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Library Web Review Group

Notes of Meeting of May 25, 2005
Davis Library Conference Room
1:30pm to 3:30pm

Attendance: Christy Branston , Rachel Caldwell , John Chan, Marian Davis, Sandra Keys , Esther Millar , Dan Sich (recorder), Marina Wan (chair)

Regrets: Helena Calogeridis , Linda Hastings, Bill Oldfield

  1. Notes from meeting of May 16, 2005

    Minutes we approved with minor corrections.

  2. Business Arising

    None.

  3. Agenda Review

    Add "Database pages instructional text" to # 4.

    Add "Introduce staff to new website" to # 5.

  4. Website Design

    Usability observations suggested that "Journal articles, etc." was as easy to find as a quick link on the right side of the page as it was as a top-level item in the left navigation. We agreed upon the terminology "Journal articles, etc."; it will be included as a quick link on the right side of the page, and moved under "Resources" in the left navigation. "Resources" will be changed to "Resources for Research". Action: Esther (both changes made during meeting)

    "Quick facts" was poorly understood. "Online Reference Shelf" was better understood. We agreed upon the terminology "Online Reference Shelf".

    Action: Christy     will add more to the explanation of "Online Reference Shelf" on the "Resources for Research" page.

    Action: Christy and Marian     will create alt tag text for the left navigation items.

    Actions: Christy     will write a brief report for the 3 usability tests.

    Action: Rachel     will communicate with Mary Stanley re. the problems inherent in using rotational banner images.

    Using the 6 example banner images, Esther and Marian have developed a colour palette which includes a light grey, a burgundy, and a brown which looks similar to the eye. The group agreed upon these colours. The hyperlink colouring scheme has also been altered.

    Dan's suggested changes to the database pages instructional text were reviewed. Further suggestions were made. Action: Dan will make further changes to the instructional text. Action: Dan will send the URLs for the "etc." and "citation" pop-ups to Esther. Action: Esther will apply the "Appropriate use." pop-up template to these 2 pages.

  5. Website Conversion

    The revised website conversion plan is posted at http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/webops/
    conversion2005.html

    Contribute training should occur on Thursday, June 9 th . Action: Sandra and Dan will organize on behalf of the ISR Training Committee. Sandra, Dan, Christy, Marina (and possibly Rose and Marian, if their schedules permit) will be members of the Contribute training team. Trainers can help page-owners think about the re-structuring of their pages, offer suggestions re. splitting up their pages, placement of old navigation schemes, re-sizing of images, tables, and other fine tuning as necessary.

    Action: John and Marina will discuss possible times for a train-the-trainer session. This should occur ASAP. Tentative date Mon/Tues, May 30/31.
    Action:     Marina will try to get Contribute on the Davis Library Conference Room machine.

    The ISR Training Committee and LibWebReview should offer sessions to all library staff to introduce the new website. These could occur Tuesday/Wednesday, June 21/22. Rooms need to be booked. Action: Sandra and Dan.

  6. Next steps

    Christy noted that we might improve accessibility for different disabilities by providing various versions of our page via different CSS. Esther noted that many users create their own CSS. It was questioned whether or not we should include a Skip Navigation link.

  7. Around the Table

    Christy will write a brief report about the survey results, once the survey has closed.

Next meeting: There will be no meeting next week.


August 11, 2005