Re: [CODE4LIB] Subject guide policies (was [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it)
Thanks.Do you have any guidelines around the numbers and colors of tabs? That is one of the big issues. Also, do you have rules around what is allowed in side columns? Josh Welker On Aug 14, 2013, at 9:33 AM, Ron Gilmour wrote: > At Ithaca College, the web team has recently written some very loose > guidelines on the construction of subject guides. Generally, we stayed away > from saying much about content, so most of the rules apply to the presence > and placement of certain common structural elements. For example, there > should always be contact information for the librarian and this should > always be in the top right. There should be table of contents (unless the > guide is really short) and it should be located at the top of the main > column. > > There are also some rules that are intended to prevent responsivity > problems (e.g., wrap your embedded videos in a class="fitvid<http://fitvidsjs.com/>"> > to make sure they are usable on mobile devices). > > In order to keep a reasonable content hierarchy, we ask that librarians use > only h3 or lower for internal headers. > > We've specified what we call a "dashboard" widget that contains links to, > well, things that are often linked to from subject guides (e.g., ILL, > citation info). This element is required on all guides. > > Regarding buy-in, we stressed that these rules were based on responses from > actual users in usability tests. This is convincing to most (not all) > librarians. Our usability tests showed that consistency across guides is > important to users. We presented the rules as representing a balance > between pedagogical freedom for librarians and the need for consistency and > ease of navigation for users. (A paper on this is currently under review.) > > Enforcement has not been a major issue. Content-creators have been *cough* we > use tasers *cough* very cooperative. > > Ron Gilmour > Web Services Librarian > Ithaca College Library > > > On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:27 AM, Joshua Welker wrote: > >> One of the recurring themes in the LibGuides thread was that libraries >> need better policies regarding content and style management in guides. I >> wholeheartedly agree here, but my attempts to do so in the past were shot >> down in favor of giving all librarians maximum freedom. >> >> I have two questions: >> >> 1) What kind of policies do you all have in place for subject guide style >> and content management? >> 2) How do you get librarians to buy in to the policies, and how are they >> enforced? >> >> Josh Welker >> Information Technology Librarian >> James C. Kirkpatrick Library >> University of Central Missouri >> Warrensburg, MO 64093 >> JCKL 2260 >> 660.543.8022 >> >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of >> Jimmy Ghaphery >> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:49 PM >> To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU >> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it >> >> I have followed this thread with great interest. In 2011 Erin White and I >> researched many of the issues the group has been hitting on, demonstrating >> the popularity of LibGuides in ARL libraries, the locus of control outside >> of systems' departments, and the state of content policies.[1] >> >> Our most challenging statement in the article to the library tech >> community (which was watered down a bit in the peer review process) was >> "The popularity of LibGuides, at its heart a specialized content >> management system, also calls into question the vitality and/or >> adaptability of local content management system implementations in >> libraries." >> >> One of the biggest challenges I see toward creating a non-commercial >> alternative is that the library code community is so dispersed in the >> various institutions that it makes it difficult to get away from the >> download tar.gz model. Are our institutions ready to collaborate across >> themselves such that there could be a shared SaaS model (of anything >> really) that libraries could subscribe/contribute to? The barriers here >> certainly aren't technological, but more along the lines of policy, >> governance, etc. >> >> As for Research Guides in general, I see a very clear divide in the >> public/tech communities not only on platform but more philosophical. From >> the tech side once it is all boiled down, heck why do you even need a >> third party system; catalog the databases with some type of local genres >> and push out an api/xml feeds t
Re: [CODE4LIB] Separate library CMS systems vs Campus-wide CMS systems (was [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it)
I agree 100% with all points, and i want to keep the library server separate. I just was curious if anyone had any advice otherwise. Does anyone have experience using a separate library CMS hosted on a campus-IT server? (Also I recently implemented a Wordpress library site and loved it, but at my new job I am leaning towards Drupal. The admin interface for WP is not great when you are using custom content types, and non-techie librarians were getting scared. Also, Drupal 8 is resolving a lot of my complaints about the content creation UI. But yes I will probably miss the ease of theming and plugin creation in WP. ) Josh Welker On Aug 14, 2013, at 8:38 AM, Michael Schofield wrote: > Our university has Cascade Server and we have a Wordpress Network on in-house > servers we control. Here is a list of good reasons to fly solo [if your > library can support it properly, etc.]: > > 1.) A lot of university websites really suck, and as part of your > institution's CMS you are going to have a lot less freedom to innovate or > implement an immediate design change. Of course, these options might be > already culled depending how strictly you're mandated