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Tag Archives: Tech Sharecase
Tech Sharecase, 20 January 2012
Attendees
Janey Chao, Arthur Downing, Stephen Francoeur, Jin Ma, Rita Ormsby, Linda Rath, Mike Waldman
ooVo
Arthur led a demo of ooVoo, which is web conferencing software that the college has a campus-wide subscription to. You can use it for web-based:
- one-to-one phone calls
- one-to-many phone calls (conference calls)
- one-to-one video chats
- one-to-many video conference calls
The software includes screen sharing, which lets you show live what is on your screen with anyone you are having a video chat or video conference call with.
Another great feature is that you can initiate a phone call or a video chat with people who don’t have even have an ooVoo account. Instead, you send them a special URL that invites them to call/chat with you via the web. Once that other person clicks that link, they are asked to type in their name, and then click a button that will notify you via ooVoo desktop software that someone’s trying to reach you.
This software might be useful for:
- faculty office hours
- distance/online education
- meetings with other librarians in CUNY and beyond
To get the ooVoo software installed on your work computer, you’ll need to contact the BCTC Help Desk.
QR Codes
Linda mentioned her use of QR codes on her profile page in the LibGuides system. When scanned with a smartphone, the code will send Linda’s contact information into the user’s address book. She used the i-nigma service to create the original QR code. Stephen talked about his use of bit.ly to create a short URL for the library’s customized Google Scholar link:
http://bit.ly/baruchgooglescholar
In bit.ly, each short URL that you create gets its own tracking page in your bit.ly account that gives you stats on the use of that short URL and also gives you a QR code for the URL in case you wanted to share that as well.
Usability Testing on on the New Library Site
Stephen described the first round of usability testing that was recently completed on the new library site (10 students performing three, pre-defined tasks each). We watched a video from one of the tests to get a sense of what usability tests look like and to see how one student reacted to the new site. Changes will be made to the redesigned site based on this round of tests and will lead to a second round of testing.
We talked about a model of testing that web design expert Steve Krug recommends in his 2010 book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems. Krug suggests doing monthly tests with just three test participants. Instead of having a single observer watching and taking notes of what transpires between the test participant and test moderator, he argues for setting up a conference room filled with interested parties (web developers, etc. for that site being tested) who watch the tests live, take their own notes, and then convene after the testing session to come up with a list of top things to fix. According to a recent blog post by Matthew Reidsma, a web services librarian at Grand Valley State University, he’s started doing testing in this very manner and recommends it.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Google Scholar, library web site design, ooVoo, QR codes, Tech Sharecase, Usability testing, Video conferencing, VoIP
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Tech Sharecase, 7 October 2011
Museum of Obsolete Object
We watched a few videos from the Youtube page for the Museum of Obsolete Objects. This page shows a video clips for several obsolete technologies like the phonograph, abacus, hand-held egg beaters and and the rotary phone.
Metadata
We then listened to an interview with Karen Coyle by David Weinberger from the Harvard Library Innovation Laboratory. She discussed metadata of library contents for connecting resources beyond the library world.
We also discussed ExLibris in regards to our new library website redesign.
LexisNexis in a box was mentioned as an example of outdated technology. A picture of the LexisNexis Ubiq, complete with dot matrix printer is below.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ExLibris, Harvard Library Innovation Laboratory, LexisNexis Ubiq, Metadata, Museum of Obsolete Objects, Tech Sharecase, YouTube
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Tech Sharecase, 21 October 2011
Attendees
Janey Chao, Stephen Francoeur, Rita Ormsby, Ryan Phillips, Mike Waldman
Digital Public Library of America
We took a look at the demo site for the ShelfLife-Library Cloud interface that the Harvard Library Innovation Lab put together for its proposal to the Digital Public Library of America. We also discussed what the mission of the Digital Public Library of America could be or should be (or could never be).
Going Public with Price Hike Info
We talked about this blog post by Barbara Fister that shed light on price hikes at her library for SAGE and ACS journals. This led to a larger discussion of big deal journal subscriptions and open access publishing in general.
Foreign Language Dictionaries and Language Instruction
We discussed a few options for foreign language dictionaries (notable Oxford Dictionaries Online) and language instruction (Mango, which we have a trial for, and Rosetta Stone).
