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Bringing It All Together

Bringing It All Together. WiLSWorld Conference July 19, 2005. Subject Guides. What are they? Starting points for finding information in specific topic areas Current group of 28 with one in development Topics can change or be added at any time. Subject Guides. What’s Included? Databases

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Bringing It All Together

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  1. Bringing It All Together WiLSWorld Conference July 19, 2005

  2. Subject Guides • What are they? • Starting points for finding information in specific topic areas • Current group of 28 with one in development • Topics can change or be added at any time

  3. Subject Guides • What’s Included? • Databases • Selected websites • Catalog Links • ebooks • Classes • Events • RSS Feeds • Librarian Notes

  4. Subject Guide Main Page

  5. Business & Investments Subject Guide

  6. Business & Investments Subtopic Page

  7. Subject Guides • Why bring it all together? • One stop shopping for patrons • Difficult to find subject information located throughout the website. “Needle in the haystack” • Work smarter and reduce repetition of work

  8. Planning and Implementation • Initial plan to merge databases with selected website grew in discussion to include all subject information • Success would require additional staff resources to implement and maintain • Proposal submitted to management to include work on the website in the professional librarian’s duties

  9. Planning and Implementation • In 2001 Hennepin County Library began staffing their website • Web Services Department • Web Administrator 1.0 • Reference Services Librarian .6 • Adult Services Librarian .6 • Teen Services/Accessibility Librarian 1.0 • Special Projects Librarian .5

  10. Planning and Implementation • Website is a door to our public with an expected 6.5 million visits in 2005 • Website is a resource for all staff and patrons • Logical to use the expertise and skills of library staff throughout the system who use the resources daily to provide content

  11. Planning and Implementation • Proposal to administration that work on the website including content for the Subject Guides would be part of a professional librarian’s job at Hennepin County Library • Not an entirely new concept

  12. Planning and Implementation • In 1996 Hennepin County Library began providing selected websites for the public • Work was done on a voluntary basis by library staff with various levels of success and commitment • The New Subject Guide pages needed to have formal commitment and accountability from librarians and supervisors in order to be fully developed

  13. Planning and Implementation • Formal proposal presented to Senior Management • 3 points strengthened the proposal for management • 24/7 success due to wide participation • Online tools allow easy maintenance • Training and ongoing support would be provided

  14. Planning and Implementation • Proposal fully supported by Hennepin County Administration • Assignment of work on the website is now part of the job duties of many HCL librarians • Supervisors matched librarians with subjects of individual interest or areas of expertise

  15. Planning and Implementation • Half day workshop planned and developed for librarians • Tools • Selection and maintenance criteria for websites • Exercises developed to illustrate evaluating websites • Discussion of writing for the web and system conventions • Collection Management department involved

  16. How does it work? • Currently 42 librarian selectors for Subject Guides • Staff had little ‘coding’ experience • Website redesigned to allow easy maintenance for staff and changed display for public

  17. How does it work? • The Subject Guides are custom database driven pages using Coldfusion • Each portion of page saved in a table and all the tables are inter-related • When a page is selected they are dynamically built from the database via the Coldfusion programming • No longer using static html pages

  18. How does it work? • Forms created by Web Services staff for librarians to input content • Additional tool created to allow librarians to provide the Librarian Note content

  19. How does it work? • Content for sidebar/feature column added if appropriate to the subject • Not necessary to include all pieces to offer this type of display • Content modular and you can select the parts that you can support and update • Kansas City Public Library uses a similar idea for presentation of content http://www.kclibrary.org/guides/

  20. How is it going? • Subject Guides were launched on December 15, 2004 with very positive reviews • A few Librarians took ‘coaxing’ to take ownership of their assigned subject • Coordinator sends monthly e-mail to selectors to remind them to update the Librarian notes • Includes tips, interesting websites, and some best practices information

  21. How is it going?

  22. How is it going?

  23. How is it going? • Librarians no longer just concentrate on the physical location and patrons • This is a slow paradigm shift for the role of the professional librarian • Change is not restricted to Subject Guides with opportunities throughout the website for staff to provide content and apply their expertise

  24. Future • Subject guides are only the beginning for us and are a prototype for other areas of our website • Our TeenLinks area is going through a redesign that will adopt many of the Subject Guide features and tools

  25. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  26. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  27. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  28. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  29. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  30. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  31. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  32. Subject Guide Selector Tools

  33. Web Application Software • Provides additional functionality • Draw information from databases, web services, etc. • Examples: • ColdFusion • ASP • PHP • perl

  34. ColdFusion Dataflow

  35. Subject Guide Template

  36. Database example

  37. Website example

  38. Database example

  39. Catalog searches example

  40. eBooks example

  41. News feeds example

  42. Classes example

  43. Events example

  44. Custom add-ins

  45. Keyword Searching • Database content allows: • flexibility in search • flexibility in display • integrated results • Additional features (e.g. spell check) • Google SpellCheck API

  46. Google SpellCheck API grahicnovels --> graphic novels IDEO --> VIDEO habit of high effective people --> habit of highly effective people

  47. Additional Information • LITTLE BOY BLUE GOES HIGH-TECH: PROVIDING CUSTOMERS WITH TOPIC-DRIVEN CONTENTDavid King.Computers in Libraries. Westport: Feb 2005. Vol. 25, Iss. 2; p. 10 (3 pages) • Where Does That ELECTRONIC RESOURCE FIT on the Library Web Page?Todd R Digby.Computers in Libraries. Westport: Jan 2004. Vol. 24, Iss. 1; p. 6 • Following the Yellow Brick Road to Simplified Link ManagementNicole C Engard.Computers in Libraries. Westport: Apr 2005. Vol. 25, Iss. 4; p. 10 (6 pages)

  48. Christine Clifford Reference Services Librarian cclifford@hclib.org Glenn Peterson Web Administrator gpeterson@hclib.org http://www.hclib.org/extranet

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