What is a Unified Web Presence?

1. What is a Unified Web Presence? Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Web Manager’s Academy Feb 20, 2011

2. Workshop Goals: • Explore ways to take your website to the next level, • Transform Web sites from a menu that leads users into a disjointed set of content repositories and services, to a unified service delivery platform • Use analytics to identify friction points on the website and in social media channels. • Learn to deliver content and services to users beyond the library website through other channels like mobile and social media. • Tips, techniques, and strategies to help create a seamless and “frictionless” web experience. • Learn to create, deliver and repurpose high-impact content. • Know how to evaluate and measure the strengths and weaknesses of your website and social media and • Be prepared to positively face off with both users and stakeholders!

3. Expectations for the Workshop Content at multiple levels Address both advanced and novice Web managers Conceptual / Practical Interactive / Participatory Exercises – No hands-on coding

4. Therapy for your Library Web site • Diagnosing the patient • Split personalities? • Schizophrenic? • Fragmented? • Integrated and reasonably healthy? • Enlightened?

5. Disjointed approach to information and service delivery? • Silos Prevail • Books: Library OPAC (ILS module) • Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal collections • OpenURL linking services • E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver) • Subject guides (e.g. SpringshareLibGuides) • About the Library… • Local digital collections • ETDs, photos, rich media collections • Metasearch engines • All offered in separate containers

6. Delivering a consistent and coherent experience • Look and Feel • Branding / Sub-branding • Parent institution – Library – Branches and departments • Authentication / single sign-on • Integrated Personality / non-schizophrenic • Smooth over complexities on the back with more seamless presentation layer

7. Complex Library Infrastructure • Integrated Library System • Online Catalog • OpenURL Link Resolver • Digital Asset Management Systems • Institutional Repositories • Electronic Theses and Dissertations • Electronic Resource Management • Institutional / Library Web site • Web Content Management System • Authentication Services

8. Thinking about the User Does your library’s Web presence have a presentation layer that manages all aspects of end-user experience or does it simply hand users off from one interface to another as they muddle through your Web site?

9. Examples: Unified or not? Amazon.com Harvard University http://lib.harvard.edu/ Walter Reed Army Hospital Library http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Professionals/library/ Nashville Public Library http://www.library.nashville.org/ Phoenix Public Library http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/

10. Tools and Techniques Consistent branding and design Shared style sheets among applications Web content management system Integrate functionality of other components through plug-ins, widgets, Web services Avoid direct hand-offs Unified presentation framework Drupal with plug-ins Specialized library tools: BiblioCommons, SOPAC, Axiel Arena, Infor Iguana, etc

11. Library Web Presence Public Interfaces: Presentation Layer SubjectGuides Integrated Library System Library Web site Article, Databases,E-Book collections

12. Unified Search Model ILS Data Search: Digital Collections Discovery Index Search Results Web site data … ConsolidatedIndexes of Articles User Contributed Content

13. SOPAC: The Social Opac Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Web Manager’s Academy Feb 20, 2011

14. General Information • Open Source Discovery layer • GNU General Public License GPLv3 • Originally developed by John Blyberg • Ann Arbor District Library • Darien Public Library (CT)

15. SOPAC design • merge “all of the components of the user experience into a single unified interface,” from the library’s homepage down to the individual record level and the patron preference screen. • More information: • Darien Library's Open Source SOPAC 2.0 Emphasizes Patron Content  • http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6591377.html

16. Technical Components • Drupal • Supports themes and templates for customization • Locum • Connection layer to Integrated Library Systems • Insurge • Data repository component • Independent Social Repository • Tags, comments, reviews

17. Examples • http://www.aadl.org • http://www.darienlibrary.org/ • http://thesocialopac.net/

18. Resource Discovery Layer Products Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Web Manager’s Academy Feb 20, 2011

19. Discovery Products http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl

20. Decoupled from ILS

21. Discovery Interface ILS Data Digital Collections Search: Local Index ProQuest Search Results EBSCOhost MetaSearch Engine … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Real-time query and responses

22. Differentiation in Discovery • Products increasingly specialized between public and academic libraries • Public libraries: emphasis on engagement with physical collection • Academic libraries: concern for discovery of heterogeneous material types, especially books + articles + digital objects

23. Discovery from Local to Web-scale • Initial products focused on technology • AquaBrowser, Endeca, Primo, Encore, VuFind • Mostly locally-installed software • Current phase focused on pre-populated indexes that aim to deliver Web-scale discovery • Summon (Serials Solutions) • WorldCat Local (OCLC) • EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO) • Primo Central • Encore with Article Integration

24. Web-scale Discovery ILS Data Digital Collections Search: ProQuest EBSCOhost Search Results Consolidated Index … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Pre-built harvesting and indexing

25. State-wide Discovery ILS Data Vanderbilt Digital Collections Search: EBSCO ILS Data: Nashville Public Search Results Consolidated Index … ILS Data: UTK ILS Data: Tinn-Share Pre-built harvesting and indexing

26. Web-scale Search + Federated Search ILS Data Digital Collections Search: ProQuest … Consolidated Index Search Results MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Pre-built harvesting and indexing FedSearch Non-harvestable Resources Interim model to deal with resources not possible to harvest into consolidated index

27. Encore Synergy ILS Data Digital Collections Search: Local Index ProQuest Local Index Results … EBSCOhost Remote Search Results … MLA Bibliography Web Services Local Index Results ABC-CLIO

28. Social Discovery ILS Data Search: Digital Collections Local Index Search Results Web site data … User Contributed Content

29. Some Examples VuFind Villanova University http://library.villanova.edu/ BiblioCommons http://epl.bibliocommons.com/ Summon Dartmouth College Library http://library.dartmouth.edu/

30. Making Library Content Discoverable: Search Engine Optimization Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Web Manager’s Academy Feb 20, 2011

31. Search Engine Optimization • Important to ensure that unique content on your site will be findable by through search engines, especially Google • General principles: • clear and valuable content • Optimize for real users • Don’t try to game the system • Good coding and metadata important

32. Coding for findability • <title> tag: short and unique descriptive title • <description> summary of content, peppered with keywords • <h1><h2> tags lightly indexed • Search engines will attempt to find key content on pages in the absence of meta tags • Pages will be punished if meta tags and content are inconsistent

33. Article posted

34. HTML Source

35. Google Search Results