June 2009 Archives

Search Lite

WDS would like to announce Search Lite, the new design for the Express Stations. WDS, working with Wendy, Vicki, and the Systems Department, sought to define the function the stations should serve within the library, as well as to identify a number of problems with the former Express Station design. We then refined the design and functionality of the Express Stations to reflect those discussions.

Wendy and Vicki determined the function of the Express Stations is to perform quick catalog searches, and nothing more. No internet, no electronic reserves, not even access to our main library website.

We also identified a number of errors with the former Express Station configuration. If you've used an express station, you may have noticed all of the broken links to book cover images. Also, if a patron typed in an external address (such as google.com), the express station would time out, but provide no information as to why this was happening. Not too user friendly!

In response to these discussions, we made the following changes:

1. Systems set up a special service for us to modify the look and feel of the Express Stations independent of the main catalog.
2. Rebranded "Quick Catalog Lookup" to "Search Lite"
3. Provide a friendly message on the home page explaining the difference between "Search Lite" and our regular terminals.
4. Provide a friendly error message should a patron try to access the internet.
5. Remove all links to our web sites or external sites.
6. Remove the ability for Patrons to log into the WebOPAC
7. Remove "Link+" Search buttons
8. Remove "Add to Refworks" button
9. Remove "Add a Review" button
10. Remove Google Books
11. Remove Electronic Access links

Overall, the new design is much more streamlined than the main catalog, and provides friendlier and more useful feedback should a patron wander off track.

Google Books

For technical reasons, the problems with the express stations had prevented us from launching the Google Books service in our WebOPAC. The Google Books service checks the ISBN of the current record, and if Google has scanned that particular book into their database, a link is provided to preview its content. Thanks to Systems, we're now able to launch Google Books for all users while not hurting our Express Stations. Overall, a pretty big win!

Please feel free to leave a comment or send us an email with your thoughts on these updates!

I apologize for a lack of posts over the past few months. When we started this blog, we had hoped to post regularly, providing a location to have good conversation about the future of our website. However, all excuses aside, we have so far failed to live up to that hope. In an attempt to change this problem, and to seek greater communication with UNLV Library staff and the greater library world, I have personally decided to blog every Tuesday & Thursday from here on out.

While we haven't blogged as regularly as planned, we have launched several projects in the last few months. Most of these are included in the upcoming "Library Technologies Update," with more detailed descriptions. In the mean time, let me provide you with a short, incomplete list of work we've done.

Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years

This was easily our biggest project launch since March, and also the most fun. It includes not only a great deal of amazing work from Cory, Special Collections, and the Digitization team, but in addition features several new (totally awesome) web features programmed by Alex, including commenting, rating, and tag clouds. These updates are packaged in a product called dmBridge, which won Alex the Libraries' 2009 Innovative Solutions Award. The launch also featured an updated image viewer, which I wrote for CONTENTdm, named dmMonocle.

Instruction Update

Michael Yunkin and I worked with Rachelle Weigel to revamp the instruction site structure and look. The update addressed usability concerns that had arisen during testing, and brought the design into alignment with our Web Style Guide.

Catalog Commenting

I worked with Kristen and Lateka to implement commenting on the WebOPAC. My hat's off to Lateka for putting together the commenting guidelines document!

Google Search 

Thank you for your help with this one! After testing and receiving feedback, we chose to switch to a Google Custom Search solution, which is now live!

dmBridge & dmMonocle presentation @ OCLC Western CONTENTdm Users Group meeting

Alex and I presented our work on CONTENTdm June 4, 2009. The following is an extended set of slides from the presentation:

Conclusion

Thank you for your interest in our projects and the library web site in general! We will keep this blog updated more regularly, and hope to continue our conversation about the site. There are a number of developments to discuss, and many paths left to explore. I hope this blog is one of the platforms for exploration.