Tech Sharecase, 14 July 2011
Attendees
Arthur Downing, Lisa Ellis, Stephen Francoeur, Joseph Hartnett, Jin Ma, Ryan Phillips, Stella Varveris, Michael Waldman
Intro
In advance of the meeting, attendees were asked to focus on the topic of social networks and academy:
- how do students use social networks and which ones are they using now?
- what might students expect of the library and its staff who are on the same social networks (for example, how do they want to interact with an institutional accounts on networks? how do they want to interact with us as library staff with personal/professional accounts on these networks?)
- how do faculty use social networks and which ones are they using now
- how is scholarly communication being altered by the growth of social networks (see, for example, this report by the Centre for the Study of Research Communications at the University of Nottingham titled “Social Networking Sites and their role in Scholarly Communications”pdf)
- how we we use social networks for professional development? for pinging the hive mind?
What We Discussed Regarding Social Networks
- a list of library vendors that have presences on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
- libraries that have Facebook profiles
- academic departments and offices at Baruch that have Facebook profiles
- Bulletin board for reference questions at the home page of the library at Shanghai Normal University
- the video “Hangout” feature in Google+ that Roy Tennant from OCLC used while we met that let him hold an informal video conference call with librarians who wanted to talk about the 856 field.
Mobile Databases Page
We got a preview of the mobile databases page that will link users to library databases that are optimized to work on mobile phones. The page itself is just an ordinary LibGuide page that looks kind of odd in a regular browser but renders in a much more mobile friendly way in a phone’s browser. The draft of the page shown was the result of the second round of usability testing; the release version of the page will be subject to one more round of usability testing.
LibX Toolbar
A new Firefox/IE toolbar is being developed that will let users search the catalog, our e-journals lookup tool, or Bearcat regardless of what site the user happens to be on. Another notable feature is that when the user is on a book page in Amazon or other online booksellers, a Bearcat icon will appear on the screen that when clicked will run an ISBN lookup in the catalog to see if we own a copy of that item.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Facebook, Google, LibX, Mobile library sites, Mobile web, Social network, Tech Sharecase, Twitter
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Next Tech Sharecase on 28 July 2011
The next meeting of the Tech Sharecase will be Thursday, July 28, from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm in room 320a in the library. Please bring at least one example of a technology that can be used to inspire and enable creativity in the classroom. By “c lassroom,” that can mean a physical space or an online space for distance ed classes.
Hope to see you there.
Tech Sharecase on Social Networks
Tomorrow’s Tech Sharecase (14 July 2011, 12:30 pm – 1: 30 pm, room 320a) will focus on social networks. In the original email invitation I sent out, I asked everyone to think about what social networking sites they use. I think we should expand that a bit and think instead about social networks and the academy:
- how do students use social networks and which ones are they using now?
- what might students expect of the library and its staff who are on the same social networks (for example, how do they want to interact with an institutional accounts on networks? how do they want to interact with us as library staff with personal/professional accounts on these networks?)
- how do faculty use social networks and which ones are they using now
- how is scholarly communication being altered by the growth of social networks (see, for example, this report by the Centre for the Study of Research Communications at the University of Nottingham titled “Social Networking Sites and their role in Scholarly Communications”pdf)
- how we we use social networks for professional development? for pinging the hive mind?
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged scholarly communication, Social network, Tech Sharecase
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Tech Sharecase, 10 June 2011
Attendees
Arthur Downing, Stephen Francoeur, Randy Hensley, Curtis Izen, Ellen Kaufman, Jin Ma, Mike Waldman, Kevin Wolff
Introduction
The focus this day was on website design. Attendees were asked to come with any notable website that featured interesting design elements or that was about website design.
LibX Toolbar at Murdoch Library
Libraries can create toolbars via the free LibX service that users can install in their browsers. The toolbar features search boxes for the library’s catalogs and other resources, automated linking from ISBNs and ISSNs on websites to a catalog lookup, and more. We watched this video by librarian Kathryn Greenhill that explains to library users at Murdoch Library how to get the most out of its LibX toolbar.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Dqo24nS2MHw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Elsevier’s Guide to Web Design
We took a look a 2004 guide published by Elsevier, How to Design Library Web Sites to Maximize Usability (pdf).
