Initiative Review Group Final Report June 30, 2001
Create departmental Web pages.
Members:
Cheryl L. Conway (leader), Cheri Pearce, Bridget Penrose, Kristine Shrauger, Molly Moore, and Wanda Freeman.
1. Briefly describe the background, present setting/structure which applies to the initiative:
In November 2000, Carolyn Allen reorganized the web page committee, now called University Libraries Web Development and Page Design Policy Group. Alberta Bailey was appointed the Chair and several members were rotated off the committee. In the future, members will serve two-year terms with the exception of the Webmaster (Beth Juhl) who will be a permanent member of the committee. Currently the committee members are: Alberta Bailey, Chair, Barbara Dean, Beth Juhl, Anne Marie Candido, Cheri Pearce, Necia Parker-Gibson, Ben Crozier, and Cheryl Conway. The long-term charge of this committee as described in the November 2000 document is for the Group to oversee the development of the Libraries web site and act as the advisory committee to the Dean. The Group will also manage graphic design, establish web protocols, designs templates, organize content, provide staff development, and maintain up-to-date links. The sentence most pertinent for the work of this review group is: "The Policy Group shall design, establish, and maintain an internal staff web page where a variety of administrative, policy and/or procedural documents are maintained, and archived as appropriate." Alberta Bailey has established a time table for the Group and has targeted departmental web pages as a priority.
If all goes well, departmental pages will be developed and tested this summer. It is recognized that it will not be possible to have all content for all of the departmental pages available at that time.
2. Develop an inclusive list of issues that must be addressed/considered for that initiative, consulting non-group personnel as appropriate:
Many features and issues have been identified by the review group. Major issues include:
Consider the level of information which will be available to the public
- What information, if any, should be reserved for staff only? Or should everything be available for the public to see?
- Should the use of password access be used to for some links (assuming that some information should not be made public or is for staff access only)?
- Should staff pictures be used (generally not favored by the group)?
- Should email addresses of staff be listed?
- Can privacy be maintained for staff when a departmental directory is posted? One possibility is a departmental email address and the duty of answering email queries could be rotated.
Consider design and ease of use of departmental web pages
- Should color be used to distinguish departments?
- Can the location of departmental web pages in the current Libraries web page structure assist in ease of use?
- Can the page names be easily understood?
- Should the terms also be easily understood ?
- Should a site index or site map be included? Vanderbilt Library has a very nice site index. It was remarked that a linked alphabet was a useful for a site index. (http://www.vanderbilt.edu)
Consider the security of the Libraries web pages to protect from hackers
- Consider the importance of clear information on the library web pages
- Should web pages include information for the out-of-state user: i.e., area codes for the phone numbers?
- Should we include a section titled "How do I ..." with a drop-down menu such as the one at Iowa State site? (http://www.lib.iastate.edu)
- Should each departmental web page have a FAQ section such as the Library of Congress? (http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/catdir.html)
- Should a private calendar of departmental meetings to assist in planning be included?
- Should the format be consistent throughout the library pages (The Vanderbilt pages have been identified as an attractive example of consistency)?
Consider features which give easy access to information
- Who will answer questions from public (Webmaster, reference librarians, a staff member for each department)?
- Should we include a help button?
- Should we add a feature which lists where serial titles are located as the University of Kentucky site does? (http://www.uky.edu/Libraries)
- Should technical service departments make procedures available to the general public to assist library staff in smaller libraries?
- Should departmental links be followed by brief descriptions of the pages?
Consider direct access for the public
- Should we add a virtual reference desk?
- Should a "chat room" for online help for students (North Carolina http://www.lib.unc.edu and Auburn http://www.auburn.edu have this feature) be included?
- Should we add an "Ask a librarian" feature with email access to a reference staff member?
Consider maintaining departmental pages for currency and accuracy
- Should each department have a webmaster?
- Should we have the last updated notation feature?
- Should we include the identity of the webmaster?
- Should the webmaster's email address be made public?
Consider adding these specific departmental features:
- For the Periodicals Room: consider a list of current newspapers
- For the Accounting/Budget Department: consider a PDF version of in-house forms (e.g. for travel) along with policies and procedures
- For the Serials Department: consider putting title change forms, dropped title forms online
- For the Cataloging Department: consider a "RUSH" cataloging request form for public service departments to fill out
- For most departmental pages: consider giving a brief explanation or heading on the departmental page
- For most departmental pages: the possibility to link to various resources. Examples: The Cataloging department could link to the Library of Congress web site and Government Documents could link to GPO and Marcive web sites
- For the Cataloging Department: consider adding a glossary of terms
- For the Government Documents Department: consider adding links to ERIC and other collections
- For all departments: consider adding annual departmental reports
- For all departments: consider adding full policies and procedures
Consider adding emergency information for staff
- Consider the creation and maintenance of an up-to-date section on how to handle emergencies in the Library. This should be fairly prominent and easily accessible for staff.
