tab on the portal, does it really need another one here? c) What exactly does “Media” mean? I’ve noticed that we tend to use call the Visual Materials collection the “Media Collection” which is pretty inaccurate (audio recordings are media; online stuff is media), but in general it’s a non-descriptive word with many interpretations. If we want to highlight the video collection, let’s call it that (sorry for the digression into labeling).
5) Equipment: I’d rather see this scoped within MIDCAT (similar to video and music, etc.), but failing that, I can see the utility of placing this here
6) Under FIND ARTICLES, BOOKS, etc.: OK, where’s this XXX collection you list? How’d I miss that?

But then I was looking at some of the other library links in your Resource page and see ASU has a Library Toolbar for IE, Firefox or Safari. (Flash ‘ad’ in the lower left corner of http://lib.asu.edu viewed at 9:06 am Eastern on Oct. 16th.) Could we get something like that??? In a year or two maybe?