Public Interfaces Committee
August 18, 2004
Present: Rick Zwies, Karen Reardon, Julie Linden, Kalee Sprague, Dale Askey,
Debra Falvey, Stephen Naron, Earl Roy
Absent: Tao Yang, Andy Shimp, Katie Bauer
Recording: Stephen Naron
1. Announcements:
Alas, another library committee has usurped the "PIC room" on the
fourth floor. There are several alternatives (RM 79, lecture hall, etc.), but
for the time being Julie will announce the new location prior to each meeting.
User testing at the Medical Library is progressing, explained Rick, who hopes
to put the results in writing soon. The user population included two students
and two research associates. They're still looking for a fifth user, hopefully
a faculty member, but faculty members don't seem to respond well to the lure
of a $40 copy card.
2. FD Translation Update:
All FD translations that have been assigned to translators are complete, with
the exception of Arabic and Russian. Bonnie has marked-up the texts in a series
of "About the Library" templates. The question remains as to how we
want to link to the various languages from the FD. Also, how difficult is it
to actually create links in each native language? Obviously, languages with other
character sets will prove most complicated. Someone suggested a generic "Welcome"
heading, rather than "About the Library" in a dozen different languages.
The committee approved.
We still need French and German translators. Ann Okerson has agreed to provide
funding, but PIC has to handle hiring and related administrative work. Dale suggested
going to the departments directly for a list of appropriate graduate students.
Earl asked if other library staff members were eligible. Apparently, Ann gave
the green light to hiring already existing library staff member for this task,
but Julie will double-check that before any staff are contacted.
The next question was remuneration. In the end, the decision was a flat fee
of $50 per translation.
As far as potential translators go, Earl will contact native speakers of French
and German in the cataloging department; Karen suggested a native French speaker
at the Beinecke as a possibility. If the library staff don't pan out, Julie will
contact the French and German department about native speakers among the graduate
students.
Before all this happens, Julie needs to ensure Ann has put aside a $100 allocation
for translations.
The discussion of where to place this "Welcome"-link-Tower of Babel
will wait until next meeting.
3. Hours:
Some feedback on the new calendar-style mock-up of library hours: remove the
dash between opening and closing hours. The following suggestions were made:
- Add "open" and "closed" in the left margin
- Create a border, to contain data and replace the dash with "to"
- Lump Mon-Thurs together, since they have the same hours. This will save space,
and allow the opening and closing hours to sit on the same line (thereby eliminating
the need to remove the dash in the first place)
The final suggestion met with the committee's approval, and Bonnie will create
a new mock-up accordingly. It's too late to put this in place for the Fall, but
Julie will run it by Danuta (since her staff does the input) for a possible Winter
launch.
The discussion turned to creating a database for library hours, and then using
that database to feed a Princeton-like calendar application. The consensus is
that Princeton's calendar is intuitive and easy to use. But PIC still needs to
address several questions about using such a database: Will it really save time?
Do we have access to Princeton's code? What is the current workflow for gathering
library hours (Julie described the centralized system in which Maryetta makes
changes to the hours for each library, every semester)? Will it help end users?
To summarize the discussion that followed, there were several proponents of
a partially decentralized system in which libraries could directly input their
hours into the database. Obviously, this would be more efficient, but several
PIC members (Karen among them) expressed skepticism that decentralization will
work, since some departments are understaffed, and people are simply accustomed
to Maryetta handling all information related to library hours. No consensus was
reached on this issue, but in the meantime, Rick will contact Princeton with
questions regarding their calendar application, for instance: How does Princeton
acquire hours from their library sections? What are the conditions and costs
of using their code? Etc.
4. Orbis Changes (Kalee presenting):
Kalee presented a mockup of Orbis with a "Borrow Direct / ILL" button
and "Ask a Librarian!" in the Orbis header. The committee approved
the changes, as they simplify the text on the login page, and give more prominent
real estate to reference services.
Earl suggested that while we're reorganizing Orbis buttons, we should remove
"library" in "Your Library Account." The group reacted positively,
but agreed to address this issue at a later date.
The addition of "Ask! a Librarian" to the Orbis header brought
up last meeting's question of creating a smaller Orbis header. PIC agreed to
leave the small header issue until it could be properly addressed as part of
a larger Orbis interface redesign. Once the interface is in XML we can have a
field day redesigning Orbis for maximum usability. (Speaking of usability, there
was some discussion about user testing and PIC's user testing policies. Apparently,
we have a graphics fund that can be applied to user testing. The question is
when and in what cases we want to conduct user testing. In the past, PIC has
only conducted user testing during large-scale redesigns. Dale suggested the
possibility of employing his "Utah method," in which color printouts
of a website are used to test patron reactions in an informal setting - for instance,
a group of PIC members with printouts in binders approaching patrons in the library
and asking them for a minute of their time.)
For a list of Orbis changes to be implemented prior to the Fall 2004 semester,
see the latest updates on the PIC homepage: http://www.library.yale.edu/fdc/
Implementation of UCLA's Javascript application that inserts an "and"
between terms in keyword searches is still in the works. Henceforth it will be
referred to simply as "UCLA's killer app." or the "app. to end
all keyword search failures."
5. Training
The discussion of training was postponed until next meeting.
© 2007 Yale University Library
This file last modified 10/24/06
© 2007 Yale University Library
This file last modified 10/24/06
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