CDL recently hosted a webinar series for Users Council that’s now widely available to UC staff.  (The CDL’s Users Council is a group responsible for communicating information between the CDL and the campuses concerning use of CDL tools, services and collections.  Users Council consists of a liaison from each UC campus, including LBNL, LLNL and the Regional Library Facilities.  A CDL representative is an ex officio member. ) 

The topics covered were chosen through a member survey, with survey expertise provided by CDL’s Senior Assessment Analyst Jane Lee. 

This year there were six lively sessions covering the following ground:

• Melvyl: A Snapshot of Issues, Patricia Martin, Director, Discovery & Delivery and Lena Zentall, Project Manager, Discovery & Delivery
• Services Today & Tomorrow, Laine Farley, Executive Director, CDL
• What’s Happening in Collections: 15 Triumphs in 30 Minutes, Wendy Parfrey, Shared Content Coordinator
• User Experience Design and CDL, Rachael Hu, User Experience Design Manager
• eScholarship: Supporting OA Scholarly Communication at UC, Catherine Mitchell, Director, Access& Publishing; Justin Gonder, eScholarship Product Manager; and Katie Fortney, Copyright Policy & Education Officer
• HathiTrust and Mass Digitization, Heather Christenson, Mass Digitization Project Manager

Each of the one-hour recordings, along with PowerPoint slides, is available for your viewing at:   http://www.cdlib.org/groups/users_council/

(The presentations are password protected because some of the information is not for public consumption.)

I am delighted to announce the redesigned UC Libraries website. The website is the primary communication vehicle for the UC libraries’ systemwide initiatives and collaborative activities and is intended to be used by both internal and external audiences. The redesign process, started over a year ago, updates the site’s design, streamlines the navigation, and enriches the content. Our goal was to improve the information provided to audiences unfamiliar with how the ten campus libraries and CDL work together as a system and to enhance navigation to information about the systemwide groups whose material makes up the bulk of the website’s content.  At the same time, we wanted to make it easier for systemwide groups and other library staff to keep track of new developments and find documents and reports.

The new features you’ll find on the site include:

• New and refreshed visual design and layout
• Streamlined site-wide navigation and group architecture
• New search feature
• A “Latest Updates” listserv for UC libraries’ announcements and new website content updates.

The revised site is powered by a new content management system (CMS), which should help maintain the continuity of the site and streamline the update process for contributors.

I want to extend my appreciation to everyone involved in the redesign effort. Much gratitude goes to the chairs and members of the operations and planning groups who took time out of their busy schedules to review files, evaluate the design, and contribute ideas. Thanks as well to the small group of stakeholders who helped to guide, champion, and weigh in on decision-making as the project progressed.

• Felicia Poe (CDL)
• Diane Bisom (former SOPAG chair)
• Elizabeth Cowell (current SOPAG chair)
• Laine Farley (CDL)

Extra thanks, kudos, and credit go to the hard-working User Experience Design Services team at the CDL. The talented crew worked countless hours to bring the new site to fruition, and they brought an impressive level of expertise and thought to this project.

• Project Manager and UX Lead: Rachael Hu
• Web Production Manager and Technical Lead: Eric Satzman
• Senior UX Analyst: Jane Lee
• Web Producers: Craig Thompson and Robin Davis-White
• Web Production Contributor: David Chan
• Technical Lead and Development: Brian Tingle and Mark Redar
• Project Consultant: Joanne Miller

I hope you’ll all take a few minutes to explore the new site to see how it’s organized and how it can be useful to you.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the website’s administration team through uclib-support-L@ucop.edu.

We’re nearing the end of our last few months in the project timeline. In the last update, we had anticipated a December, 2012 release; however, due to unforeseen project and resource demands we have had to re-assess our timeline and are now targeting an end of February, 2013 release.

What has been completed in the last quarter of 2012.

• All content has been migrated from old site to new site. All told some 1,000+ new HTML pages were created and entered into the CMS. 2,000+ non-HTML documents were migrated and metadata was assigned to each document so that our new search functionality could be optimized.
• New search functionality was created.
• We mastered a new CMS and learned all the ins and outs of bringing over old content into a new system.
• Tested the CMS and are making changes according to the test findings so that our content contributors can have as good a user experience as our website users.

Timeline for the next few months…

December, 2012: Create user documentation and training modules for use of new CMS web editing process, clean up content consistencies, test and conduct search functionality fixes.

January, 2013: Refine visual design, refine CMS user interface, review content with content owners, make content updates, freeze content until release.

February, 2013: Archive old site, QA and testing, announce rollout of instructional sessions for CMS users, announce release of new site.

