Transcript Creating a Customized and Sustainable Interface for CARLI

Creating a Customized and Sustainable
Interface for CARLI Digital Collections
Part I: The Background
Jessica Gibson
About CARLI
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Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Illinois
I-Share integrated library system; E-resources
brokering; the Illinois Library Delivery Service (ILDS);
the CARLI Book Digitization Initiative; CARLI Digital
Collections; centrally run SFX server
CARLI serves over 98% of Illinois higher education
students at 153 member libraries
108 member libraries at the “governing” level
About CARLI Digital Collections
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Brought online in April 2006
Server centrally run and maintained by CARLI
21 libraries across the state actively using our
CONTENTdm installation
70+ collections
Over 55,000 items
Currently running CONTENTdm 5.1
http://collections.carli.illinois.edu
CARLI Digital Collections Users’
Group
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Committee of 12 individuals from the member
libraries
Serves to advise CARLI on the consortial aspects of
our CONTENTdm system
Represents collections administrators as well as
collection users
Formed an Interface Subcommittee early on to
identify desired improvements to the site, one of its
goals being to address the home page…
The Main Page of CARLI Digital
Collections was
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Text heavy
Arranged in an obscure way
Did not promote discovery
Generally unattractive
Very easy to update when new collections were
added
Where to start?
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Interface Subcommittee began to search out other
interfaces with elements that it thought were useful
and attractive
CARLI evaluated internal staff expertise/skills and
decided to hire a short-term technical consultant to
perform a redesign of CARLI Digital Collections front
page and to provide other aesthetic improvements
Created a wish list of features and functionality
Inspirational Interfaces
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Louisiana Digital Library
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/
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Yale University Library Digital Collections
http://www.library.yale.edu/libraries/digcoll.html
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American Memory Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/index.html
Wish List
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Improved look and feel
Featured images or collections
Easy to navigate browsing options by categories:
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Subjects
Format
Institution
Thumbnails representing each collection
Scalability as the number of collections grows
Sustainability for CARLI staff maintaining the server
Browsing Options by Subject and
Format
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Initially, the Subcommittee analyzed the existing
collections to create a list of subjects covered and
formats used and apply them to each collection
Before implementation, collections administrators
were sent the categorizations and asked for feedback
Since implementation, collection administrators
choose subject and format categories upon publishing
a new collection
Collection administrators are notified quarterly of
new “choices” but can make changes at any time
Creating a Customized and
Sustainable Interface for
CARLI Digital Collections
Part II: The Nitty-Gritty
Kerri Willette
Project Scope
• Communication Plan
• Software Customization & Design:
 Needs Analysis
 Element Design
• Documentation & Training
Communication Plan
Communication Plan
• Regular meetings
• Project blog:
Meeting notes
Timesheets
Updates
Software Customization & Design
Needs Analysis
Element Design
Needs Analysis
• Review of existing
metadata structures.
• Review of exiting
interface strengths &
weaknesses.
• Determine desired
search & browse
options.
Needs Analysis
CARLI PROVIDED:
Controlled vocabularies for:
• Collections by name
• Collections by topic
• Collections by format
• Collections by institution
Example collections:
• Yale Digital Collections
• LOUISiana Digital Library
Element Design
INCLUDING:
• Index.php
– Custom browse
options
– Featured items
• About.php
• Header, menu, footer
• New template for
collection home pages
Element Design
Before & After
index.php - before
index.php - after
index.php - after
Image Slider
Featured collection images appear in an animated image slider on the home page. The slider
allows users to browse and click through to ten individual collection items.
index.php - after
Custom Menus
These menus provide direct access from the home page to the custom browse options and
other CARLI Digital Collections information.
The collection menu on the left is directly tied to the CARLI Collection of Collections.
about.php - before
global_header.php
global_footer.php
about.php - after
Custom
header.php
global_footer.php
headers & menus
global_header.php - before
Global Header & Menu files, customized versions of the CONTENTdm web templates.
custum header.php - after
Custom Header & Menu files are based on (but distinct from) the CONTENTdm web templates.
global footer
global_footer.php – before
The original global file was a minimally styled version of the CONTENTdm web template.
global_footer.php – after
Every page in the collection still calls a customized version of the global footer file, but it is now
more heavily customized, including background images that blend with the new design, as well
as the CARLI logo.
collection homepage - before
global_header.php
collection homepage - after
global_header.php
Two column
page layout
global_footer.php
global_header.php
global_header.php - before
Global Header & Menu files, customized versions of the CONTENTdm web templates.
global_header.php - after
Custom Header & Menu files are based on (but distinct from) the CONTENTdm web templates.
Element Design
INCLUDING:
• Index.php
– Custom browse
Custom browse options
options
– Featured items
• About.php
• Header, menu, footer
• New template for
collection home pages
Element Design
Custom Browse Pages
• CARLI Collection of
Collections
• Four custom browse
pages
• Custom results and item
viewer templates
custom browse pages
Collection of Collections
• Created a CARLI Collections of
Collections
• Collection status “Not Published”
• Each CARLI Digital Collection is
added as an item in the Collection
of Collections.
• Required metadata for each item
includes collection name, topics,
media, institution and description
custom browse pages
Collection of Collections
CARLI Collection of Collections (carli_colls) –
unpublished with certain required metadata
fields.
custom browse pages
Four custom pages were created. Each contains a Collection of Collections browse option generated
by a CQR script.
custom browse pages
Custom results and item viewer display templates were also created so that search and browse
results would blend more seamlessly with the overall look and feel of the site.
custom browse pages
Custom lists and searches created using the CQR do not update automatically. When new data is
entered into a collection, CARLI staff must generate a new CQR index boxes.
Documentation
& Training
Documentation & Training
• Created detailed
documentation for
customization maintenance
• No in-person training
sessions have been
necessary…yet
Questions?
For Kerri or Jessica