Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

[Bennett Ponsford]

Thanks muchly.  bcp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian
bennett.ponsf...@tamu.edu
 


-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ken 
Varnum
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 3:20 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

I don't have much context for whether these stats show amazingly high usage, or 
pathetically low But here are summary data:

So far this year (since 1/1/2016), 2111 distinct users added at least one thing 
to their Favorites list. 378 distinct users have added a tag to one or more 
items.

Since the start of the current system (three years ago, roughly March 1, 2013), 
about 15,000 users have saved at least one favorite item; just over
3000 users have added at least one tag to one item.

We migrated data in from our previous system, bringing total usage (since 
roughly 2010) to 33,700 users with at least one item in their favorites 
account; 14,000 with at least one tag on one item.



--
Ken Varnum
Senior Program Manager for Discovery, Delivery, and Learning Analytics Library 
Information Technology | University of Michigan Library var...@umich.edu | 
@varnum | 734-615-3287 http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum

On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 1:59 PM, Bennett Ponsford < 
bcponsf...@library.tamu.edu> wrote:

> Ken, what has been the usage of this?
>
> We've been actively getting out of the "bookbag" business, encouraging 
> our people to use RefWorks or EndNote or other citation management 
> software to save individual article and book level data.  We don't 
> really offer anything for journals or databases.  We've been burned in 
> the past with data loss when a product goes down or with migrating 
> large quantities of data from one product or the other.
>
> So, I'm curious about how much it is used, and what has been the 
> feedback from your users?  I know I'd get a lot of pushback if I 
> suggested it, so I'd also be interested in what, if any, problems you've run 
> into.
>
> Bennett
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian 
> bennett.ponsf...@tamu.edu
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf 
> Of Ken Varnum
> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 3:43 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites
>
> We have something like this; a "favorites" tool that lets logged-in 
> users save individual items from the catalog, ArticlesPlus (our 
> Summon-based article discovery interface), databases (from our 
> database finder) and journals (from our journal finder) to their 
> account. You can organize them into folders, and export lists of 
> citations. The tool uses the campus single sign-on system (CoSign); 
> since the campus allows anyone to set up a "friend" account with just 
> an email address, anyone can create a library account and save things. 
> This free Friend account does not, of course, provide access to our 
> licensed content, though you can search freely -- clicking the full 
> text link will not succeed unless you are affiliated with the University of 
> Michigan.
>
> You can read more about Favorites at
> https://www.lib.umich.edu/my-account/favorites/faq , and if you want 
> to try it out, set up a Friend account -- instructions are provided by 
> our campus IT group  at http://www.itcs.umich.edu/itcsdocs/s4316/
>
>
> --
> Ken Varnum
> Senior Program Manager for Discovery, Delivery, and Learning Analytics 
> Library Information Technology | University of Michigan Library 
> var...@umich.edu | @varnum | 734-615-3287 
> http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum
>
> On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Valerie Forrestal < 
> valerie.forres...@csi.cuny.edu> wrote:
>
> > These examples are fantastic! Thanks for the write-ups!
> >
> > I think a real value add to this kind of service would be some sort 
> > of bibliographic tool. If students could save article 
> > citations/links in the system, create lists of books/articles for 
> > each paper they write, and export bibliographies from that, I they 
> > would have a near-seamless research process. Don't know if that's 
> > possible though. Many students find current bibliographic/resource 
> > management software extremely hard to use, so they settle for 
> > citation generators instead. And this could solve the problem of 
> > them having to email article links to themselves to find those same 
> > articles later. One stop shopping, as it were.
> > /ramble
> >
> > ~val
> >
> > Valerie Fo

Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

[Bennett Ponsford]

Ken, what has been the usage of this?

We've been actively getting out of the "bookbag" business, encouraging our 
people to use RefWorks or EndNote or other citation management software to save 
individual article and book level data.  We don't really offer anything for 
journals or databases.  We've been burned in the past with data loss when a 
product goes down or with migrating large quantities of data from one product 
or the other.

