Transcript SAMM09_WebEnvironments[1]

Building Environments and Tools to
Engage Library Users
Jason J. Battles
The University of Alabama
SAMM 2009
The Problem
• We have limited human and financial resources to
bring new products and services to our users.
• We wait until these products or services are 100%
ready before release.
• We are surprised when patrons don’t use them.
Users are the Key
• Engage users to discovery what they need and what
library and non-library products, services, and
technologies they use.
• Include users in the process of developing and/or testing
new products and services prior to release.
• Use our knowledge of the library products available and
the services we can develop to bring them to the users
for testing and feedback.
Out-of-Library Experience
• Communication Technologies
• Ball State University survey of 300 students revealed that
59% preferred text messaging over other communication
methods. Email was favored by 7%.
• 99.7% of those students have a mobile communications
device.
• Smart phones
• Surveys indicates dramatic increase in demand.
• Mobile applications use slated to quadruple in 5 years.
Out-of-Library Experience
• Social Software
• In a 2008 study at UA, 85% of respondents used Facebook
with nearly 70% using it “often” or “very often”.
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Delicious
Flickr
MySpace
YouTube
What Now?
• Identify potential projects
• Finding the resources
• Staff
• Code4lib (http://code4lib.org)
• Web4lib (http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/)
• Research and development
Creating Tools
• Using SMS (short message service) to interact with
patrons
• Expanding into the social software environment
• Delicious
• http://www.lib.ua.edu
• Flickr
• Developing apps for smart phones
Smart Phone Apps
• iPhone - Apple
• Academic license
• Must use a Intel-based Mac for development
• Android - Google
• Free SDK (Software Development Kit)
• Can develop on Windows, Intel-based Mac, or Linux
• Blackberry
Marketing
• Publicize the existence of new products and services.
• Demonstrate how they are useful.
• Be mindful of all of your users. Are you reaching them?
“Library Labs”
• Build on the Google Labs concept.
 http://labs.google.com
• Creates an environment for users to experiment with new
services.
• Encourages user feedback and uses it to shape development.
• Introduces new services at any time.
• Serves as an ingenious marketing platform.
Goals for the Lab
1. Showcase projects under development and under
consideration.
2. Provide an easy way to gather, store and search user
feedback.
3. Solicit suggestions for new services.
4. Provide a way to recruit for usability studies and focus
groups.
5. Get the word out!
The Project Team
• Four librarians from various departments and branches
from throughout the Vanderbilt University Libraries.
• Each member had a different skill set.
• We were all still doing our day jobs.
• First meeting was March 2006.
Developing the Lab
• Gathering and storing comments.
• PHP and MySQL
• JavaScript
• Adding and removing new projects to the lab.
• Server-side includes (SSI)
• Page layout
• XHTML
• Table-free CSS design
• RSS feed
Feedback Mechanism
• Integrated comment box
• No separate form
• Low barrier for users
• Built using script.aculo.us JavaScripts
http://script.aculo.us
• Provide blind up/down effect for comment box
• Spam filter
• Open form text box with user type selection for certain
products and services featured in the lab.
Searching User Feedback
• Administrative page
• Provides project leads and administrators with a web
interface for keeping track of user feedback
• Includes capability to search by keyword and project
• Results contain more than comments
• Project name, version number, user type, etc.
• Printer-friendly option for report production
The Lab Goes Live
• Vanderbilt University’s Test Pilot
http://testpilot.library.vanderbilt.edu
• Launched July 2006.
• Featured items:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ex Libris’s Primo search and discovery tool
Web redesign
LibX toolbar
Library blogs
The Lab at UA
• The portability of the “library lab” framework was
demonstrated when it was implemented at the
University of Alabama Libraries.
• The University of Alabama’s Web Laboratory went live in
November 2007 and included some noteworthy
enhancements to the original Vanderbilt site.
 http://www.lib.ua.edu/weblab/
UA’s Web Laboratory
• AJAX functionality was added to the comment box.
• Made user comment submittal seamless
• Ratings field added
• Users able to volunteer for usability studies
• Featured items:
• Web redesign
• RefWorks
• Library Search page
Web Redesign and the Lab
• Iterative web redesign process with multiple prototypes
• Featured on Web Laboratory lab site
• Received over 100 comments from users and staff
• Many of these comments resulted in changes to the final
product or a reevaluation of our design decisions.
Conclusion
• Vanderbilt and Alabama’s web labs have seen
tremendous user input on select projects.
• User comments have proven valuable in shaping services
at both institutions.
• The code has been shared and used by other libraries.
• Marketing for the labs and new services is still lacking.
o These “library labs” are part of a broader effort to address
the needs and expectations of our users.
Credits
• Vanderbilt University
• Jody Combs
• Molly Dahl
• Jon Erickson
• Jodie Gambill
• The University of Alabama
• Will Jones
Contact
Jason Battles
[email protected]