Barbara’s notes

I’ve been gathering links etc. that might be useful to me & perhaps to others. A lot is concerned with library pages, but some is more general. Let me know if you think this isn’t how the blog should be used.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/ – highly recommended (Worldcat)
http://ithaca.edu/library/ – see “virtual reference desk”
http://library.salve.edu/ – example of common lib page format, nicely done
http://www.dickinson.edu/ – has merged LIS. LIS has a “home page” but separate library & tech homepages linked from college home page

Merged schools
http://www.rhodes.edu/barret/ (nice looking merged page, but long lists of options)
http://www.earlham.edu/is/ (see Info services with options on college home page, but no search on lib page)
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/ (much like us currently)
http://www.conncoll.edu/Libraries/ (OK – cat search & “ask a librarian” on many LIS pages)
http://macalester.edu/infoservices/ (info services from college home page, but not much there – no searches) not unified theme.

Features I want (library) –

Google search of website – all Midd, just LIS

hours for today,

catalog, reserves, journals, media searches

contact live help

search documentation – researching, citing etc.

Questions for team to decide:

How to get ideas, needs, input from interested LIS staff?

Where to get good ideas from other organizations?

What do we need on a LIS home page? OR do we want library & tech home pages (with big link to “about LIS” on both)?

Overall “look and feel” constraints? – maximum freedom for all contributers.

Content constraints? – no gatekeepers! Responsibility at point of service! From WhiteWhale:

Workflow should not take the place of accountability. Too often, we feel, complicated workflow setups (Dave enters an item which is modified by Sue, sent back to Dave, then finally approved by Jim) removes a sense of accountability from the content management process. Whose page is it? For every page of the Midd site, there should be a clear understanding of who’s in charge, and that person ought to consider him/herself personally accountable for its accuracy and effectiveness.

One thought on “Barbara’s notes

  1. Ian McBride

    These are excellent resources Barbara and great questions for the group. I particularly like the Cornell site. To selfishly answer your question “What do we need on a LIS home page?” here is the proposal I wrote up as part of my application to this team back in February:

    The philosophy behind the proposed design is that the organization of LIS does not necessarily matter for the people who use the LIS site. Therefore, we should pursue a direction where content is best organized to allow for quick retrieval and upkeep. These will be the major areas of the site:

    1. A CMS-based site for the Library, which will contain links to subject guides, reference resources, journals, and digital collections. The Library site will be built as a stand-alone site in Drupal with a new set of design templates that adequately allow for free presentation of this information.

    2. An expansion of the current LIS Wiki to include all Help related content. We will migrate the remaining content out of the current CMS, PDF documents, and knowledge base. We will work to integrate links to this information into our help systems. Additionally, we will make authorship of this information available throughout the organization and offer training and support for LIS staff to update the content relevant to their work.

    3. A portal to search all of the collections and databases within LIS. A long-term goal in this area will be federated search, but to begin we will create a unified area where users can view all of the collection offerings and perform basic and advanced searches of them.

    4. A place to interact with LIS. This will be achieved through consolidation of the various LIS blogs, feedback forms, request forms, comment submissions and staff directories. The goal is to have a *single* blog for LIS with all staff as authors. This area of our site will also provide an appropriate place to present material on the organization, direction, and policies of LIS.

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