Libraries: Research, Instruction, and Outreach Committee : Minutes November 12, 2007

02/11/2008
Minutes November 12, 2007

Five College Libraries
Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO)
Minutes of the November 12, 2007 Meeting

Present: Bonnie Vigeland (chair), Bryan Goodwin, Margaret Groesbeck (recorder), Barbara Polowy, Beth Lang

Absent: Sherre Harrington (FCLC liaison)

Minutes: The minutes from the October meeting were approved.

Usability Testing and the ALEPH catalog: Committee members should send electronic versions of their questions to Margaret, who will compile them and send them out to everyone. Committee members will all note what issues are most important for the questions and what behavior to observe carefully. Margaret should pay attention to having design and display issues noted throughout the test, not just when there is one question about them. Barbara will collate the testing results from all schools and provide a summary. All usability testing will be completed by the end of November. Barbara pointed out that this summer FCLC recommended that student use of ALEPH should be the focus of testing, so each school will use 4-5 students and 1 or 2 faculty member for subjects. Segregate faculty from student results. Try to point out differences between May and November usability testing.

The Committee reviewed and discussed individual questions. (See questions attached.) They agreed to look carefully at what choices subjects made from drop-down lists and whether any patrons at all used “Start Over” or “Results”. One question that may emerge is whether there should be “Start Over” only from Reserves. Is that even possible?

Beth brought a request that the MARC’s 521 special note field (target audience”) display in ALEPH. Barbara suggested that the 521 is already searched in Keyword but does not display. There is some concern that displaying this information might further clutter an often crowded screen. Beth will go back and ask for more information from the librarians asking for this change. She believes they work with education majors looking for books for younger students by age and coverage. RIO thinks the 521 could be displayed on an experimental basis in “Test” to see what it looks like.

Other ALEPH issues:
Revision of HELP is deferred until after usability testing, to see what is troublesome to patrons.

Bonnie reported that URLs for electronic resources should all be re-done in ALEPH by mid-December. Amherst has completed all the changes.

SDIs should be not be difficult to set up now. Barbara sent out examples of other Alerts, with vocabulary to consider sometime ago.

NextGen Program at UMass: RIO briefly discussed the NextGen catalog program just held at UMass. Oklahoma State’s ability to search keywords in Syndetics’ summaries and tables of contents (with Syndetics’ ICE – Indexed Content Enrichment – is especially attractive.

Five College Librarians Orientation: Orientation usually includes new librarians and staff who have contact with co-workers in other Five College libraries. It has sometimes included IT staff as well in the past. Orientation tours will take place Tuesday,1/15, and Wednesday, 1/16. One day Hampshire College will be from 9-10:30 am; Mount Holyoke from 11-12:30; Smith College from 2-4 pm. The other day Amherst will be from 9:30-11 am; UMass from 1-3 pm. (At first HC, MHC & SC were to be the first day; now it looks as if AC & UMass will be first. Should we decide before Bryan posts the minutes?) Committee members will report back with how participants there will be from each school by mid-December.

Submitted by M. A. Groesbeck


	02/11/2008 Minutes November 12, 2007 Five College Libraries Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO) Minutes of the November 12, 2007 Meeting Present: Bonnie Vigeland (chair), Bryan Goodwin, Margaret Groesbeck (recorder), Barbara Polowy, Beth Lang Absent: Sherre Harrington (FCLC liaison) Minutes: The minutes from the October meeting were approved. Usability Testing and the ALEPH catalog: Committee members should send electronic versions of their questions to Margaret, who will compile them and send them out to everyone. Committee members will all note what issues are most important for the questions and what behavior to observe carefully. Margaret should pay attention to having design and display issues noted throughout the test, not just when there is one question about them. Barbara will collate the testing results from all schools and provide a summary. All usability testing will be completed by the end of November. Barbara pointed out that this summer FCLC recommended that student use of ALEPH should be the focus of testing, so each school will use 4-5 students and 1 or 2 faculty member for subjects. Segregate faculty from student results. Try to point out differences between May and November usability testing. The Committee reviewed and discussed individual questions. (See questions attached.) They agreed to look carefully at what choices subjects made from drop-down lists and whether any patrons at all used “Start Over” or “Results”. One question that may emerge is whether there should be “Start Over” only from Reserves. Is that even possible? Beth brought a request that the MARC’s 521 special note field (target audience”) display in ALEPH. Barbara suggested that the 521 is already searched in Keyword but does not display. There is some concern that displaying this information might further clutter an often crowded screen. Beth will go back and ask for more information from the librarians asking for this change. She believes they work with education majors looking for books for younger students by age and coverage. RIO thinks the 521 could be displayed on an experimental basis in “Test” to see what it looks like. Other ALEPH issues: Revision of HELP is deferred until after usability testing, to see what is troublesome to patrons. Bonnie reported that URLs for electronic resources should all be re-done in ALEPH by mid-December. Amherst has completed all the changes. SDIs should be not be difficult to set up now. Barbara sent out examples of other Alerts, with vocabulary to consider sometime ago. NextGen Program at UMass: RIO briefly discussed the NextGen catalog program just held at UMass. Oklahoma State’s ability to search keywords in Syndetics’ summaries and tables of contents (with Syndetics’ ICE – Indexed Content Enrichment – is especially attractive. Five College Librarians Orientation: Orientation usually includes new librarians and staff who have contact with co-workers in other Five College libraries. It has sometimes included IT staff as well in the past. Orientation tours will take place Tuesday,1/15, and Wednesday, 1/16. One day Hampshire College will be from 9-10:30 am; Mount Holyoke from 11-12:30; Smith College from 2-4 pm. The other day Amherst will be from 9:30-11 am; UMass from 1-3 pm. (At first HC, MHC & SC were to be the first day; now it looks as if AC & UMass will be first. Should we decide before Bryan posts the minutes?) Committee members will report back with how participants there will be from each school by mid-December. Submitted by M. A. Groesbeck