to adhere to your uni's > style guide. If you have enough freedom for it to matter, you might benefit > from the control. > > 2.) Campus IT often doesn't comprehend the usability needs of a library's > unique and varied patronbase - and if they do, they are concerned more with > registration and any of the other constituents (colleges, departments, admin) > to devote to the library. Your patrons are potential power users and they > will be critical and vocal about access and usability flaws. > > 3.) Moving to an open CMS like [sigh ...] Drupal* or [yay!] Wordpress lets > your library participate in and--if you're able--contribute to the #libtech > community. You may create a module or plugin that may seem particularly > geared toward the library niche, but you will be surprised by the positive > feedback from this excellent community of good-natured peers if you let > others use and improve on it. > > 4.) Contribute is going to make it difficult to aspire to either DRY Content > or community. If your colleagues are going to produce a lot of content for > the web, you will benefit from a CMS - what's more, if it's a CMS your > library controls, then you can more fairly respond to any training or > technical needs that might otherwise pend in your university's significantly > larger queue. > > 5.) If you control your own PHP server, it doesn't just *have* to be a Drupal > / WP silo; you'll be able to plug in or build any assortment of applications > as your library requires. > > All the best, > > Michael Schofield > // Front-End Librarian > // www.ns4lib.com > > * I'm just kidding, but I've chosen my colors! > > -Original Message- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of > Joshua Welker > Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 9:21 AM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU > Subject: [CODE4LIB] Separate library CMS systems vs Campus-wide CMS systems > (was [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it) > > Does anyone have any suggestions as to where the library should or should not > compromise when it comes to using an institutional CMS rather than a custom > library one? We are going through this process right now. Our web pages are > currently all in static HTML and LibGuides. I am wanting to move to Drupal, > and campus IT wants us to move to their Adobe Contribute platform. AFAIK, > Contribute does not allow for any server-side scripting and does not have any > sort of plugin system, and I am very concerned that Contribute would harm the > library's ability to effectively integrate its online resources into a single > web portal (server-side caching, indexes, scheduled tasks, etc). > > I know the answer to this question is "it depends," but I am hoping others > can share the fruits of their experience. > > Thoughts? > > Josh Welker > Information Technology Librarian > James C. Kirkpatrick Library > University of Central Missouri > Warrensburg, MO 64093 > JCKL 2260 > 660.543.8022 > > > -Original Message- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Jimmy > Ghaphery > Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:49 PM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it > > I have followed this thread with great interest. In 2011 Erin White and I > researched many of the issues the group has been hitting on, demonstrating > the popularity of LibGuides in ARL libraries, the locus of c
Re: [CODE4LIB] Separate library CMS systems vs Campus-wide CMS systems (was [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it)
That's an interesting idea. Do you run into performance issues with the abundance of DOM updates with the javascript? Also, how much control do you have over the content of library pages on the CMS? Josh Welker On Aug 14, 2013, at 8:35 AM, Sean Hannan wrote: > You could do something like what I did and run your own data backend and use > whatever you need to/have to to display content. > > Our website is just static HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Everything > dynamic/data-powered is javascript that is pulling from a centralized API > (written using grape: http://intridea.github.io/grape/). We can move the > website to some cloud provider, into a central IT-managed system, or > elsewhere and it won't break. > > I originally presented the concept at code4lib 2011 (slides: > http://www.slideshare.net/MrDys/lets-get-small-a-microservices-approach-to-l > ibrary-websites), but it's in production now. > > -Sean > > On 8/14/13 9:21 AM, "Joshua Welker" wrote: > >> Does anyone have any suggestions as to where the library should or should >> not compromise when it comes to using an institutional CMS rather than a >> custom library one? We are going through this process right now. Our web >> pages are currently all in static HTML and LibGuides. I am wanting to move >> to Drupal, and campus IT wants us to move to their Adobe Contribute >> platform. AFAIK, Contribute does not allow for any server-side scripting >> and does not have any sort of plugin system, and I am very concerned that >> Contribute would harm the library's ability to effectively integrate its >> online resources into a single web portal (server-side caching, indexes, >> scheduled tasks, etc). >> >> I know the answer to this question is "it depends," but I am hoping others >> can share the fruits of their experience. >> >> Thoughts? >> >> Josh Welker >> Information Technology Librarian >> James C. Kirkpatrick Library >> University of Central Missouri >> Warrensburg, MO 64093 >> JCKL 2260 >> 660.543.8022 >> >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of >> Jimmy Ghaphery >> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:49 PM >> To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU >> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides: I don't get it >> >> I have followed this thread with great interest. In 2011 Erin White and I >> researched many of the issues the group has been hitting on, demonstrating >> the popularity of LibGuides in ARL libraries, the locus of control outside >> of systems' departments, and the state of content policies.