GIC Website Rearchitecture Notes

(Government Information Connection)

8.14.2006

Rearchitecture Notes

(by Bobby Griffith; comments at bottom by Starr Hoffman)

Here are some materials to assist with the discussion at next week's meeting:

A GIC site inventory that lists the pages we have in our current site, arranged in the hierarchy we are currently using. Links offsite are shown in brackets, and some comments and suggestions have been added next to some of the names. Please add more comments and suggestions.

A User/Content Overview lists the issues that need to be discussed, along with some answers we have generated at previous meetings. Use this as a basis for brainstorming ideas about our page. At this point the ideas don't need to be practical or even possible.

Here are some Web sites to look at:

The following sites were mentioned as being attractive and well-organized:

UNT Media Library

 Library of Congress

 FirstGov

These are some other random Government Document sites to compare to ours:

University of Texas at Austin

 LSU Libraries

 Ingram Library

 Boston Public Library

 University of Dayton, Roesch Library

 Purdue University Libraries

 University of Tennessee Libraries

Here are my notes from the Content Liaison Group meeting that took place at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 12, 2006. A copy of these notes is available on the G: drive at G: Library Specialist III (Public Services)/Content Liaison Group/Organizational Meeting

I will update the department on our progress at each of our departmental meetings.

Kristin is planning to meet with our department on Wednesday, August 30, at 1:00 to discuss content, labels, structure, etc. for our department page. Before this meeting, we need to do the following:

1. Determine who our audience is and what they would like to do at our site.
2. Brainstorm a list of everything we would like our department’s site to do (the list doesn't have to be practical or realistic).
3. Look at our departmental Web site and our own content, and ask what we want it to do.
4. Read all our content and ask if this is what we want it to say, or if there is a way to say it better.

Try to get away from mirroring the physical structure of the library on the Web site. Think about organizing by related groups of information and tasks rather than by buildings and departments.

Content Liason Group Meeting Notes

Web Page

Content Liaison Group Web page is linked on MMDL page in lower right corner.

Page describes the objectives and responsibilities of Content Liaison Group and lists the current members.

Objective

The Content Liaison Group will produce the content for the redesigned Libraries Web site. Members from each unit provide a line of communication between the individual page editors and the Redesign Team.

Responsibilities

The Content Liaison Group collects and develops content for the Libraries Web site. Each member coordinates content development for the unit and ensures quality of content submitted for the site. Each member also coordinates departmental discussions, collects comments and suggestions, and makes recommendations for improvement of the Web site.

Members

Ann Marie Willer: Preservation

Beth Thomsett-Scott: Sci/Tech Library

Bobby Griffith: Government Documents

Ellen Truax: Committees and Workgroups

Frances May: User Education

Garret Rumohr: LAN/PC Management

Kristin Boyett: MMDL

Lou Ann Bradley: Circulation, ILL, and Reserves

Marilyn Patton: Microforms

Mark Henley: Contract Office

Daniel Alemneh: Digital Projects

Mary Durio: Rare Books

Melody Kelly: Photocopy, Administrative Offices

Randy Wallace: Research Park Library

Rebecca Barhan-Johnson: Humanities & Social Science

Richard Himmel: Archives

Shane Yeargan: Computer Lab

Sue Parks: Media Library

(Susannah Cleveland: Music)

Todd Enoch: Technical Services

Documentation

H:\SHARED\STAFF\ProjectMgmtFY06\Active_Projects\06_0008_Web_Redesign

See Current Site Report for a description and evaluation of the current Web site, and Web Redesign Proposal for an outline and timeline of the redesign project. The Project Plan will be added as soon as it is approved by the Administrative Council. The Project Plan spells out specific deadlines, the project communication plan, work allocations for the various groups, and the responsibilities of the Stakeholders and Content Liaisons.

Timeline for Content Management Team will be available after the Project Plan has been approved by the Administrative Council. These are some major deadlines:

• Content structure is due October 31, 2006.
• Site structure is due in September of 2006.
• Content is due by June of 2007.

Meetings

The Content Liaison Group will not have regular physical meetings. Most of the communication will be by e-mail (address correspondence to MMDL) or by the Forum. Using the Forum is preferable, since it is more public.

If you have any questions or concerns about the library web site re-architecture and redesign project process or about the content management system for this project, please use the Library Mayhem: Library Website Redesign Project Discussion thread for starting a discussion. If we have enough traffic on our thread in the Forum, we may get our own message board.

To log into the Library Forum:

1. Go to https://intranet.library.unt.edu/forum/
2. Enter username and password
3. Select “Library Mayhem”
4. Select “Library Website Redesign Project Discussion”
5. If you want updates, click on “Watch this Topic for Replies”

Instead of meeting minutes, Kristin will issue a biweekly progress report and an issue log.

Intranet

Plans are to start developing a library intranet about a month or so after the Web site redesign is complete.

Starr's Comments

The following sites were mentioned as being attractive and well-organized:

UNT Media Library

• like the questions (to-the-point, FAQ)
• like the hours on front page
• the “checking out media” section is great, as well as separate faculty/student services pages

Library of Congress

• like the four very visually distinct sections
• like the use of color (not overbearing, not all one color)

 FirstGov

• harder to read than the others; a lot of text on the front page
• however, it is organized well into several categories of information

These are some other random Government Document sites to compare to ours:

University of Texas at Austin

• very basic
• like the categories at left, but not the all the text on the page (hard to read)
• icons might make them easier to read
• also don’t like the descriptive blurbs placed horizontally instead of vertically (under the category titles)

LSU Libraries

• our “information by topic” is easier to understand than their “subject guides”
• easier to read than UT, but the categories almost seem too big/vague
• the “general info” section is easy to find

 Ingram Library

• FAFSA, census, and tax links are all great
• the “about” link is good/easy to find
• “by topic” is good; appropriate at top-level

 Boston Public Library

• great common topics on front page: elections, legal, patents, research guides, statistics, and taxes
• “about” and questions on front page
• text fairly easy to read (not overwhelming or crowded)

 University of Dayton, Roesch Library

• “by subject” and census links on frontpage are good
• “laws & legislation” is a good link, but perhaps “legal information” is a more user-friendly title
• don’t like that the main links are smaller text than the “about” paragraph
• hours and phone number on front page are great
• “about” blurb is good as introductory information for those not understanding what a GovDocs department is, but the large text overwhelms the page and makes the links look insignificant. It could be a briefer paragraph and still serve the same purpose.

 Purdue University Libraries

• front page has good links to: general info, FAQ, staff info, research guides
• “site/document of the week” is a nice touch, but has too much of the page’s focus
• this page needs more topical links

 University of Tennessee Libraries

• “starting places” is a great, non-jargon title that is user-friendly (provides links to topical info, finding aides, and guides)
• “about dept.” is good, but shouldn’t be labeled as “documents librarianship” (not appropriate or userfriendly)
• “special topics” is a good way to bring commonly-requested topics (like taxes) to a higher-level page
• quicklinks on the left are very nice

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