LS Web Design

19 March 2008

Using a Web-Based CMS

FEATURE (Computers in Libraries Vol. 28 No. 3 — March 2008)
From Static to Dynamic — Choosing and Implementing a Web-Based CMS
by Ruth Kneale

Interesting and thorough article about seeking and implementing a CMS for a web site.
http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/mar08/Kneale.shtml

17 March 2008

Research Shortcuts + W3 pages

Research Shortcuts + W3 pages =
"Course Pages" or "Library Research Guides"

We have identified a need to upgrade what we do with our current research help pages:

Research Shortcuts
Web Pages Recommended by Reference Librarians

Benefits to the Students and other library users:

The current approach requires students to go to two different and unequal places to get research help for specific subjects. Research Shortcuts and Web Pages Recommended by Librarians
This would be an opportunity to adopt a fresher, Web 2.0, approach and might garner new users.
There would be a more uniform presentation of information to the user.

As an added note: LibGuides look can be customized to our own look

Benefits to Librarians:

Reference librarians who are already time-challenged must update pages in two different places when they could maintain only one and provide users with more options.
When responsibilities for pages change, the transition would be made easier since the essential information and format would remain the same.
This tool is mostly modular and automated so librarians would not need to develop another skill set.

Resources reviewed:

Upon recommendations from our own librarians and various blogs, wikis, webcasts, and discussion lists, Margaret investigated several things that other libraries use. These are the things that rose to the top and some comment.

Things we did not choose (See below) || What we chose (LibGuides)

Notes on things we did not choose

ICAP - Open source software from Oregon State University

http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/about/index.html

Good page examples:

http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/Course_Assignment_Page/691

http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/Course_Assignment_Page/291

http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/Course_Assignment_Page/761

MP Comment - after consulting with Kevin deLeon, IRT Webmaster and web system admin

This is a very good-looking product but it runs on "Ruby on Rails" which we would have to learn to program. Ruby is a programming language like PHP and Rails is the infrastructure for it.

We'd have to hire a new programmer to implement this even though the software is free and even if we have a server we could run it on.

SubjectPlus -- Open source software from Ithica College http://www.ithacalibrary.com/subsplus/

Example: http://www.ithacalibrary.com/subjects/chemistry

MP Comment - after consulting with Kevin deLeon, IRT Webmaster and web system admin

This product runs on PHP and mySQL and we do have some IRT people who know how to use these.

It isn't as good-looking but it is probably do-able for us if we need to. If we went to open-source, I'd think that we'd need to hire some hourly PHP assistance since I don't think that IRT has the people time to give us the support we need beyond loading on an IRT server.

Library Course Builder - LibCB

http://sourceforge.net/projects/libcb

Example from Univ Rochester: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=11&searchtype=rcl&TheClass=17188

MP Comment

This runs on Cold Fusion and we have no Cold fusion operations in IRT.

What we chose

LibGuides - hosted site:

http://springshare.com/libguides/

Good examples:

http://libguides.acadiau.ca/content.php?pid=1254

http://guides.library.sc.edu/content.php?pid=632&sid=3306

http://dal.ca.libguides.com/content.php?pid=570

http://libguides.depauw.edu/content.php?pid=611

MP Comment - after consulting with Kevin deLeon, IRT Webmaster and web system admin

Both Kevin and I think this is the best solution for Library Services.

This is a well-repected host site and has a lot of bang for the buck. I suggest that you read the Features which include lots of widgets (like Facebook, etc.) and embedded Del.icio.us tags, RSS feeds, Podcasts. And it can be updated via the "Post to" browser button so you can add content from anywhere on the web.

Pricing ranges from $899 to $2499 a year plus $60 for custom domain mapping. We'd have to follow up for our particular institutional organization.

27 February 2008

Improving a web site

Melinda sent this link. It has interesting information. Fortunately, we do most of the things which are pertinent to us on the list.

25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes

http://fadtastic.net/2008/02/12/25-ways-to-improve-your-site-in-5-minutes/

26 February 2008

Web Opac "Spellcheck" problems

Update:
email from iii tech help summarized....

The first issue listed below has been reported to the software engineers as a legitimate problem.

In regards to the second issue: spellcheck works only with the advanced search protocol
<form action="/search/X" method="get">
and will not work with the quick or simple search protocol which is what I had on opacmenu, mainmenu, and Quick Search. So, the protocol was changed on opacmenu and mainmenu.

Spellcheck is working now within the parameters listed above. mp (4/17/08)

Advanced Keyword Search (srchhelp_X)

-- It works OK in Firefox but has a problem in IE7. Here is the issue:

If one uses the boxes and enters a misspelling in one of the boxes say "brhk" in one and "microbiology" in the other -- or a misspelling in both (doesn't matter).
Spellcheck correctly asks "Did you mean born and microbiology? more » "
If you choose "more," you are presented with options.
However, if you choose not to use any of those options, but instead, enter correct terms in the boxes, and submit -- it will not search those terms.

NOTE: The same search sequence does work correctly in Firefox.
NOTE2: The simple keyword search (srchhelp_Y) does work correctly in both Firefox and IE7.

Mainmenu / Opacmenu / Simple [Quick] Keyword Search (srchhelp_Y)

-- On our server, these three files are exactly the same, but named differently as indicated above.

Now, when you open the catalog in Staging (http://alicat.austincc.edu:2082/), the opening and Start Over screens do not display properly since I've added the spellcheck token.
However, if you actually type in the whole url (e.g., http://alicat.austincc.edu:2082/screens/opacmenu.html), the screen will display and work properly. And, if you click on the link to the Quick Keyword Search from the Advanced Keyword Search screen, that page (srchhelp_Y) will display and work correctly.

NOTE: This problem occurs in both Firefox and in IE7.

20 February 2008

More changes to the Opac

Enabling display of the 245|p

Eureka! changing a token in the briefcit.html worked even if changing the wwwoption didn't. I changed the line from
 to 

Check how it looks in the regular catalog now 'cause I'm changing this tonight (2/20/08). Do a keyword search for "atlas of the newborn" or "taking sides" or "click it" then see how it looks in the staging directory.
You can test in staging. ( http://alicat.austincc.edu:2082/ )

For the benefit of the Web Cmte:
Due to a sheer fluke, I discovered that we were not displaying a title subfield (p) for some items. Since only 790 items have this subfield, it wasn't that apparent normally. It took a while to figure out how to make it display but I'll change the file tonight so that tomorrow, we'll have better display records for these.

Adding the physical description to the body of the bib record display

The bib_display.html normally contains these tokens to display information about the item above the tabs:

 [Note: displays author, title, publisher info]






earlier I added to this list the permanent record link token


Today I'm changing the first token to read
 [Note: displays author, title, publisher info, physical descrip]

Note: Also made the Copy Status (Location) tab the default again and changed the color of the link on the "Find Similar Items" to red.