For those who took part in the content review for the UC libraries website, a big thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to give us feedback. We’re excited about the progress we’re making on putting together the new site.

Timeline for the rest of the year…

September, 2012: Building out new web pages, continue to build and test new search engine.

October, 2012: Evaluate and usability test new CMS upload process with select UC library website contributors, plan and create user documentation and training modules for use of new CMS web editing process.

November, 2012: Lightweight usability testing of website, content freeze for UC libraries website, synchronize any new content that has been added to site since content review in August/September, QA test search functionality and announcement mechanism.

December, 2012: Proposed release of new UC libraries website.

Here at CDL, we have embarked on a major web design and content migration effort for the UC libraries website.

Please take a moment to help us test out our site navigation!

(Thanks for your participation in our survey and your very useful feedback. We have since closed the survey. Updated 8/20/12.)

Project Background

The UC Libraries  website is an informational website that conveys how the UC libraries from all ten campuses work together in a systemwide capacity to plan, strategize and collaborate on activities that serve all UC library constituents. The website was first conceived and developed in 2003. Since then web technologies and designs have advanced, thus we felt that it was time for a major overhaul of the website and its content.

A project team at CDL has been formed to conduct the design and implementation of the revitalized site:

• Project Manager: Rachael Hu
• Web Production Manager: Eric Satzman
• Senior UX Analyst: Jane Lee
• Web Producers: Craig Thompson and Robin Davis-White
• Technical Lead and Development: Brian Tingle and Mark Redar
• Project Consultant: Joanne Miller

Based on a needs assessment conducted with a sampling of UC library staff in late 2011, we decided to target the following areas for improvement:

• Clean up and transition content
• Implement content management system for easier update process
• Add new search functionality
• Modernize page layout and site navigation
• Create new visual design

We have been working with designated content owners from the various UC systemwide committees and groups to review and revisit the content in their areas of the website. All told we’re working to transition 1000 web pages and over 2000 documents.

In the upcoming months, we will be working with each group and committee to review the new page layouts and content organization. We will also be testing the new content management system, developing new search functionality, and creating user training information to help content contributors use the new update process.

Stay tuned for more information!

Photo Credit: DaveBleasdale

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidelong/246816211/)

The HathiTrust personas are available for use: http://www.hathitrust.org/documents/HathiTrust_Personas.pdf. An overview of the project is available on the HathiTrust web site: http://www.hathitrust.org/personas, and includes a project report detailing the methodology used to develop the personas.

From scholars to enthusiasts to genealogists, these personas may help you to better understand our HathiTrust users.  Definitely worth looking at!

“To this end, the University of California (UC) Libraries Heads of Public Services (HOPS) recently charged a taskforce to establish a set of shared best practices for library homepage nomenclature, content, and layout. Libraries in the ten-campus UC system currently share a number of resources and services: electronic collections, consortial borrowing, and 24/7 digital reference to name a few. Yet each of the ten libraries hosts and maintains its own Web page, each as unique as the campus it serves.” 

The work of this taskforce, comprised of UC librarians Susan Mikkelsen (UCM),  Kristine Ferry (UCI), Rachael Hu (CDL), Brian Mathews (UCSB) and Deborah A. Murphy (UCSC), is described in an article in the June 2011 issue of C&RL News, entitled, “Come together; a common vocabulary for University of California library homepages. “ Kudos, colleagues!

The report is located at: www.cdlib.org/services/uxdesign/docs/2011/academic_ebook_usage_survey.pdf

Questions and comments can be directed to Felicia Poe, Ivy Anderson, or Jacqueline Wilson at the California Digital Library.

Felicia Poe, Manager
User Experience Design Service
felicia.poe@ucop.edu

Ivy Anderson, Director
Collection Development & Management
ivy.anderson@ucop.edu

Jacqueline Wilson, Senior Associate for Shared Content
Collection Development & Management
jacqueline.wilson@ucop.edu

To make it easier for you to ensure your messages are inclusive, a working group of the systemwide Electronic Accessibility Leadership Team maintains a UC web accessibility site for web developers, content developers, and writers and editors.

In addition to guidelines for these audiences, the Website has an array of useful tips, tools and techniques to help you make your site accessible.  The Website includes sections on guiding principles, recommended standards, technical standards, finding assistance on your campus, training opportunities for developers, other resources, UC’s Electronic Resources policy, and a link to the initiative to promote electronic accessibility throughout the University of California.

Do you want to learn more?  UC employees may join a Universitywide e-mail discussion list of technical and other UC personnel interested in IT accessibility issues. To join the list (accessible-l@ucop.edu), send an e-mail to Yvonne Tevis.