The UT Austin Tarleton Law Library Rare Dictionary Project

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The UT Austin Tarleton Law Library Rare
Dictionary Project
School of Information 385E Information
Architecture and Design I rarebook_at_ischool.utexas.
edu

• Presented November 30, 2004

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Project Plan
• Design Process Progress
• Product Design Functionality
• User Scenario
• Challenges
• Questions

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• Introduction

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Group Members

• Group Members and Their Primary Roles
• Customer and market research liaison Kristin
  Davis
• Coordinator/Scheduler (2) Amy Reese / Kristin
  Davis
• Documentation and reports (2) Greg Argo / Irma
  Zavaleta
• Prototypes (2) Chien-Cheng Chou / Amy Reese
• Content and Access (2) Labels, taxonomies,
  categories, hyperlinks Greg Argo / Kristin Davis
  
• Scanning images Amy Reese / Irma Zavaleta
• HTML programming and templates (3) Chien-Cheng
  Chou / Amy Reese / Greg Argo
• Usability testing (2) Kristin Davis / Irma
  Zavaleta
• Configuration Manager Chien-Cheng Chou

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Description of Project

• Redesign the Tarleton Librarys Rare Book
  Collection Law Dictionary Web site
• Current design-one long annotated bibliography,
  divided by different national laws and organized
  alphabetically by last name
• New design-makes navigation easier for browsing,
  reorganized by geographical area, then by author
• Maintain integration of the Rare Dictionary Web
  site within the larger context of the Tarleton
  Law Library Web site
• Add new dictionary acquisitions to site

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Current Page

• One long page
• Navigation system is not adequate for the size of
  the page
• Layout and actual choice of pictures are random
• Donors are not given emphasis

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Project Plan

• Communication with Mike Widener, our main contact
  at Tarleton
• Provide a new organizational structure for
  optimal information access, applying a consistent
  labeling schema and hypertext links where
  appropriate
• Design and program the HTML code for all new
  pages.
• Utilize the existing Tarleton Library templates
  to maintain a consistent look throughout the site

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Proposed Main Page

• Provides collection introduction
• Maintains template for Tarleton Law Library
• Emphasizes donors and their donations
• Individual Author pages with multiple navigation
• Browse by area
• Browse by author

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• Project Plan

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Initial Project Plan

• Customer Analysis / Primary Audience
• The site is primarily a way for the library to
  highlight the impressive collection it has
  acquired throughout the years, and to solicit
  donations from those looking for a suitable
  location for their rare and valuable materials.
• The redesigned Web site should be more
  sophisticated than the existing site to attract
  and maintain potential donor interest
• Although donors are the primary audience,
  researchers and students will also benefit from
  having organized access to this collection.

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Technological Constraints

• Since the rare law dictionaries Web site largely
  inherits the standards and architectural style of
  the larger law library Web site, we work within
  the technical specifications chosen by their
  information architects
• Web Master does not accept Java Script.

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Process Progress September

• Meet with the client
• Create project proposal and customer analysis
  document
• Set up weekly group meetings
• Create the beginning stages of the mid-fi
  prototype/wire frames (the shell of the Web
  sites navigation including the Tarleton header
  and navigation on top)
• Decide on naming conventions for our categories,
  since there are only a few things to consistently
  label
• Group workflow Web site created to post new
  project developments

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Process Progress September

• Content inventory used as a tracking document
  throughout the process

Fraser, Janice C. (2001) Taking A Content
Inventory New.Architect.
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Process Progress October

• Final stage of mid-fi prototype of new navigation
  system
• Scan images of the dictionaries
• Create initial spreadsheet for new acquisitions
• Create donor list
• Mid-fi prototypes delivered to client
• Categorized spreadsheet of new acquisitions
  approved by client
• Create templates for author pages

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Process Progress November

• Finish content inventory
• Fill in templates with content, design elements,
  and hyperlinks
• Conduct usability testing
• Make revisions and conduct final testing
• CD is burned and product delivered to client

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Product Design Functionality
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Product Design Functionality

• Current Author Page

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Product Design Functionality

• Proposed Author Page

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Product Design Functionality
Navigation By Area or Author
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Scenario
User
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User Scenario

• Primary user potential donor
• Scenario
• Barney just won his largest lawsuit. While
• studying at UT Austin, he often fell asleep in
  the
• law library and learned to love the place. He
  
  
• would like to give back to the library, and with
  a
• tax write-off, is more than willing to donate
• 20,000. He is visiting the law library Web site,
• hoping to find a worthy cause. Although he
• doesnt like flashy stuff, he also feels that a
  Web
• site reflects a companys level of
  professionalism
• and integrity.

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User Scenario

• Donor Page

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Project Challenges

• Pure HTML CSS
• No JavaScript Code
• 88 Authors
• Consistency among Web Pages
• Header / Footer
• Sidebar Menu
• Titles
• Encoding
• iso-8859-1

• Solution Simple RareBook
• Content Management System
• Only manage
• Header
• Footer
• Last Modified Date
• Reserve each pages Title

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Project Challenges

• Increased importance of scanned images
• Overlapping and miscommunication added to
  workload (two people completing the same task)
• Canceling out others work-primarily at the end of
  the project

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Questions?