Design Tensions
We talked about how website design depends on striking a balance between competing demands:
- innovation vs. predictability (new approaches and ideas to design are always needed but you have to mindful of the expectations of the user who has gotten used to things on the web looking and behaving in certains ways)
- text vs. images (how to balance the use of words and images for the purposese of site and page navigation; for communication of important information; and for use as mnemonic devices that help users who return to your site and want to find their way around again based on their recall of how things worked the last time they visited)
Mathews, Brian. “Web Design Matters” Library Journal, 15 Feb. 2009.
This Library Journal article by Brian Mathews from 2009 offered some good design advice.
NCSU Libraries: Learning Commons
The website for the learning commons at NCSU Libraries had a number of features that caught our eye:
- “Top Viewed FAQs This Week”
- Widget displaying photos and videos on Flickr (although we questioned what the point of this was)
- Technology lending widget that offers slideshow of gadgets you can borrow
College Library Website of the Month
The College Libraries Section of ACRL offers a monthly showcase of notable library sites.
Museum Websites
Intrigued by the somewhat similar needs of a museum website (hours/directions, online exhibits, offer access to resources), we took a look at a number of websites to see if they had any interesting design elements:
- American Museum of Natural History
- Museum of the Moving Image (we were struck by the cool grid design)
- The Exploratorium
One-Pager
The One-Pager is the creation of two three librarians (Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches-Johnson) who have a web design business, Influx together, and Nate Hill. They designed a super streamlined template that libraries can download and freely use. We agreed that this interesting design really would work only for small public libraries but it was notable all the same, especially because it was designed with mobile users in mind first.
Super Stripped Down Library Home Page
One idea that came up at the very end of the meeting was to imagine what a library home page would be like if it had nothing other than two search boxes on it: search for sources and search for services. The first search box would be a single box that would get articles, books, images, data, etc. The second box would be return results from an index of the library website.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged library web site design, Library web sites, Tech Sharecase, Web Site Design
1 Comment
Next Tech Sharecase on Friday, June 10, To Discuss Website Design
The next get together of the Tech Sharecase will be on Friday, June 10. At the last meeting, we had a great discussion of the issue of excessive printing by students, faculty, and staff on campus and ways that we could move to being less reliant on paper printouts. You can read notes from that meeting as well as all the previous ones by visiting the tag for “Tech Sharecase” on this blog.
Since the themed meetings have been working well, I thought that at this Friday’s meeting we could talk about any aspect of website design that has our attention on that day. It would be great if you could bring to the meeting at least one example of a notable college or library website that exemplifies something important we should keep in mind as the Newman Library’s website gets redesigned.
Hope to see you this Friday!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged library web site design, Library web sites, Tech Sharecase, Web Site Design
2 Comments
Tech Sharecase, 27 May 2011
Attendees
Arthur Downing, Stephen Francoeur, Curtis Izen, Ellen Kaufman, Rita Ormsby, Bruce Small, Mike Waldman, Kevin Wolff
Today’s meeting was a discussion of ways we could cut back on the amount of printing by students, faculty, and staff on campus. We started off by looking at student printing and whether the file types most commonly printed–Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF. We considered a variety of ideas and issues:
- what if we could distribute more e-reader devices that would hold all the items on reserve (copyright issues would likely ensue)?
- students want to annotate and highlight what they read, which is easy to do if they have printed copies; what software programs do we have now that easily allow students to markup electronic files as they read and then save that annoated version? can annotations made in Adobe Acrobat Reader be saved or do you need to use a separate PDF reader to get that function?
- can we tinker with the default printing options for PowerPoint files so they automatically print out multiple slides on page (probably n0t)?
- can we reward students in some way if they have still have unused print credits at the end of the semester?
- can faculty who expect students to bring printed copies of PowerPoint slide sets to class find other ways to have the material in front of students during class?
- if we had Blackboard set up so it would work on mobile devices, would that encourage more students to download course handouts, etc. on their phones for reading instead of printing them?
