Transcript What is a Unified Web Presence?

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
Feb 20, 2011
Web Manager’s Academy
Workshop Goals:
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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!
Expectations for the Workshop
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Content at multiple levels
 Address
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both advanced and novice Web managers
Conceptual / Practical
Interactive / Participatory
Exercises – No hands-on coding
Therapy for your Library Web site
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Diagnosing the patient
Split personalities?
Schizophrenic?
Fragmented?
Integrated and reasonably
healthy?
Enlightened?
Disjointed approach to information and
service delivery?
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Silos Prevail
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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. Springshare LibGuides)
About the Library…
Local digital collections
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ETDs, photos, rich media collections
Metasearch engines
All offered in separate containers
Delivering a consistent and coherent
experience
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Look and Feel
Branding / Sub-branding
 Parent
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institution – Library – Branches and departments
Authentication / single sign-on
Integrated Personality / non-schizophrenic
Smooth over complexities on the back with more
seamless presentation layer
Complex Library Infrastructure
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Integrated Library System
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OpenURL Link Resolver
Digital Asset Management Systems
Institutional Repositories
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Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Electronic Resource Management
Institutional / Library Web site
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Online Catalog
Web Content Management System
Authentication Services
Thinking about the User
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Does your library’s Web presence have a
presentation layer that manages all aspects of enduser experience or does it simply hand users off
from one interface to another as they muddle
through your Web site?
Examples: Unified or not?
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Amazon.com
Harvard University
 http://lib.harvard.edu/
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Walter Reed Army Hospital Library
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http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Professionals/library/
Nashville Public Library
 http://www.library.nashville.org/
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Phoenix Public Library
 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/
Tools and Techniques
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Consistent branding and design
Shared style sheets among applications
Web content management system
 Integrate
functionality of other components through
plug-ins, widgets, Web services
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Avoid direct hand-offs
Unified presentation framework
 Drupal
with plug-ins
 Specialized library tools: BiblioCommons, SOPAC, Axiel
Arena, Infor Iguana, etc
Library Web Presence
Public Interfaces:
Presentation Layer
Integrated Library
System
Library
Web site
Subject
Guides
Article, Databases,
E-Book collections
Unified Search Model
Search Results
Discovery Index
Search:
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
Web site
data
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Consolidated
Indexes of
Articles
User
Contributed
Content
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
Feb 20, 2011
Web Manager’s Academy
General Information
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Open Source Discovery layer
 GNU
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General Public License GPLv3
Originally developed by John Blyberg
 Ann
Arbor District Library
 Darien Public Library (CT)
SOPAC design
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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
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http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6591377.html
Technical Components
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Drupal
 Supports
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themes and templates for customization
Locum
 Connection
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layer to Integrated Library Systems
Insurge
 Data
repository component
 Independent Social Repository
 Tags, comments, reviews
Examples
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http://www.aadl.org
http://www.darienlibrary.org/
http://thesocialopac.net/
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
Feb 20, 2011
Web Manager’s Academy
Discovery Products
Decoupled from ILS
Discovery Interface
Search:
ILS Data
Local
Index
Digital
Collections
ProQuest
Search Results
MetaSearch
Engine
EBSCOhost
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MLA
Bibliography
ABC-CLIO
Real-time query and
responses
Differentiation in Discovery
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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
Discovery from Local to Web-scale
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Initial products focused on technology
 AquaBrowser,
Endeca, Primo, Encore, VuFind
 Mostly locally-installed software
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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
Web-scale Discovery
Search Results
Consolidated Index
Search:
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
ProQuest
EBSCOhost
…
MLA
Bibliography
ABC-CLIO
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
ILS Data
Vanderbilt
State-wide Discovery
Search Results
Consolidated Index
Search:
Digital
Collections
EBSCO
ILS Data:
Nashville
Public
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ILS Data: UTK
ILS Data:
Tinn-Share
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
Web-scale Search + Federated Search
ILS Data
Search Results
Consolidated
Index
Search:
Digital
Collections
ProQuest
…
MLA
Bibliography
ABC-CLIO
Fed
Search
Interim model to deal with resources not
possible to harvest into consolidated index
Pre-built harvesting and
indexing
Nonharvestable
Resources
Encore Synergy
Local
Index
Search:
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
ProQuest
…
Local Index Results
EBSCOhost
Local Index Results
Web Services
Remote Search Results
…
MLA
Bibliography
ABC-CLIO
Social Discovery
Search Results
Local Index
Search:
ILS Data
Digital
Collections
Web site
data
…
User
Contributed
Content
Some Examples
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VuFind
 Villanova
University
 http://library.villanova.edu/
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BiblioCommons
 http://epl.bibliocommons.com/
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Summon
 Dartmouth
College Library
 http://library.dartmouth.edu/
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
Feb 20, 2011
Web Manager’s Academy
Search Engine Optimization
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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
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Good coding and metadata important
Coding for findability
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<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
Article posted
HTML Source
Google Search Results