- What should be done in the event of a bomb threat?
- How and when should campus police be contacted to remove a problem patron (especially if the patron causing the problem is in the immediate area)?
- What should be done if a stalker is harassing a staff member or patron?
- What procedures should be followed for building evacuation for a fire?
- What are the directions for handling with a workers compensation claim?
Consider the needs of remote access users
- Should forms be available in more than one format for remote users? If yes, should a link to Adobe Acrobat be included?
- Will printing be a problem for Webpac forms?
- Should remote users have the option of running the text based version?
- Will frames be used?
3. Briefly describe how the initiative fits into the long-term goals and/or fulfills the mission of the University Libraries:
The introduction in the University Libraries Web Page Development Design Policy Group states the long-term goals. Briefly, the top level pages are the most important electronic image that the University Libraries will present to library users. Lower level pages will provide in-depth information and assist the University Libraries in the support of the teaching, research, and service mission at the University of Arkansas. Initiative Group 15 is in agreement with these long-term goals.
4. Note any initiatives that should be considered in connection to, coordinated with, or that may overlap the initiative:
Initiative # 14, "Document all major operational policies and procedures, and place them on the Web as appropriate," is related to the creation of departmental web pages. This Review Group (#15) generally agrees that each department should include departmental policies and procedures on the department's web page. Including departmental policies and procedures would be helpful because changes would be immediately available and updating procedures could become easier. This would also decrease the need for printed manuals. In addition, University Libraries departments would be sharing expertise with other libraries. Although there may well be some overlap in the reports of Initiative Review Groups #14 and #15, this should have the effect of providing an increase in the amount of information available for the University Libraries Web Page Development Design Policy Group.
5. Note any initiatives or considerations that are lacking from those delineated thus far which may be essential to the planning and redefining process:
Initiative Review Group #15 recommends that, if the recommendation to appoint departmental representatives is implemented, the representatives be given the opportunity to learn more about the technology. This could be approached in several ways: an orientation by the Webmaster or and assistant, enrolling in classes given by the University Computing Services department, or written guidelines.
6. Recommend the names of individuals who are essential (i.e., add to, delete from, or leave intact the list of the IRG) to the Initiative Planning Team that work on developing and implementing the initiative in the subsequent phase:
At this time, Initiative Review Group #15 recommends that a departmental representative be appointed from each department to work on the content for departmental web pages and to coordinate with the webmaster and/or her assistant. The Group does not feel that an Initiative Planning Team is necessary. We recommend that our Final Report be given to the standing committee, University Libraries Web Page Development Design Policy Group. Because it has been noted that this committee will rotate three members off in November, we present the following names to you for consideration as potential members of the standing committee: Ethel Simpson, Bridget Penrose, Kristine Shrauger, Deb Kulczak or Kate Kluttz, and Todd Cantrell. There staff members are possibilities for this committee.
7. Recommend, based on best educated guess, the amount of time that will be required to effectively develop the plan for implementing the initiative:
Initiative Review Group #15 consulted Beth Juhl. She has goals for this summer and early fall. By fall, Beth would like to develop an appropriate format structure for the various types of documents to be posted on the web pages. She would also like to have a structure in place for transmitting documents to her. It will be necessary for each department to select documents for its departmental web pages and to appoint a staff member to be responsible for providing the content of the web pages and also for providing any changes in document content to the webmaster. Also, by fall, Beth would like to post the basic information for each department: staff, department contacts, basic policies, forms (if applicable), to the departmental web pages. Also in the fall, Beth would like to identify two departments who could work with her in pilot projects to develop in-depth pages. The group is suggesting Cataloging and Special Collections 5
for the pilot projects for the following reasons. Cataloging has many procedures in computer file format and has three catalogers, Deb Kulczak, Mikey King, and Kate Kluttz, working on a research project to evaluate cataloging department web pages. Special Collections has many web pages on cavern which need to be migrated to dante. With the expertise of Cheri Pearce and Ethel Simpson (who will soon return from her sabbatical), it would be a logical step to migrate, expand, and create other departmental web pages. Another goal for the summer is to identify staff who are interested in this work and to evaluate which need further training (html, UNIX, or other classes). In addition, it would be beneficial to encourage other departments to write and/or place procedures in computer file format. Long-term goals are: developing in-depth pages for all library departments and branches, adding a search engine for the library web site, create an index or site map, and evaluating chat software and other technology to advance the web site. The group felt that these goals are on target for this initiative and recommend that Beth's plans be implemented. Ideally, these goals could be accomplished in another year; however, the group agreed that the goals would need to be flexible due to fluctuations in staff levels or turnover in all departments, availability and dependability of technology, and whether other projects interrupt progress.