So, I'm curious about how much it is used, and what has been the feedback from 
your users?  I know I'd get a lot of pushback if I suggested it, so I'd also be 
interested in what, if any, problems you've run into.

Bennett


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian
bennett.ponsf...@tamu.edu
 


-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ken 
Varnum
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 3:43 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

We have something like this; a "favorites" tool that lets logged-in users save 
individual items from the catalog, ArticlesPlus (our Summon-based article 
discovery interface), databases (from our database finder) and journals (from 
our journal finder) to their account. You can organize them into folders, and 
export lists of citations. The tool uses the campus single sign-on system 
(CoSign); since the campus allows anyone to set up a "friend" account with just 
an email address, anyone can create a library account and save things. This 
free Friend account does not, of course, provide access to our licensed 
content, though you can search freely -- clicking the full text link will not 
succeed unless you are affiliated with the University of Michigan.

You can read more about Favorites at
https://www.lib.umich.edu/my-account/favorites/faq , and if you want to try it 
out, set up a Friend account -- instructions are provided by our campus IT 
group  at http://www.itcs.umich.edu/itcsdocs/s4316/


--
Ken Varnum
Senior Program Manager for Discovery, Delivery, and Learning Analytics Library 
Information Technology | University of Michigan Library var...@umich.edu | 
@varnum | 734-615-3287 http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum

On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Valerie Forrestal < 
valerie.forres...@csi.cuny.edu> wrote:

> These examples are fantastic! Thanks for the write-ups!
>
> I think a real value add to this kind of service would be some sort of 
> bibliographic tool. If students could save article citations/links in 
> the system, create lists of books/articles for each paper they write, 
> and export bibliographies from that, I they would have a near-seamless 
> research process. Don't know if that's possible though. Many students 
> find current bibliographic/resource management software extremely hard 
> to use, so they settle for citation generators instead. And this could 
> solve the problem of them having to email article links to themselves 
> to find those same articles later. One stop shopping, as it were. 
> /ramble
>
> ~val
>
> Valerie Forrestal
> Web Services Librarian/Asst. Professor City University of New York 
> College of Staten Island Library
> 2800 Victory Blvd., 1L-109I
> Staten Island, N.Y. 10314
> Phone: 718.982.4023
> valerie.forres...@csi.cuny.edu
>
>
> On 3/23/2016 2:55 PM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
>
>> On Mar 23, 2016, at 6:26 PM, Mark Weiler  wrote:
>>
>> I'm doing some exploratory research on personalization of academic
>>> library websites. E.g. student logs in, the site presents books due 
>>> dates, room reservations, course list with associated course 
>>> readings, subject librarians.  For faculty members, the site might 
>>> present other information, such as how to put material on course reserves, 
>>> deposit material into
>>> institutional repository, etc.   Has anyone looked into this, or tried it?
>>>
>> I did quite a bit of work on this idea quite a number of years ago, 
>> measured in Internet time. See:
>>
>>MyLibrary@NCState (1999)
>>http://infomotions.com/musings/sigir-99/
>>
>>The text describes MyLibrary@NCState, an extensible
>>implementation of a user-centered, customizable interface to a
>>library's collection of information resources. The system
>>integrates principles of librarianship with globably networked
>>computing resources creating a dynamic, customer-driven front-end
>>to any library's set of materials. It supports a framework for
>>libraries to provide enhanced access to local and remote sets of
>>data, information, and knowledge. At the same, it does not
>>overwhelm its users with too much information because the users
>>control exactly how much information is displayed to them at any
>>given time. The system is active and not passive; direct human
>>interaction, computer mediated guidance and communication
>>technologies, as well as current awareness 

Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

[Bennett Ponsford]

We have focused on pulling in people's personal stuff from our disparate 
systems, so they don't have to know which catalog a book was checked out from, 
or even if it checked out from one of our libraries or via ILL.

So far the response has been favorable - particularly the option to renew all 
books at one time.

