CREATING A COHESIVE DISCOVERY EXPERIENCE
@ the
BUILDING THESome stepping stones toward unification: Creation of a brand (and promoting it!) Streamlining a discovery framework Unifying disparate web presences COLLABORATION! And projects resulting...
And,How the heck we did it and what’s left to do [HINT: a lot!]?
MAKING MAGIC HAPPEN AT
Who are we?
Ginny M. Boyer, MLIS
Virginia Bacon, MLS
A LITTLE ABOUT THE
The East Carolina University Libraries Joyner (ALS)– Main Library (big) Music Library – a branch of Joyner (littlest) Laupus (HSL) Health Sciences Library (little)
About the university 24k full time enrollment Located in Greenville, NC Doctoral/research University & Medical School
WHY IT TOOK MAGICIANS Ours is a complicated situation…
Administratively separate Different cultures, both internal & external Physically separate & different division affiliations
Solutions Buy-in for a shared Libraries brand Neutral persons to facilitate collaboration Shared discovery interfaces
HISTORICALLY, SOME THINGS WE SHARED Resources, tools, and positions funded out of the Virtual Library
ILS (Symphony) An ILS Administrator ERMS (Serials Solutions 360RM, 360 MARC) Costly resource acquisitions
Science Direct Web of Science, etc.
And later… Summon (but that’s where things got tricky…)
AND SOME THINGS WE DIDN’T… Public access points and discovery tools
OPACs (Symphony’s e-Library) Database List(s) ILLiad OCLC (WorldCat Local) Library websites
And pretty much everything else…
MO’ LIBRARIES, MO’ PROBLEMS What kind of problems did this division produce?
Duplication of effort Wasted and fragmented staff resources Multiplicity of access points Poorly designed and outdated search tools Poor communication between complimentary departments (mostly)
Fragmented resource discovery Isolated library websites I could go on, and on, and on, and on….
SUMMON ‘ONE SEARCH’ A resource discovery solution for the Libraries The tool was branded One Search Search widgets were deployed to both of the libraries homepages
Decision: Include the Libraries local catalog MARC records… Problem: At the item level the resource links out to the native OPAC...
So what was the issue?
COLLABORATION, WHAT?! Consolidation = dirty word… ‘collaboration’ and ‘unification’ are safer
Why, yes! Everyone is special! Task forces– how the ECU Libraries get stuff done You need one heck of a project manager, and strategic leadership
You have to be willing to give a little… You need tech folks to play nicely, or tech leaders to be directly involved in the projects
Communication and interaction across departments is key!
THE EVOLUTION OF A BRAND First of all, why? Why is this necessary?
Served to fortify us from within A public declaration of our combined efforts to benefit the University
Approved by university marketing as an official logo Recruiting to support the ECU Libraries Creation of a cohesive user experience under a combined front
THE EVOLUTION OF DISCOVERYIn the beginning…
Summon, ILS, WorldCat Local
In the now…
Search tools and their overall usability
User experience and its impact on discovery
Integration of library websites as an essential piece of discovery
Overall access and retrieval concerns as they affect discovery
STREAMLINING SEARCH Step 1: Consolidate Classic Catalog (and a re-brand Summon)
Step 2: Consolidate WorldCat Local
Step 3: Consolidate the Database Lists
Step 4: Redesign Research Guides (LibGuides) [and LibAnswers too]
Step 5: Implementation of VuFind/Bento
Step 6: Redesign all Serials Solutions pages/tools (Citation Linker, link resolver, e-Journal/e-Book Portal)
Step 7: Blackboard Bento – embedded subject specific resources
Step 8: Who knows?!
SUMMON ‘ONE SEARCH’ RE-BRANDING
UNIFICATION OF THE WEBAKA ‘A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK’
Where we are…
ECU Libraries Blackboard ECU ‘Libraries’ link
Joyner’s Web Music is a sub-site
Laupus’ Web
Where we’re headed…
Hopefully, an ECU Libraries Web
How? ECU Libs is trending Centralized IT dept. serves all
websites, so consolidation is more feasible… and in progress.
WHAT DO WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE? A web/discovery experience that:
Fronts a strong, consolidated ECU Libraries Delivers seamless navigation Delivers optimal discovery and retrieval of resources Integrates *everything* the ECU Libs have to offer Demonstrates a combined effort to serve the University community
Demonstrates fiscal & organizational responsibility
Provides what our users want!
HOW DO WE KNOW WE’VE SUCCEEDED?“If [the user] ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”
User Testing as our guideUX Working GroupCollaboration with UX facultyRecruitment: UX/UI developer
Assessing the need for more staff support for UX
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