Session A305 Findability: Information Not Location - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Session A305 Findability: Information Not Location

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The current collection of sites for the Library System has grown with no ... Preserved local autonomy over look and feel of each site's content during the transition ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Session A305 Findability: Information Not Location


1
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

2
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.

3
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

4
My God, What Have We Done?

5

6

7

8

9

10
You get the picture
11
"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

12
Phased Approach
  1. A band-aidConsistent navigation and branding
  2. Major surgeryReinventing the entire web presence

13
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

14
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

15
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

16
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19
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

20
Phase IIInformation not Location
  • Eliminating silos
  • Fostering community
  • Highlighting context
  • Improving findability
  • Syndicating content

21
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

22
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

23
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

24
MTagger Down with Silos!
25
Collections
  • Five at present
  • MLibrary
  • Mirlyn
  • Digital Images
  • Scholarly Publishing
  • Other
  • In development
  • MBooks
  • Link Resolver

26
Getting Stuff Out
  • RSS Feeds
  • API
  • JSON
  • PHP
  • Styled HTML

27
Tagging from Tag Cloud
28
What Gets Tagged
29
Who Does the Tagging
30
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

31
Questions?
32
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
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