We have talked about adding in the ability to "favorite" e-resources through 
out the website and then manage their favorites in MyLibrary.  But I'm not sure 
how much that would be used.

Bennett



Bennett Claire Ponsford
Digital Services Librarian
Texas AM University Libraries
bennett ponsf...@tamu.edu



 Original message 
From: Eric Lease Morgan 
Date: 03/23/2016 1:56 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

On Mar 23, 2016, at 6:26 PM, Mark Weiler  wrote:

> I'm doing some exploratory research on personalization of academic library 
> websites. E.g. student logs in, the site presents books due dates, room 
> reservations, course list with associated course readings, subject 
> librarians.  For faculty members, the site might present other information, 
> such as how to put material on course reserves, deposit material into 
> institutional repository, etc.   Has anyone looked into this, or tried it?

I did quite a bit of work on this idea quite a number of years ago, measured in 
Internet time. See:

  MyLibrary@NCState (1999)
  http://infomotions.com/musings/sigir-99/

  The text describes MyLibrary@NCState, an extensible
  implementation of a user-centered, customizable interface to a
  library's collection of information resources. The system
  integrates principles of librarianship with globably networked
  computing resources creating a dynamic, customer-driven front-end
  to any library's set of materials. It supports a framework for
  libraries to provide enhanced access to local and remote sets of
  data, information, and knowledge. At the same, it does not
  overwhelm its users with too much information because the users
  control exactly how much information is displayed to them at any
  given time. The system is active and not passive; direct human
  interaction, computer mediated guidance and communication
  technologies, as well as current awareness services all play
  indispensible roles in its implementation.


  MyLibrary: A Copernican revolution in libraries (2005)
  http://infomotions.com/musings/copernican-mylibrary/

  "We are suffering from information overload," the speaker said.
  "There is too much stuff to choose from. We want access to the
  world's knowledge, but we only want to see one particular part of
  it at any one particular time."... The speaker was part of a
  focus group at the North Carolina State University (NCSU),
  Raleigh, back in 1997... To address the issues raised in our
  focus groups, the NCSU Libraries chose to create MyLibrary, an
  Internet-based library service. It would mimic the commercial
  portals in functionality but include library content: lists of
  new books, access to the catalog and other bibliographic indexes,
  electronic journals, Internet sites, circulation services,
  interlibrary loan services, the local newspaper, and more. Most
  importantly, we designed the system to provide access to our most
  valuable resource: the expertise of our staff. After all, if you
  are using My Yahoo! and you have a question, then who are you
  going to call? Nobody. But if you are using a library and you
  have a question, then you should be able to reach a librarian.


  MyLibrary: A digital library framework & toolkit (2008)
  http://infomotions.com/musings/mylibrary-framework/

  This article describes a digital library framework and toolkit
  called MyLibrary. At its heart, MyLibrary is designed to create
  relationships between information resources and people. To this
  end, MyLibrary is made up of essentially four parts: 1)
  information resources, 2) patrons, 3) librarians, and 4) a set of
  locally-defined, institution-specific facet/term combinations
  interconnecting the first three. On another level, MyLibrary is a
  set of object-oriented Perl modules intended to read and write to
  a specifically shaped relational database. Used in conjunction
  with other computer applications and tools, MyLibrary provides a
  way to create and support digital library collections and
  services. Librarians and developers can use MyLibrary to create
  any number of digital library applications: full-text indexes to
  journal literature, a traditional library catalog complete with
  circulation, a database-driven website, an institutional
  repository, an image database, etc. The article describes each of
  these points in greater detail.

Technologically, the problem of personalization is not difficult. Instead, the 
problem I encountered in trying to make a thing like MyLibrary a reality were 
library professional 

Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

[Bennett Ponsford]

In our case, it's not the website as a whole - just their personal stuff.

Bennett

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian
University Libraries | Texas A University
5000 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-5000

979.845.0877  |  bennett.ponsf...@tamu.edu
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://library.tamu.edu


-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Cornel 
Darden Jr.
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 1:21 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

Hello,

Seems like overkill, why a login to access the library's website?

