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Sakaibrary Project Update: Subject Research Guides. December 6, 2007. Background. Collaborative project of Indiana University Libraries and the University of Michigan Library Funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project partners Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Stanford.
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Sakaibrary Project Update: Subject Research Guides December 6, 2007
Background • Collaborative project of Indiana University Libraries and the University of Michigan Library • Funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation • Project partners Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Stanford
Sakaibrary Project Goals • Build tools to provide seamless integration of content from licensed library databases within Sakai for instructors • Leverage existing library technology infrastructure • Prototype functionality for librarians to present content in Sakai and students to discover licensed content within Sakai • Engage librarians, students, and faculty in the design and testing
Project Focus • Citations helper - new features in 2.5 • Working prototype of Subject Research Guides (SRG) by June
Milestones • Usage scenarios – March 2006 • First phase implementation – October 2006 • Citation list as Sakai resource • Searching library resources through OSID connector to metasearch tools • OpenURL linking • Usability testing – November 2006 • Reworked designs - Dec thru Feb 2007 • Quality Assurance - March thru April 2007 • Released citations helper in Sakai 2.4 - May 2007
Example: Usage Scenario Summary: Dr. Smith teaches an introductory course in the History department. For the course research paper, he wants to point his students to scholarly resources available via the library, rather than have them use Google. Dr. Smith also wants his students to have easy access to reference librarians for research help, as well as understand the basics of plagiarism.
The Research Process and Student Learning Librarians regularly teach sessions on information research within a course Faculty to develop course assignments which require it Librarians provide reference services and support for the process 7
The Subject Research Guide Research guides lead a new researcher to the best sources and research tools for a discipline or topic Teach the process of information discovery and selection Vary greatly in level of depth and specificity 8
The Subject Research Guide Offer resources and services to for continued exploration or support Offer asynchronous instruction to users at their convenience Typically delivered through library web sites 9
Course-specific Research Guides Faculty requested Developed as part of a Web CMS 10
SRG Examples • Psychology – University of Michigan Graduate Library http://www.lib.umich.edu/grad/guide/guide.php?id=1 • Accounting – Rutgers University Library http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/account.shtml • Language & Literature – Oregon State University Library http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/srg/langlit.htm 11
SRG Data Elements • Title and other metadata • Citations and citation lists • Links to library databases • Canned search link for Web, database, or library catalog • Constrained search box for Web, databases, or library catalog • RSS feeds • Links to arbitrary web sites • Links to people (e.g. subject librarian) • Freeform rich text • Audio files • Comments and annotations
SRG Organization • Various ways to organize guides and components of guides: • Type of resource • Subject and sub-area • Course and coursework (syllabus, assignments) • Information need • Type of user • Document structure needs to be flexible • Storage as XML document • Potential interchange format with other systems
SRG Authoring • Need to support: • Creation • Editing • Sharing • Using existing guides as templates • Authoring by librarians and others (instructors, students)
SRG Authoring • Authoring interface should be flexible and interactive • Use of AJAX/DHTML • Probably based on RSF and Dojo • Looking at Fluid toolkit • Learn from other similar UIs: • LibGuides • Google Notebook • Probably implemented as Sakai tool
SRG Timeline • Goal: Develop initial version by Summer 2008 Sakai Conference • Mellon grant ends June 2008 • Seek additional funding to complete development