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Meeting minutes

12 July 2007

Members present: Marilyn Ochoa, Carrie Newsome, Jason Fleming, John Nemmers, Rae Jesano, Jimmie Lundgren, Matthew Mariner

Discussion points:

On library pages: 'Help' AND 'Ask a Librarian' buttons; are both necessary. We determined that consolidating the two (migrating the topics in 'Help' to 'Ask a Librarian') would be best.

Side strip: Discussed possibility of organizing a 'task force' to deal exclusively with complexities of reorganizing side strip elements.

Other University websites: look for inspiration in the library websites of other Universities comparable to UF -- glean from them any advents we might be lacking.

EZ proxy use: alert Bill to EZ proxy use

Brown Bag: focus on instructional staff

Rich Bennett: suggest changes to documents detailing proxy procedures for patrons/staff (VPN instructions as well)

Group decided to 'do away' with rank bar in MetaLib search results.

 

26 February 2007

Resource Navigation Group

Agenda and Notes for Meeting Held

February 26, 2007

1:00 PM, MSL 107

 

Members Present:  Jimmie Lundgren, Matt Mariner, Maryellen O’Brien, Marilyn Ochoa, Carol Turner

 

1. OPAC committee which will be working on Endeca issues
1. Carol introduced the possibility of reorganizing or integrating the OPAC committee within Resource Navigation (as a task force or a subgroup).
2. Carol said she would forward the charge of the old committee.  Marilyn suggested that the RNG consult with Rich, Jason Fleming and LeiLani Freund to get more information on the projected activities of the group to make a recommendation about how the committee should be reconstituted.
3. Marilyn mentioned also that LeiLani has approached me about the RNG’s involvement with the Endeca usability tests FSU is planning; FSU is already working on the instrument.  Marilyn will discuss the possibility with Carrie.

 

1. Email from Religion Studies faculty
1. A Library suggestions email was sent to the RNG. 

• To address the issues, Marilyn offered to talk to John Ingram to get context for the message that was sent.  
• Jimmie offered to ensure that FirstSearch could cross-referenced in the Catalog as First Search; Marilyn would ask Rich to also make the cross reference in MetaLib. 
• The recommendation of the patron to place the “First Search” database on the homepage was rejected since it was decided that placing it on the homepage would be inappropriate.  Marilyn will suggest that Interlibrary Loan place a link to WorldCat on their pages. 
• We will indicate to the faculty member that separate login pages/passwords for various library services are due to the software used.

1. Other email that gets sent to RNG as a whole will be discussed by email if necessary.  A response will be sent by Marilyn or Carrie as Chairs of the RNG.

 

1. Brown bag
1. Present members voted to recommend the top three issues identified at the brown bag be submitted to Tom Minton for action:

• Change images in top bar
• Place Library Catalog and Research Gateway side by side on homepage
• Remove Library Catalog from the Research Gateway searches

1. The next brown bag to discuss the proxy was scheduled for March 27, 2007 from noon to 1 PM. 

 

1. Next projects
1. MetaLib—Marilyn will find out when FCLA will implement the new version of MetaLib.  Maryellen indicated that ExLibris rolled it out last week.
2. UFDC

• Marilyn reported that Erich Kesse and Mark Sullivan will conduct all training to PS and CM staff and that we will be previewing the session to offer feedback from a user perspective.  No date has been set.
• Marilyn reported that the usability report should be ready for review by the start of next week.  By mid-March, RNG members should read the report and provide any feedback they have to Marilyn. 

1. Proxy

• The role of RNG regarding the proxy is to evaluate the methods users have to gain remote access to the libraries’ resources; evaluate the proxy as an access tool; and evaluate the login page for usability and clarity.  The RNG would recommend improvements.
• We reviewed the various login, success and unsuccessful pages. 
• We discussed alternate options for maintenance of the proxy server.  We rejected the idea of recommending setting up a Smathers Library Proxy through FCLA or maintaining a server in Systems.  We recommended that there should be more use of the UF VPN.
• The group wondered if staff should emphasize Gatorlink information for login on proxy pages.
• Because most of the issues with the proxy stem from the webpages, Carrie and I will meet with the representatives from HSCL, Law (Maryellen) and Smathers to create a standard set of unsuccessful login pages.  This meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2007.

1. Next meeting for the RNG was scheduled for March 15, 2-230 PM.

 

 

Reviewed pages

1. Login pages Review of current page

• Consider iterations currently employed from Research Gateway, Journals, Databases and Articles
• Consider possible new login pages (issues:  which login is most important, are instructions needed on start page)
• http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/login_new.html
• http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/login_new2.html
• http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/login_new3.html
• http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/login_new4.html
• Success page
• Review of current success page
• Consider use of possible new page returning uses to page they started with (homepage, Research Gateway, Journals, Databases and Articles) http://www.uflib.ufl.edu.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/default_newlogin.html
• Unsuccessful login attempt page

Review of current which goes to HSCL proxy page to retry logging in

 

30 January 2007

 

RNG Meeting January 30, 2007 Minutes

• Talk with Tom concerning changes to library homepage
• How homepage changes came about
• UF Administration felt aesthetic changes were needed to improve attractiveness of homepage
• Website changes are mostly restricted to look and feel; Find column and Research Gateway are mostly unchanged.
• Tom will send e-mails to all library staff (including HSL and Law) when he makes any changes to the homepage or the first four items listed under the Find column (Books, Articles, Journals or Databases).
• Tom explains more deeply changes made to homepage.
• Added a new library catalog search box
• Added photos of various campus aspects (aesthetic improvement)
• Moved top of page database link
• Discussion of the site map
• Should we keep it?
• Tom expressed concern over viability of site map due to constantly changing site structure
• Proxy log in page
• Need to discuss possible changes to various success/failure pages
• Tom will send any pertinent comments he receives about the library page to RNG e-mail list

Further group discussion

• The group discussed the link intensiveness of the website and expressed concern over the amount of white space in website.
• Do we need to do away with cold library terminology and substitute with more user-friendly wording?
• Discussed the library catalog search box’s prominence vs. research gateway’s. Should one be more visible than the other?
• It was suggested the group begin collecting all website comments and then creating a qualitative comment analysis system (finding trends, statistics),
• Software suggestions were an Excel file and looking for open source qualitative analysis programs.

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