[1] >> >> Our most challenging statement in the article to the library tech >> community (which was watered down a bit in the peer review process) was >> "The popularity of LibGuides, at its heart a specialized content >> management system, also calls into question the vitality and/or >> adaptability of local content management system implementations in >> libraries." >> >> One of the biggest challenges I see toward creating a non-commercial >> alternative is that the library code community is so dispersed in the >> various institutions that it makes it difficult to get away from the >> download tar.gz model. Are our institutions ready to collaborate across >> themselves such that there could be a shared SaaS model (of anything >> really) that libraries could subscribe/contribute to? The barriers here >> certainly aren't technological, but more along the lines of policy, >> governance, etc. >> >> As for Research Guides in general, I see a very clear divide in the >> public/tech communities not only on platform but more philosophical. From >> the tech side once it is all boiled down, heck why do you even need a >> third party system; catalog the databases with some type of local genres >> and push out an api/xml feeds to various disciplines. From the public side >> there is a long lineage of individually curated guides that goes to the >> core of value of professionally knowing one's community and serving it. >> >> [1] https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/view/1830 >> >> best, >> >> Jimmy >> >> >> >> On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 11:13 AM, Galen Charlton >> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 6:53 AM, Wilhelmina Randtke >>> wrote: >>> >>>> There's not a lock-in issue with LibGuides, because it's used to >>>> host pathfinders. Those are sup
Re: [CODE4LIB] marc4j read example
Thanks for the heads up. It would be a shame if this project died. Glad it is
being updated.
Josh Welker
On Aug 9, 2013, at 1:35 PM, Tod Olson wrote:
> Also, be advised that current work on marc4j is happening over at Github, so
> for the most recent code:
>
> https://github.com/marc4j/marc4j
>
> -Tod
>
> On Aug 9, 2013, at 12:40 PM, Jonah Bull
> wrote:
>
>> There's a pretty good example included in the "samples" section of the
>> source (
>> http://marc4j.tigris.org/source/browse/marc4j/src/org/marc4j/samples/ReadMarcExample.java?revision=1.1&view=markup
>> ).
>>
>> Your particular use might look something like this (not tested):
>>
>> public class MARCParser() {
>>
>> public List getData(File file) {
>> MarcReader reader = new MarcStreamReader(new FileInputStream(file));
>> List data = new ArrayList();
>> while (reader.hasNext()) {
>> Record record = reader.next();
>> VariableField field = record.getVariableField("856");
>> data.add(field.toString());
>> }
>> return data;
>> }
>>
>> }
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>>
>> Jonah
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 9:36 AM, Joshua Welker wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone have a simple example of reading a MARC file using the Java
>>> marc4j library? The documentation is rather lackluster (
>>> http://marc4j.tigris.org/doc/) and I am unable to find anything helpful
>>> Googling or searching discussion lists. I am wanting to do something like
>>> this:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> public class MARCParser(){
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> public ArrayList getData(File file){
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> MarcReader reader = new MarcReader(file);
>>>
>>> ArrayList data = new ArrayList<>;
>>>
>>> while(reader.next()){
>>>
>>> data.add(reader.getField(“856”));
>>>
>>> }
>>>
>>> return data;
>>>
>>> }
>>>
>>> }
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I figured this would be a simple enough task and have done something very
>>> similar with a PHP MARC library, but I am stumped here.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Josh Welker
>>>
>>> Information Technology Librarian
>>>
>>> James C. Kirkpatrick Library
>>>
>>> University of Central Missouri
>>>
>>> Warrensburg, MO 64093
>>>
>>> JCKL 2260
>>>
>>> 660.543.8022
>>>
[CODE4LIB] Usage Statistics Survey
Greetings, My apologies for cross-posting. I am writing an article for Computers in Libraries on electronic resource usage data. I want to find out how widely used COUNTER and SUSHI are in libraries and how well the COUNTER standard suits the needs of libraries. This year, I worked with COUNTER and SUSHI quite extensively as I built a program that attempted to gather usage data automatically and generate a cost-per-use analysis. The existing standards made this project virtually impossible. There is also a general sentiment in listservs that collecting usage data is still quite a chore despite the ongoing development of COUNTER and SUSHI. Below is a link to a short, six-question survey. The data from this survey will be used in my article to inform my conclusions regarding the usefulness of the COUNTER and SUSHI standards and how they could be improved in the future to become more useful to libraries. The article will be published in the November issue of Computers in Libraries. If you are the administrator of electronic resources for your institution, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment to complete the survey. It should take five minutes or less. Thank you for your time. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2TMNSTX Josh Welker Electronic/Media Services Librarian College Liaison University Libraries Southwest Baptist University 417.328.1624
