| Shane Nackerud Web Services Coordinator University of Minnesota |
Paul Bramscher Information Technology Professor University of Minnesota |
| Cody W. Hanson Assistant Librarian, Library Academic Programs Coordinator of Educational Services University of Minnesota |
Over 14,000 University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff log in to the MyU portal every day. This Metadot-powered site delivers personalized information ranging from course syllabi to pay statements. In the past year, the University of Minnesota Libraries have begun delivering a wide variety of library tools and resources within the MyU Portal. Users can view their circulation information, bookmark their favorite indexes and e-journals, search the Libraries’ resources, and view targeted lists of suggested information sources. These suggestions are made based on users’ academic or administrative role within the University as represented by “affinity strings” generated from publicly available information managed in the University’s PeopleSoft system. Subject librarians match these strings to library resources to provide users with a personalized set of tools relevant to the user’s discipline. Through a similar process, undergraduates are presented with suggested resources based on the courses they are taking. By tracking usage according to affinity strings, the Libraries are able to aggregate data while maintaing user privacy. This data may eventually allow for resource recommendations to users based on the behavior of their peers.
Building on the work that has been done to display this information in the MyU Portal, the University Libraries have created mechanisms to move this data into other systems, such as iGoogle.
This session will include a description of the efforts to deliver library resources through the MyU system, including the campus partnerships necessary to make this possible. The session will also feature a demonstration of the system, and a discussion of future plans.
Handout (PDF)