04/13/2006
by:Barbara Polowy
Minutes April 10, 2006
Five College Libraries
Research, Information and Outreach Committee (RIO)
o Present: Bryan Goodwin, Margaret Groesbeck, Beth Lang, Barbara Polowy (recorder), Bonnie Vigeland (chair)
o Absent: Sherre Harrington
Aleph Training
Margaret will ask Jan Jourdain if public service librarians other than RIO members may attend the April 24 Aleph training session on the OPAC.
Review of OPAC Interface Design
o General: Margaret was concerned about how colorblind patrons would distinguish among the green and rust colors chosen for the catalog interface. She has tested them, and the colors seem to be distinctive enough.
o . Bonnie expressed some concern about the type size. All liked the boxes with knocked out type for “click here for call number and availability” and “modify search.”
o Members will share and discuss the design with other public service staff and report back to the committee.
o Advanced Search: The pull-down menus between the search boxes at the top of the page should provide AND/OR/NOT options. The pull-down menu between the search boxes and the limit fields should offer AND/NOT options. AND should be the default in all pull-down menus.
o Search Results: This page needs a button to allow patrons to save the just-executed search as an SDI routine. RIO suggests “Save to Alerts” button be added above the results list after the buttons for Recent Searches/Results.
o Full Record: Colons should be removed after field labels on the left side of the screen for a cleaner look.
Usability Testing of the OPAC Interface Design
o Each institution should do another round of tests (3 to 5 users) on the general layout of the pages using Powerpoint screens or paper printouts and report back to Bonnie by the end of the day on April 27. Bonnie will consolidate responses and forward them to Slate Roof on April 28.
o Bonnie reported after the meeting that thorough usability testing of the live interface will take place with the involvement of Slate Roof. The Aleph Implementation Committee is now working with Ex Libris to schedule bring up the text interface.
o Committee members are concerned about ADA compliance – particularly features like boxed text. Barbara will follow up on this with Chris Hannon [Chris believes ADA testing is included in the Slate Roof contract and asks Bonnie to contact Cheri Cross to confirm this]
Aleph OPAC Data Testing
o Committee members briefly discussed testing plans at each institution. Sharon Domier will review CKJ records, UMass staff will review records for government documents, Bonnie Vigeland will test records for videos.
o The committee looked briefly at the OPAC and noted missing information in the brief display. [Barbara later learned indexing had not been completed at the point RIO was in the catalog]
My Library Card Page
Committee members were confused about features that will be included on the patron screen, as certain elements –contact information, password, blocks, budget, proxy/sponsor – seem inappropriate for the patron view, while others – items checked out, holds, fines, etc. – are not included. Bonnie contacted Susan Dayall after the meeting and learned that the Five College Circulation Committee will develop the administrative features and these will not be shown in the public display. RIO’s role in designing the page is to work on the vocabulary displayed at the top. RIO suggests the page be called “My Account” and the following changes be made to the out-of-the-box vocabulary:
PERSONAL PROFILE > display preferences
SDI PROFILES > alerts
PASSWORD > change password
ADDRESSES > will not be displayed in the patron view
