The RI Sassy Librarian

ADA Accessibilty & the WEBOPAC

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Presenter: Fort Collins Regional Library District

Who is this presentation for?
-First, for III.
-Web developers and others responsible for site
-Anyone willing to advocate for accessibility

What is Web Accessibility?
-People with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with Web.

There has been an increase in disabilities in recent years.

Where to start?
-Get educated
-Work with people with disabilities and find out how they use the web
-Identify issues with your catalog/site
-Prioritize & Repair issues
-Get feedback from disabled persons

Accessibility Standards
-WACG for WC3
-Ranks priorities, priority 1 is most important and needs to be fixed ASAP
-Section 508 and Rehab Act of 1973, if you receive federal funding, your website MUST be accessible

Types of disabilities
-Visual
-Hearing/Speech
-Cognitive
-Motor

Blindness
-Screen reader software ($500-$1000)
-Two keyboards: 1regular, 1 braille keyboard ($5000-$10,000)

Low Vision
-Design with stylesheets that can be modified by users
-Avoid absolute font sizes
-Good contrast between text and background
-Be consistent with layout & navigation

Color Blindness
-Adequate contrast
-Provide redundant information

Deafness/Hard of Hearing
-Captions or transcripts of audio on the web, including webcasts
-Add content-related images for people who first language may be a sign language
-Use clear & simple language

Physical/Motor Disabilities
Temporary or Permanent
-Avoid or lengthen time-limited response options on web pages
-Support keyboard alternatives for mouse commands
-Create a logical tab order for forms

Cognitive/Neurological Disabilities
-Memory impairment
-Intellectual impairment
-Seizure
-Dyslexia
-ADD
-etc.

Design ideas for Cognitive/Neurological Disabilities
-Provide clear and consistent navigation
-Clear/Simple language
-Alternative modalities for information display
-Avoid absolute font sizes

Age Related Disorders
-hearing
-memory
-motor function

How to identify Accessibility Issues
-SKIP navigation link
-LINX can't read javascript

Online Accessibility Validators
-A-Checker
-Cynthia Says
-Total Validator
-WAVE
-List of tools/validators: http://www.w3.org/

How III can Help:
-Code WebOPAC and all web products to at least 508 Standards
-Incorporate accessibility into design process

Benefits for Libraries
-Improve usability
-Mobile phones, PDAs, etc...
-Older people
-People with low literacy and people not fluent in language
-People with low bandwidth connections

Food for thought on previous post

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:42:00 +0000

Discussion Qs:

1. Possibly set up a focus group & usability study of our own to test Encore?
2. Tweak WebPac to our standards (would need to place on our website, not as a link to the standard OPAC which sits on HELIN's server)?

In the spirit of Saturday Night Live, discuss amongst ya-selves!

Tell us what you want, what you really reall want! Using community feedback to spice up catalog

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Presenter: Central Michigan University

Background: Same interface from 1998-2008, using WebPac (I believe this is the product that we have, not WebPac Pro). There was a catalyst for change at the IUG 2006 conference.
Ironically, they are not interested in purchasing Encore..they are going with a competitor, because Encore does not allow each institution to customize themselves.

Step 1: Focus Group recruitment through LIB120 class (honors students). Used word of mouth advertising & pizza as incentive and got 8 students. During the focus group, they tape recorded the conversation and had a moderator present. They had the Internet displayed on an overhead projector. Problems with focus group: very small (only 8) and all were honor's students.

Results- Old OPAC

Student's didn't like:

1. The catalog looked too different from databases

2. Results were off topic

3. There was no ability to limit books to what is available

4. Call # link was confusing. It takes the user to a page of surrounding call numbers (virtual bookshelf) but the students were expecting more book info.

5. Students didnt want to pick type of search (title, etc..) they wanted a simple search box.

6. Students did NOT want RSS feeds on the catalog page.

7. Students wanted spell checker

8. Students wanted relevance ranking

9. Students wanted to read reviews, but NOT write them.

10. Students did not want ratings (like Amazon)-thought to be misleading.

Step2: Search

The webteam searched catalogs they liked and took their best practices to redesign.

Step3: Redesign results. http://catalog.lib.cmich.edu/search/X
1. Defaulted to Advanced keyword search-looks more like databases. And students wanted limiting options up front, but no scrolling.

