How to Generate Buy-In and Excitement from Your Campus Library
Colleen Greene, MLISSystems Librarian & Communications
CoordinatorPollak Library
California State University, Fullerton
Frustrations & Challenges
• Libraries are different• Library websites are different• OU Campus won’t work for a library
website
• The answer to each is sometimes YES.
• The answer to each is sometimes NO.
Understanding Library Culture
Most Academic Librarians Are Faculty
• Focus on research, education, and access
• Shared governance• Academic freedom• RTP (Retention, Tenure & Promotion) is
including more digital work– Campus service– Scholarly & creative work– Faculty assignments
Libraries & Librarians Are, In General, Early
AdoptersLikely 1st on campus to:•Have a website•Use a CMS•Understand & use social media•Focus on metadata & SEO•Use embedded & interactive media•Work with RSS, APIs, widgets
Professional & Ethical Philosophy of “Open”
• Intellectual freedom• Open access• Open source• Open data• Rights-free
Understanding Library Websites
Typical Library Website
• Informational pages• Discovery tools• Proprietary licensed electronic resources• Research & instruction guides• Institutional repositories & digital
archives• Custom apps, databases & web services• Blogs• Widgets, RSS feeds, APIs
OU Campus is Only One Part of a Library Website• Examples– Home page– Informational pages– News/Alert pages (if no blog)
• Why?– Bulk of our content is proprietary research
databases, journals, ebooks, media, etc.– Industry-standard tools that support library
metadata standards & interoperability standards
The Pollak Library Website
• 17+ different major websites• 1000s of databases & journal interfaces• Some allow us full CSS control, some
allow moderate CSS control, others little or no CSS
• Make heavy use of repurposing between web services & OU Campus, and between OU Campus via APIs, RSS, Assets (looking at XSL for external databases)
• www.library.fullerton.edu
Patrons Have An Emotional Tie to Library
Websites• Students & faculty stress out when our
“website” changes, runs slow, goes down– Blockers to getting research & assignments
done– Even if bookmark discovery tools or other
interfaces, have to do proxy check to access proprietary licensed research materials
• Instruction librarians teach from live site• Professors include library site in LMS
Ways to help Your Library
Timing
• NEVER implement a redesign or upgrade rollout during the academic year, unless an emergency– Grateful that OmniUpdate extended the
V10 migration deadline through 2014.– Librarians carry very heavy instruction
loads, which allows for no training time– If something goes wrong, blocker for
students & faculty doing research & assignments
Branding & Visual Identity
• Less is better (used Ohio State model)• But campus can provide resources to
help brand across library sites and interfaces– Header graphic choices– Quality stock photos–Well-documented parent CSS– No parent CSS changes without advanced
notifications– Style guide for typography & colors
Library & Librarian Culture
• Include us in business requirements, design stages & mockups, content strategy, training– Many are experienced in XML, PHP, JS, etc.– Information Architecture, metadata, SEO
expertise– While OU Campus is not open, it supports flavors
of open source that can be integrated with open systems
– We are educators, use us as campus trainers
• Use terms like consistent & more seamless “user experience” vs. branding & identity
Library & Librarian Culture
• Custom librarian-centric Profile pages– Faculty AND staff, some student assistants– More freedom with content and formatting– Use template logic to show/hide widgets– Allow embedded content
• Heavy focus on education & outreach• Each Profile is actually a directory folder.– Profile page is index– Store conference handouts, presentations, etc.– Provides a mini professional portfolio space
Understanding the Role of the Library Home
Page• Functions as a digital branch of the library• Gateway to electronic resources & directory
to information about/inside the library– Don’t want visitors hanging out here a long time– High Analytics bounce rates means we are doing
our job > visitors are finding what they need
• Current trend is very minimalistic– Simple, few, key visuals– Primary emphasis on Search tools
Repurpose Content & Services
• General OU Campus Content (Assets)– Related Content widgets > tagged– Related Policies & Pages widgets > tagged– Related Stock Images > tagged– WNL & Library Alerts
• Third Party Services– LibGuides & LibAnswers APIs > tagged– Blogs > RSS + WNL > tagged– Institutional Repositories and Digital Archives
> RSS or APIs
Point-Of-Need Repurposing
• Use Asset tagging to target selected content to related library pages in OU Campus (feeds specific widgets built into templates)
• Use Asset tagging to target selected OU Campus sites and pages across campus (wish list, not happening yet)
• Have campus sites make use of library RSS (wish list, not happening yet)
OU Campus Template Guidance
• Using XSL to display data from custom & third party databases
• Integrating Google Analytics event handlers throughout site, links, forms
Training approaches
Newsroom Approach
• Few System Administrators (L 10)• Few Super Users (L 7)• Assign “beats” across operational
units– OU Campus Groups & Directories– Content Team Leaders / managing editors
(L 4)– Content Team Members / reporters (L 3)
• Few spot checkers / copy editors (L 3)
Start With Profile Pages
• Almost everyone has more interest in Profiles
• Allows for a personal “sandbox” approach to learning OU Campus– Not end of world if Profile page blows up– Allows them to learn OU Campus admin interface– Allows them to learn OU Campus workflows– Allows them to learn template widgets
• Required prerequisite for those moving on to part 2 (Content Team) training
Contextual Training• Academic librarians & all faculty are very
focused on learning models & pedagogy– One-size-fits-all training not effective– Contextual & point-of-need training preferred
• Train by operational/functional areas– Groups, Template Groups, Directories– Workflows (Editors & Reporters, best practices)– More advanced training for Super Users
• Content strategy (writing for web, SEO, content flow, content ideas)
Contact Information
Colleen Greene, MLIS•[email protected]•@colleengreene•www.colleengreene.com•Pollak Library Faculty Profile Page
Class Link List: http://bit.ly/cgreene-outc14
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