Session A305 Findability: Information Not Location

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Session A305Findability Information Not
Location
Mike Creech Web Content Manager mscreech_at_umich.edu
Ken Varnum Web Systems Manager varnum_at_umich.edu

• University Library
• University of Michigan

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Introduction/Overview

• A Brief History of Our Version of Reality
• The current collection of sites for the Library
  System has grown with no particular plan and each
  one has its own design and architecture.
• The sites correspond with previous library
  organizational structures but really make no
  sense to our users or even to some staff members.
• Beyond basic information, users need to know
  which of the libraries holds particular materials
  and how to use the site of that library.

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What We Have Now

• About 33 sites served from lib.umich.edu
• About 52,000 pages of content
• Does not include
• Public Health library
• Digital library
• Scholarly publishing
• Institutional repository
• Every month
• Average of 3,000,000 pages viewed
• Average of 500,000 users served

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My God, What Have We Done?

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You get the picture
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"I Can't Find Anything."

• This is how the problem was presented
• In discussions with management and staff
• Navigation to known objects difficult
• Search findability a challenge
• Branding (as weve seen) uneven at best
• Sense of place totally absent

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Phased Approach

1. A band-aidConsistent navigation and branding
2. Major surgeryReinventing the entire web presence

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Short-Term Goals

• Standard global navigation
• Extending MLibrary branding
• More consistency in layout
• Brought content into sharper relief
• Moved toward unified web site for system

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Phase I MLibrarification

• This included most of the library sites.
• Goal Consistent navigation and sense of place
• Out of scope defined by
• Significant programming overhead
• Significant complexity of pages
• Volume of usage vs. size of site

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More MLibrarification

• Reviewed navigation elements each site used
• Created a global scheme to incorporate
  consistency
• Extended the MLibrary brand
• Preserved local autonomy over look and feel of
  each sites content during the transition

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Long-Term Goals

• Engineer a more effective search solution
• Break down the silos that hold our information
• Create an ordered and consistent navigation
  scheme
• Provide users an opportunity to build pathways we
  did not see

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Phase IIInformation not Location

• Eliminating silos
• Fostering community
• Highlighting context
• Improving findability
• Syndicating content

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Phase II Process

• Focus Groups
• Formal Survey
• One Question Survey
• Server Access Log and Google Analytics Analysis
• Initiate on-going conversations with MLibrary
  stakeholders
• Review and assess existing content

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What We've Found

• Users want importance to be obvious
• Users dont differentiate between silos, tools
  and services
• Users come to the library website with a task,
  not necessarily a resource in mind

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Process So Far

• Generated buy-in from administration
• Extended the brand across all sites
• Established Advisory Groups
• Approach
• User Interface Design
• Information Architecture
• Technology
• Faculty
• Communicating with library staff
• Team blog
• Staff newsletter

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MTagger Down with Silos!
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Collections

• Five at present
• MLibrary
• Mirlyn
• Digital Images
• Scholarly Publishing
• Other
• In development
• MBooks
• Link Resolver

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Getting Stuff Out

• RSS Feeds
• API
• JSON
• PHP
• Styled HTML

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Tagging from Tag Cloud
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What Gets Tagged
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Who Does the Tagging
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Next Steps

• Select and implement a CMS
• Select an open-source search tool
• Develop the information architecture and user
  interface for the unified web presence
• Migrate content and applications into the CMS
• Production server live by end of year

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Questions?
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Thank You
Mike Creech Web Content Manager mscreech_at_umich.edu
Ken Varnum Web Systems Manager varnum_at_umich.edu

• http//lib.umich.edu
• Slides http//www.varnum.org/papers/cil2008.ppt