On Monday, Barbara, Elin, and I attended the NERCOMP Workshop: Usability in Libraries and Beyond at UMass Amherst. (more…)
Author Archive
Usability in libraries and beyond
November 11th, 2009 by Jess IslerLIS Website Information Architecture
October 22nd, 2009 by Jess IslerTeam, please find the new article here, and have at it!:
LIS Website Information Architecture
(Also linked from our team wiki page.)
FYI: This follows the IA documents White Whale created for other parts of the College web redo project. It’s primarily a high-level guide to page & subpage structure, not a detailed list of page contents (though there are some content recommendations in the notes sections). See middfiles:\orgs\WebMakeover\IA Documents for examples (I used Academics when creating the wiki page.)
LIS landing page and the blog
September 17th, 2009 by Jess IslerHow will the LIS landing page point to the Blog? I don’t think we’ve discussed whether or not our landing pages will contain a link to the blog, a feed to the blog, or both.
If we had both, would it make sense to have a link going to the whole blog, and a feed listing only our outward-facing category posts (and only displaying 2 or 3 posts so as not to clutter the page)?
e.g.
LIS landing page:
- Link to all blog
- Feed with Good to know(/TBD)
The LIS landing page is the only place where we have to make this determination, correct? (Since primary contacts are deciding what goes on their pages.)
Default All things LIS category
September 17th, 2009 by Jess IslerFollowing a long and lively discussion at our meeting today, we agreed that our team members would vote on the following terms to set as the default category name for our one blog. (This default term is intended to fill the “external” category role. We decided making this the default would encourage posters to be proactive in selecting categories.)
- Bringing knowledge to you
- Good to know
- Need to know
- The essentials
- Tuned in
Voting will end at close of business Friday, 9/18. (Please, no additional suggestions…)
More on blog categories
September 9th, 2009 by Jess IslerFor discussion.
What should we call the External category instead of External? Suggestions in the running:
- Did you know? (or some variation?)
- Other ideas?
Do we need an All LIS category?
Agenda for Thurs 9/3
September 2nd, 2009 by Jess IslerAnnouncements, etc. (5 min.)
Manage overlapping URLs/existing website content (20 min.)
Discuss when & how moving to 1 Blog will happen (15 min.)
Set freeze date for changes/additions to current CMS content (5 min.)
Other items?
Questions from primary contact meetings
August 25th, 2009 by Jess IslerI thought I’d share with the team some questions my primary contacts had (or I had) after our initial meetings. Some of these questions are easily answered, and some raise other questions. I just thought I’d get them out to see what other people have been thinking about and discussing in their meetings. Maybe I’ll put a new section in the Wiki for LIS primary contact meetings FAQs…
- Will a link to my department/content exist on the LIS landing page?
- Will there be a “featured departments/events/exhibits/goings-on” spot on the LIS landing page?
- If I have an exhibit or event or online project being launched, can I advertize it on the LIS landing page?
- Can I name my part of the LIS site whatever I want? (What if I want to name it something other than what my department is called?) Can I separate out parts of my site as I see fit?
- Is creating my content in a Drupal page the best way to display and organize my department’s dynamic content (video, images, audio, etc.)?
- What if I want to use blogging tools than Wordpress as part of my department’s web presence?
- How can I use MiddLabs, and other tools of the new College website to best communicate my department’s services and collaborative activities?
Meeting agenda for 8/12
August 7th, 2009 by Jess IslerAgenda for Wed 8/12:
- Liz will moderate meeting
- Ian will give an overview of the AD meeting and reactions
- More discussion of meetings with primary contacts/working with them if needed
- Finalizing recommendations on the wiki; we want buy-in by the meeting, so please contribute on the wiki!
- Going over student employee survey feedback
Survey for LIS student employees
July 29th, 2009 by Jess IslerThis is a quick and dirty attempt at a survey… Let’s see if we can get feedback from LIS student employees staffing Circulation, Helpdesk, Tech processing, P&P, Stacks, ILL (and at least some representation from branches).
Email intro something like:
Dear student employee,
To go along with the College web makover, we are creating a new LIS website and we would love your feedback on what works, what doesn’t, and what you would like to see on the site.
Please try to answer these questions from your perspective as a student!
- What do you use most often on the LIS website? [we could give options or leave it wide open]
- What features of the LIS website work or could be improved? [same as LIS staff version]
- Is there anything missing from the LIS website?
- Rate your level of comfort with these technologies [same as LIS staff version]
- Is there anything else we should know?
Creating effective surveys
July 8th, 2009 by Jess IslerSummarizing Markless on surveys:
A major pitfall of surveys is that they “often project designers’ preconceptions out to potential respondents” and thereby dilute the value of the responses. General tips: Give clear instructions for answering the questions! Don’t use library/technology jargon! Some types of questions we can use:
Closed questions: Questions with several answer choices (with check boxes), and with a catch-all at the end.
e.g. I will use the LIS website to:
Find resources X
Get technology help X (etc….)
Anything else? Please say what! X (with space for answer)
Open questions: May best follow closed questions, i.e. “Why is this?”
Simple checklists (with check boxes), and a catch-all at the end:
e.g. Why did you use the website today? Check all that apply
Find resources X
Look for information X
Get help from a librarian X (etc…)
Other, please say what! (with space for reply) X
Likert scales: Highly likely/highly desired with boxes to highly unlikely/highly undesired
e.g. I will return to use the website in the future to do X
select one box
Highly likely X X X X X X Highly unlikely
Thurlstone scale: tracks agreement or disagreement with the question
e.g. I found what I needed on the website today X yes X no
Semantic differential: quantitative measures of topics usually addressed through qualitative means
e.g. The library website is
select one box
Good X X X X X Bad
Guttman scales: statements arranged in sequence to gauge strength of respondents’ view
e.g. Shifting LIS communications to web based tools:
select one box
Web based commun. will catch on quickly/completely replace current tools X
Web based commun. will require some adjustment, but will mostly work X
Web based commun. will be hard to sell, may or may not work X
Web based commun. will never work for our organization X
Team Vision Statement
June 25th, 2009 by Jess IslerTo fulfill the LIS vision, “We bring knowledge to you,” we are creating a stronger presence for LIS within the College website. With intuitive navigation and inviting interfaces, and a workflow that allows simple maintenance, we will provide easy access to our resources and services. The community will gain a dynamic website that enables interaction, knowledge sharing, and communication about the great work we do.
Vision Statement Ideas: Jess
June 24th, 2009 by Jess IslerWhat we want to accomplish: We are creating a presence for LIS within the College website. When we are finished users will easily navigate and use our web resources, and engage with library staff. When we are finished LIS staff will use the website to manage content and communicate with colleagues and users.
Why: The College website redesign; LIS requires a stronger presence on the web, one that is easily navigable and intuitive to use.
What’s in it for me: A website that allows users and staff to interact and connect with our resources and services.