2. Implemented Tabs for Title, Author, etc... to allow students to chose advanced search techniques.

3. Have the LOGIN box on every tab.

Step4: Set up Sharepoint account through Microsoft to allow staff to post recommendations and suggestions.

Step 5: Usability Study to analyze Redesign Results.
Setup: Used task oriented approach to allow participants to use new catalog with a specific task and analyzed if they were able to complete task or not. Had to go through IRB and get informed consent from participants.

Participants: 10 students who volunteered. Incentive: $10 bookstore giftcard.

What did they want to test?
a. New features (tabs)
b. New placement of old features (i.e. login, course reserves)
c. Design decisions that team could not decide upon.

Step6: Results
Focus group & Usability study were VERY useful and steered the direction for the redesign.

Using Google Analytics for Catalog Usage Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Presenter: Rebekah Kilzer, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

What is Google Analytics?
-Tracking software
-Gives Site stats & Site traffic
-FREE for sites with up to 5 million page views/month (Ohio State University had largest enrollment in the USA, and their library gets under 1million page hits/month)
-Great reports with line, bar, pie charts that can be easily emailed or exported

Why use Google Analytics?
-OPAC stats are VERY limited
-Convienant/flexible reporting
-Page or site level data
-Easy to view trends either weekly, monthly, yearly

What kind of information can I get from Google Analytics?
-Can see what search terms students are using via the URL (which contains the entire search string i.e. http://library.uri.edu/search/?searchtype=Y&searcharg=drug+addiction&searchscope=29&sortdropdown=-&SORT=DZ&extended=0&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=Yaddiction
-Can see where users are coming from when they get to your site. Are they getting to the OPAC from the library website? From Google? From a course management system? If you know where they are coming from, you can better tailor your services
-Can get browser information (are they using Firefox or IE?)
-Can get Geographic Information from country to state and even down to city. Are a lot of your users accessing catalog from off-campus? Or even Internationally?
-Utilizes site overlay to see where/what/how often links are being clicked on in a page. For example, if you are thinking of moving the request button, see how many clicks you get before you move (15clicks/day) and after (50clicks/day)

SECURITY CONCERNS:
-Subject to Google's Privacy Policy
-Google does utilize the data you have gathered stripping away all identifiable information. However, Google Analytics is really designed for for-profit companies who use it to track web advertising. Don't think that Google is really interested in its application for libraries.
-MUST POST A PRIVACY STATEMENT ON LIBRARY SITE

Other Uses
-See if access points that you open up, i.e. access point in a content management system or LibGuides, increases usage
-Can get goals and see if patrons are doing/going what you want them to
-Can see if referring sites are being used: Facebook
-Can track on/off campus access via proxy-URL string
-Can track mobile web users via browser

How to Implement
This gets technical and would involve admin access to library website and/or OPAC. It is fairly easy however and if I get some feedback on people wanting to know how to do this, I will post the instructions.

OPAC Mashup & RSS Feeds

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Part 1: OPAC Mashup: GAO Librarians

Found this 1/2 of the talk to be extremely complicated. Primarly dealt with using HTML codes in the Bib-record of the catalog to create dynamic lists of e-journals, databases that wouldn't need to be manually updated. Not really functional in a consortium setting and need a very well trained & knowledgeable systems libarian in LAMPP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, PHP).

Mashup Software
1. QEDWiki
2. Denodo
3. Portal Products
4. JackBe Presto
5. Kapow Enterprise Mashup Service
6. SnapLogic
7. Ratchet-X

Part 2: Using RSS Feeds in Create Lists
Presenter: Scotsdale Public Library

-In WebPac & WebPac Pro, RSS feeds are free with release 2006.
Free Feeds (Manual #107080), going through the following steps to implement:
1. Ask Innovative to activate
2. Displays feeds on any catalog page with feeds token
3. Creates RSS feeds of whatever you want i.e. local news, weather, etc..

MyRecord Feeds (purchase product through WebPac Pro only):
-Alerts patrons to account info changes i.e. hold pickups, about to be due items, etc...

FeedBuilder (purchase roduct through WebPac Pro only):
-Lets user create feeds of catalog searches
-Allows admin to create feeds of newly added items, new DVDS, faculty in print, etc... and display those RSS feeds where ever you want such as Website or Facebook/Myspace
-After you setup account, to create a FeedBuilder Feed check out Manual #106988 but you need to have a MILLENIUM ADMIN ACCOUNT.

