| Kim Griggs Library Systems Programmer Oregon State University |
Margaret Mellinger Engineering Librarian Oregon State University |
| Jane Nichols Social Sciences/Humanities Librarian Oregon State University |
Angela Ramnarine-Rieks Web Specialist Syracuse University |
| DeAnn Buss Associate University Librarian for Digital Programs and Services Syracuse University |
Creating Interactive Course Assignment Pages: The OSU Libraries ICA Creation Tool (Griggs, et al.)
In 2005, Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries conducted a needs assessment to determine the best approach for connecting students with the wealth of information available to them through the library. The needs assessment revealed that undergraduates are assignment driven and focused on particular courses. To address these needs, OSU Libraries developed Interactive Course Assignment (ICA) pages. ICA pages help students quickly target research tools and information to successfully complete their assignments.
OSU Libraries developed a tool to easily create, manage, and publish ICA web pages. The tool was built on Ruby on Rails, a lightweight, yet powerful open-source framework for web development. The ICA creation tool enables librarians with minimal technical expertise to create dynamic web pages that integrate Web 2.0 features, chat and RSS feeds, etc. with traditional library content, such as catalogs and article databases.
In this session we will discuss the benefits of course-specific web pages and the need for the ICA creation tool. We will focus on requirements, design, implementation and use of the tool, including lessons learned and a live demo.
http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/about.html
Handout (Oregon)
PowerPoint Presentation(Oregon)
Handout(Syracuse)
PowerPoint Presentation(Syracuse)
Disaggregating the Library: Embedding Library Resources in a Management School Website (Buss & Ramnarine-Rieks)
The Syracuse University Library is collaborating with the Whitman School of Management to incorporate a variety of library business and management resources within the Whitman Web environment. The goal of the project is to make available the most desired and most frequently used library resources without requiring users to navigate the Library’s website. This project was initiated by students who requested easier and faster access to the Library’s resources. Management faculty/graduate students, undergraduates, and staff members have separate, customized web portals, and the project team is identifying specific resources that will be accessed through a federated search box. The portal pages and federated search box are launched directly from the Whitman School of Management’s Blackboard homepage.
The session will describe the user analysis that was done prior to the project development as well as usability testing utilized to refine the requirements. Future plans are to assess statistics on database usage pre- and post-implementation for use in further revisions. The project’s objectives, the planning process, and the major project outcomes will also be addressed.