8. Recommend the priority level to be assigned to this initiative in the three-to-five year planing phase:
Initiative Review Group #15 recommends a priority level 1.
Appendix A (compiled by Deb Kulczak and Mikey King)
Technical Services Unlimited (http://tpot.ucsd./TSU)
Note: if a general technical services page was listed, and from that one could get to a discreet cataloging page, it was included below. Also, if a cataloging department section or procedure was listed, and there was a page for the whole cataloging department, it was included. Only English-language sites were included.
1. Bryn Mawr Cataloging Division
http://www.brynmawr.edu/Library/Docs/catdiv.html
2. Eastern Connecticut State University Cataloging
http://www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/library/doc_081.htm
3. ELEC-TECH (Central Technical Services, University Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo) Cataloging Department
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/cat/
4. Florida State University College of Law Cataloging Department
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/cat/catdept.html
5. Georgetown University Cataloging Department
http://gulib.lausun.georgetown.edu/dept/catalog/catweb.htm
6. Georgetown University Law Center. E.B. Williams Law Library. Cataloging Department
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/cat/catalog.html
7. Haverford College Libraries Cataloging Department
http://www.haverford.edu/library/ts/cat/cat_depindex.html
8. Library of Congress Cataloging
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/catdir.html
9. National Agricultural Library Cataloging Branch's "Cattleloging" Superhighway
http://www.nal.usda.gov/cataloging/
10. National Library of Medicine Cataloging Section
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/mainpge.html
11. Northwestern University Catalog Department
http://staffweb.library.northwestern.edu/catalog/index.html
12. Nova Scotia Provincial Library Cataloguing
http://www.library.ns.ca/services/techserv/about_ts/catalog.html
13. Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Cataloging
http://www.neoucom.edu/library/Technical_Services/Cataloging/cataloging_frameset.html
14. Penn State University Cataloging Services
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/catsweb/index.htm
15. Princeton University Library Catalog Division Home Page
http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/katmandu/cathome.html
16. St. Joseph County Public Library Cataloging Department Home Page
http://sjcpl.lib.in.us/homepage/Cat.html
17. St. Norbert College Library Technical Services (appears to be just cataloging)
http://www.snc.edu/library/techserv.htm
18. Stanford University Cataloging Services
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/catdept/
19. Stetson University Cataloging and Collection Organization
http://www.stetson.edu/departments/library/cat.html
20. UCLA Cataloging Department
http://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/cataloging/index.htm
21. UC San Diego (TPOT) Catalog Department
http://tpot.ucsd.edu/Cataloging/
22. University of Colorado at Boulder Cataloging Department
http://www-libraries.colorado.edu/ts/cat/frontpage.htm
23. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Cataloging
http://www.library.umass.edu/catalog/
24. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cataloging Department
http://www.unl.edu/libr/dept/cat/catdep.htm
25. University of Virginia Library Cataloging Services Department
http://www.lib.virginia.edu:80/cataloging/
26. Valdosta State University Cataloging
http://books.valdosta.edu/cat/cat.htm
27. Washington and Lee University Cataloging Department
http://www.wlu.edu/~library/leyburn/cat.htm
28. Yale University Cataloging at Yale
http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/
29. Memorial University of Newfoundland Cataloguer's Toolbox
http://www.mun.ca/library/cat/
30. University of Oregon Catalog Department
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/~catdept/home/
31. University of Southern Mississippi Cataloging Department
http://www.lib.usm.edu/~techserv/cathome.html
32. University of New Brunswick Professional Resources for Cataloguers
http://www.unbsj.ca/library/services/cata.htm
33. Queen's University TECH Web Cataloging Resources
http://130.15.161.74/techserv/qcatalog.html
34. State University of New York, Buffalo, Law Library Cataloging Department
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/law/services/cataloging/cataloging2.html
Neal-Schuman Directory of Library Technical Services Home Pages
Note: if a general technical services page was listed, and from that one could get to a discreet cataloging page, it was included below. Also, if a cataloging department section or procedure was listed, and there was a page for the whole cataloging department, it was included. Only English-language sites were included.