Cornel Darden Jr. 
Chief Information Officer
Casanova Information Services, LLC
Office Phone: (779) 205-3105
Mobile Phone: (708) 705-2945

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 23, 2016, at 12:38 PM, Ian Walls  wrote:
> 
> Mark,
> 
> 
> Oddly enough, we're looking at this kind of thing right now.  I also just got 
> a message from my ILL Librarian that she saw a great conference presentation 
> on this kinda thing by Scott Bertagnole of Brigham Young University.
> 
> From our perspective, the trick is authentication.  We want to at least use 
> Common Credentials with our University authentication system, rather than Yet 
> Another Account to Remember (YAAR!), if not Single Sign-on, but we also need 
> to support the other 4 colleges in our consortium, as well as community 
> borrowers. Getting course data about students is also tricky, since we need 
> to collaborate with other units on campus to get permission to sanely and 
> securely access this data from the registrar.
> 
> I'm envisioning three levels of integration:
> 
> 1. Catalog + ILL to see what materials you have 2. Course reserves and 
> supporting materials 3. Miscellaneous/experimental integrations with 
> other services
> 
> Hope this is useful; I'd love to keep this conversation going, whether on 
> list or off.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> -Ian
> 
>> On 03/23/2016 01:26 PM, Mark Weiler wrote:
>> I'm doing some exploratory research on personalization of academic library 
>> websites. E.g. student logs in, the site presents books due dates, room 
>> reservations, course list with associated course readings, subject 
>> librarians.  For faculty members, the site might present other information, 
>> such as how to put material on course reserves, deposit material into 
>> institutional repository, etc.   Has anyone looked into this, or tried it?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Mark Weiler, MLIS, PhD
>> Web & User Experience Librarian | Psychology Librarian Laurier 
>> Library
>> Office: Waterloo campus Library, room 104
>> 519.884.0710 x4296
>> mwei...@wlu.ca
>> 
>>  [cid:image001.png@01CF7E4C.6BD81010]
>> WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY
>> 75 University Ave. W.
>> Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5
>> 
>> https://library.wlu.ca
>> 
>> 

Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

[Bennett Ponsford]

We have done this  - we call it MyLibrary - for our two catalogs, two ILLiad 
implementations, and course reserves.  We wanted to add in room reservations, 
but the vendor we use does not include what rooms you have checked out in their 
API.

We're now looking at what else to add, so I would also be very interested in 
what other libraries are doing.

Bennett

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian
University Libraries | Texas A University
5000 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-5000

979.845.0877  |  bennett.ponsf...@tamu.edu

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://library.tamu.edu
-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ian 
Walls
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 12:38 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] personalization of academic library websites

Mark,


Oddly enough, we're looking at this kind of thing right now.  I also just got a 
message from my ILL Librarian that she saw a great conference presentation on 
this kinda thing by Scott Bertagnole of Brigham Young University.

 From our perspective, the trick is authentication.  We want to at least use 
Common Credentials with our University authentication system, rather than Yet 
Another Account to Remember (YAAR!), if not Single Sign-on, but we also need to 
support the other 4 colleges in our consortium, as well as community borrowers. 
Getting course data about students is also tricky, since we need to collaborate 
with other units on campus to get permission to sanely and securely access this 
data from the registrar.

I'm envisioning three levels of integration:

1. Catalog + ILL to see what materials you have 2. Course reserves and 
supporting materials 3. Miscellaneous/experimental integrations with other 
services

Hope this is useful; I'd love to keep this conversation going, whether on list 
or off.

