The Online Library Environment Projects and Challenges at The University of Alabama Libraries Jason...

The Online Library EnvironmentThe Online Library EnvironmentProjects and Challenges at The University of Alabama Libraries

Jason J. BattlesHead, Web Services Department

Online Library EnvironmentOnline Library Environment

What is it?

All of a library’s sites, services, and applications available via the web

UA Organizational BackgroundUA Organizational BackgroundOffice of Library Technology

• Area Computing Services (desktop/network support)• Digital Services• ILS and E-Resources• Sanford Media Center (media production and instruction)• Web Services

Web Services Department• Three-years old• Responsible for the University Libraries’ online presence• Work with departments/units throughout the organization

ProjectsProjectsSimilar projects to many of our colleagues

• Web site content management system (CMS) conversion• Discovery interface implementation• Digital collections challenges• Mobile web app development• User assessment• More

Other online projects• A.S. Williams III Collection - large collection of unique primary

material and rare books focused on the South• Information literacy through gaming


• Good planning and good fortune have enabled us to bring together our major web-based projects into an interoperable online environment.

• Work is still needed to build the connections between applications, but the capability exists to create robust web services for users on multiple platforms and devices.

Web Site CMSWeb Site CMS

Content Management Systems• Provide database backend to traditional static pages• Separates the data and presentation layers• Migrating content to a CMS is not as hard as you think• Allows more flexible control over where and when content is

added or updated • Provides base for building mobile web applications• Most are open source• Several have strong user and development communities


Implementing Drupal at UA• Public web site launched on Drupal 6 in January 2009• Iterative development with multiple prototypes• Engaged stakeholders throughout the process

• Low barrier online feedback mechanism• Usability studies with end users

• Added user-centric functionality• Provided training for content providers• Created graphical guides for library personnel and users

• http://www.lib.ua.edu

Public Web SitePublic Web Site


Intranet Drupal conversion• Launched January 2010• Create a collaborative center for organizational information

• MediaWiki sites for internal groups folded into Drupal via “Organic Groups”• Room bookings display within site• Calendar open to all staff to add events, conferences, workshops, etc. • Updates to pages show in “stream” on front page• “My Groups” tab provides user-specific information

• Special issue of Journal of Web Librarianship in September on library intranets

• Workshop at Internet Librarian conference in October

IntranetIntranet

Discovery InterfacesDiscovery InterfacesConsiderations

• Implementation complexity • Vendor vs. open source• Self-hosted vs. off site• Customization of UI and data mapping• Librarian adoption• User adoption• Integration with other resources

Experiences with AquaBrowser• http://scout.lib.ua.edu

ScoutScout

Digital CollectionsDigital Collections

CONTENTdm• Performance• Cost and Scalability• Interoperability

Acumen – http://acumen.lib.ua.edu• Home-grown solution• Open source• XML-based output• http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3107

AcumenAcumen

Preparing for the Mobile RevolutionPreparing for the Mobile Revolution2009 Ball State University survey of 300 students

• 59% preferred text messaging over other communications. • Email was favored by only 7%.• 99.7% of those students have a mobile communications device.

Smartphones• In six months (Feb to Aug 2009), number of students that owned

smartphones increased from 27% to 38.5%.• 1st Quarter 2009 vs. 1st Quarter 2010

• 17% increase in mobile phone sales• 48.7% increase in smartphone sales

Mobile Web AppsMobile Web AppsWhy is this important for libraries?Consider what information to represent before starting.What are we doing to address the needs of mobile users?

• Mobile-friendly sites vs. web apps vs. native apps• Multiple mobile platforms: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows

Mobile, Palm• UA’s mobile efforts

• http://m.ua.edu • BlackBoard Mobile and vendor options

• http://www.blackboard.com/Mobile/Overview.aspx• Boopsie – http://www.boopsie.com

• Our first steps in development

Mobile Web AppsMobile Web AppsMobile friendly site Web app / Native app


• Accessible data is the key, but uniformly accessible data via XML helps.

• XML enables us to more easily build mobile web apps.• RSS feeds are easy to import because of their structure• Acumen• AquaBrowser• Drupal?

• Some work remains to improve data sources to ensure that the same data can be easily served to both the traditional web and mobile devices.


WAIT!

What about all the other projects?Where do they fit?

Contact InformationContact Information

Jason J. [email protected]

The Online Library Environment Projects and Challenges at The University of Alabama Libraries Jason...

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