Widgets that will do this for you, for free:
-www.rss-to-javascript.com
-www.springwidgets.com
-www.yourminis.com

2007 Feeds now work with ContentCafe to display BibImage: Book Jacket

Session E7: Encore, a University Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:31:00 +0000

University of Glasgow: Encore Development Partner

University of Glasgow Background:
-Founded in 1451
-15,000 Undergrad
-4,500 Grad
-5,800 Staff/Faculty
-Listed as top 100 Universities by Time Magazine

University of Glasgow Library:
-2Mil Books
-25,000 e-journals
-1.5Mil Website Visits/Year

Why did they decide to become a developmental partner with Encore?
-They were dealing with a generation of Digital Natives
-The information seeking styles of the digital natives has changed
-Usability studies identified a need for a UNIFIED searching approach

Encore Basics-Version 1.0:
-Single search box
-Keyword search
-Relevance ranked results with exact matches at top
-Tag cloud of Subject Headings only-Can only be used to REFINE search and only searches subfield A. Not Delimiter B or C
-Federated searching enabled

Technical Info:
-Runs on own Encore server
-Interfaces with Millennium server-acts as an API
-Real-time results
-Utilizes AJAX

What's coming next? Version 2.0-release imminent:
-Authentication
-Patron records alerts IN interface: "Materials due soon"
-Requesting in Encore (not redirect to Millenium). Will be an overlay request page not a redirect to an external page where users can get lost.
-Hide request link for non-requestables
-Community tagging-underneath Subject tagging
-Content Cafe integration
-Better looking displays
-Bringing in Yahoo! images results-Yahoo! owns flickr
-Location facet
-ERM details
-TOC from MARC
-ResearchPro Lite as oppossed to federated searching

Sites to check out:
University of Glascow Library
University of Queensland

Opening Session: Monday 9am-11am

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Opening Session
IUG Chair: Nancy Fleck, Michigan State University
IUG Chair to be: John Culshaw, Colorado State University
Information on the conference.

CEO & Chairman of Innovative Interfaces: Jerry Kline
Corporate Update:
• Innovative Interfaces has 93 new partners
• Currently TOP in LJ Survey
• Leader is ARL libraries
• ERM Leader
• Millennium has 32% market share in academic libraries-leader
o 19% market share in public libraries-not leader
• Industry has changed from 20 competitors to 5. Not good for library, no competition for business.
• Innovative employs 110 librarians-largest librarian employer in California
• Utilizes development partnerships to introduce new products: Encore

VP of Innovative Interfaces: Betsy Graham
Presented: Be Innovative Awards
1. Most Innovative Implementation of eResource Discovery
a. Birmingham Public Library
2. Most Innovative Staff Program
a. West Palm Beach Public Library
i. Staff Wiki to track technology competencies
b. Las Vegas Clark County Library Distract
i. Concierge Kiosk for all staff to quickly resolve patron problems
3. Most Innovative WebPac
a. Lewis & Clark College Library
i. Online course reserve system
b. eLGAR: Auckland, New Zealand
c. Mid-Hudson Library System
i. Kids Catalog
4. Most Innovative Patron Services
a. Hong Kong Baptist University
b. Ryerson University
i. Catalog searches within Facebook

KeyNote Speaker: Larry Irving
Technologist & Library
Coined term: Digital Divide
Senior advisor to Bill Clinton, Gore and Secretary of Commerce

• Background in bridging the gap of urban children who don’t have access to technology
• Tried to make community access points available to those demographics that had no access to the information superhighway
o Gave grants to public libraries, access points, to purchase computers
• Digital Divide has morphed
o More people have Internet, but only ½ have broadband
-Broadband needed to handle huge files
• YouTube consumes 7-10% of the Internet:
o Has as much traffic in one day than in the entire year of 2000
o TeacherTube
o GodTube
• MIT & Stanford all course loads online
• Pandora: music
• Blinks: search engine for video
• Hulu: video repository
• In 2010, 20 typical American households will consume as much of the Internet as the entire world did in 1998

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Trying to attach document

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:11:00 +0000

This is my 2nd ever blog post and I am just testing to see if this stuff works.

Hello World

noreply@blogger.com (Talia) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:29:00 +0000

This is my first blog post ever. Yay! As this is a test post, please excuse the lack of ingenuity.