1. Auburn University Cataloging Department
http://www.lib.auburn.edu/catalog/
2. Colorado University, Denver, Auraria Library Cataloging Services
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library//cataloging/cataloging.html
3. Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/catdir.html
4. British Library National Bibliographic Services
http://www.bl.uk/services/bsds/nbs/overview.html
5. St. Norbert College Library Technical Services (appears to be just cataloging)
http://www.snc.edu/library/techserv.htm
6. University of Oregon Catalog Department
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/catdept/
7. Bridgewater State College Catalog Department
http://www.bridgew.edu/depts/maxwell/catdept.htm
8. Memorial University of Newfoundland Cataloguer's Toolbox
http://www.mun.ca/library/cat/
9. Central Washington University Catalog Department
http://www.lib.cwu.edu/cataloging/
10. Eden-Webster Library Cataloging & Technical Services Department
http://library.websteruniv.edu/cathome.html
11. ELEC-TECH (Central Technical Services, University Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo) Cataloging Department
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/cat/
12. Florida International University Libraries Cataloging
http://www.fiu.edu/~library/staff/catalog/cat1.html
13. Georgetown University Cataloging Department
http://gulib.lausun.georgetown.edu/dept/catalog/catweb.htm
14. Johns Hopkins University Cataloging Deparment
http://milton.mse.jhu.edu:8001/library/cat/hompg.html
15. National Agricultural Library Cataloging Branch's "Cattleloging" Superhighway
http://www.nal.usda.gov/cataloging/
16. Northwestern University Catalog Department
http://staffweb.library.northwestern.edu/catalog/index.html
17. Penn State University Cataloging Services
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/catsweb/index.htm
18. Princeton University Library Catalog Division Home Page
http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/katmandu/cathome.html
19. Queen's University TECH Web Cataloging Resources
http://130.15.161.74/techserv/qcatalog.html
20. St. Joseph County Public Library Cataloging Department Home Page
http://sjcpl.lib.in.us/homepage/Cat.html
21. Stanford University Cataloging Services
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/catdept/
22. UC San Diego (TPOT) Catalog Department
http://tpot.ucsd.edu/Cataloging/
23. University of South Carolina Cataloging Department
http://www.sc.edu/library/techserv/catalog/catalog.html
24. University of Virginia Library Cataloging Services Department
http://www.lib.virginia.edu:80/cataloging/
25. Vanderbilt University Cataloging and Authorities Team
http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/rs/cataloging.html
26. Widener Library (Harvard) Cataloging Services
http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/rs/cataloging.html
27. Yale University Cataloging at Yale
http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/
28. Washington and Lee University Cataloging Department
http://www.wlu.edu/~library/leyburn/cat.htm
29. North Carolina State University Cataloging Department
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/cataloging/cathome.htm
Appendix
B: Other Libraries' Links compiled by Cheri Pearce
1.University of Georgia
2. Iowa State University
3. University of Kentucky
4. University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
5. University of Texas (Austin)
6. Texas A & M University
7. University of Virginia
8. University of Kansas
9. University of Illinois
10. University of Arizona
http://www.library.arizona.edu
11. Arizona State University
12. Baylor University
http://www.baylor.edu/Library/
13. University of Colorado
http://www-libraries.colorado.edu/ucb/libraries.htm
14. University of Nebraska
15. University of Oklahoma
http://libraries/ou.edu/depts/
16. Oklahoma State University
17. Auburn University NOTE: Check out their online Reference chat!!
18. Vanderbilt University
19. University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general-library
20. Mississippi State University
21. Louisiana State University
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/epubs/update/Fall2000.html
22. University of South Carolina
23. Kansas State University
24. University of Missouri (Columbia)
http://web.missouri.edu/~elliswww/
25. Texas Tech University
26. University of Michigan
27. Michigan State University
28. University of Minnesota
29. Northwestern University
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/
30. Ohio State University
http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/
31. Penn State University
32. Purdue University
33. Clemson University
34. Duke University
35. Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.library.gatech.edu/
36. University of Maryland
http://www.umd.edu/infores/libraries.html
37. University of North Carolina
38. Florida State University
39. Wake Forest University