Cheers,


-Ian

On 03/23/2016 01:26 PM, Mark Weiler wrote:
> I'm doing some exploratory research on personalization of academic library 
> websites. E.g. student logs in, the site presents books due dates, room 
> reservations, course list with associated course readings, subject 
> librarians.  For faculty members, the site might present other information, 
> such as how to put material on course reserves, deposit material into 
> institutional repository, etc.   Has anyone looked into this, or tried it?
>
>
>
> Mark Weiler, MLIS, PhD
> Web & User Experience Librarian | Psychology Librarian Laurier Library
> Office: Waterloo campus Library, room 104
> 519.884.0710 x4296
> mwei...@wlu.ca
>
>   [cid:image001.png@01CF7E4C.6BD81010]
> WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY
> 75 University Ave. W.
> Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5
>
> https://library.wlu.ca
>
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2 - Templates and Nav)

[Bennett Ponsford]

On the other hand, I'm looking for best practices that I call point librarians 
to.   And for that, having support from ALA/LITA is pretty much essential.  I 
can quote Jared Spool or Jakob Nielsen till I'm blue in the face and no one 
will listen, but if I can say these guidelines come from ALA  more people at 
my place of work will actually listen.

Bennett

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Bennett Claire Ponsford  |  Digital Services Librarian


 -Original Message-
 From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Joshua Welker
 Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2014 2:57 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2
 - Templates and Nav)
 
 Code4Lib is certainly respected among techy librarians, but I would bet that
 90% of my coworkers have never heard of it and would not care especially
 much about a document they publish. Not to disparage the group.
 I think it's great. I just think that official, institutionalized channels 
 are going
 to be most effective in this case.
 
 I will be gone several days but will start throwing some things together soon.
 
 Josh Welker
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Sean Hannan
 Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 2:30 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2
 - Templates and Nav)
 
 I'm just going to jump in here and question the need for it to be ALA or LITA
 affiliated. Plenty of stuff has been accomplished and respected (like, oh, 
 hey,
 code4lib) without an attachment of ALA or LITA.
 
 Ad...discuss.
 
 -Sean
 
 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joshua
 Welker [wel...@ucmo.edu]
 Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 3:19 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2
 - Templates and Nav)
 
 Bohyun,
 
 That sounds like it could be a great fit.
 
 There would be two final products for what I have in mind:
 
 1. A wiki site (ideally attached to an ALA-affiliated domain name) where we
 can collaborate and break all this down at the topic level. This is the source
 that would be used by the boots-on-the-ground librarians who are actually
 doing UX work and need practical information. It would be continually
 updated. The content would be curated, and there would be a very basic
 approval process for creating new editor accounts.
 
 2. An annually-revised document (again, attached to an ALA-affiliated
 domain
 name) that compiles everything from the wiki together in a format that can
 easily be presented to other librarians and administrators. In my experience,
 a bureaucratically approved document carries a lot more weight in libraries
 than a website, at least in academic libraries.
 
 Topics that would be addressed:
 
 1. Accessibility
 2. Layout patterns
 3. Typography and readability
 4. Best practices for specific library web platforms 5. Recommendations for
 how libraries should implement the guidelines at a management level
 (non-technical)
 
 Josh Welker
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Kim, Bohyun
 Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 1:42 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2
 - Templates and Nav)
 
 Jumping into this discussion late. Just wanted to let everyone know that LITA
 UX IG would be more than happy to provide a venue for this type of
 discussion since it would fit the interest of UX IG perfectly. (I am chairing 
 the
 IG this year; ping me if that sounds interesting and if there is anything LITA
 UX IG can help.) LITA IGs are super flexible.
 
 Cheers,
 Bohyun
 
 
 --
 Bohyun Kim, MA, MSLIS
 Associate Director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems University
 of Maryland, Baltimore Health Sciences and Human Services Library
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Megan O'Neill Kudzia
 Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 1:24 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library community web standards (was: LibGuides v2
 - Templates and Nav)
 
 I've been following with interest, and I think some really important points 
 are
 coming out here.
 
 John, what you said about Tomcat vs. Jetty really resonated with me - maybe
 this is *yet another* place where we could split this thread, but I think for
 those of us straddling the gap between web design and web development,
 something like a reference guide for what the questions to ask even are,
 would be extremely helpful.
 
 As you said, the answer to many many questions is, it depends, and
 knowledge of those topics comes with experience. However, maybe (and I
 volunteer to help with this project, inasmuch as I can) a