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Web Operational Management Group

Minutes of the Meeting of February 27, 2008
2:00 - 4:00 pm, DC Conference Room

Present: Allan Bell (Chair), Nancy Collins, Tim Ireland, Chris Gray, Esther Millar, Doug Morton, Bill Oldfield(Recorder), Dan Sich, Charles Woods, Marian Davies

Regrets: None

  1. Minutes of meeting, February 13, 2008

    Approved.

  2. Business Arising
    2.6. Google Search Enhancements
    The "ejournals.uwaterloo.ca" domain has been removed from the new search because the results are incomplete and potentially misleading. Action: Bill will research the situation and see if the indexing can be setup to work as it should from the SFX database.

    There is also a problem of some discipline pages failing to appear in the search results. It appears to be a problem relating to the different domain names used. Action: Charles will enter the redirects into the Apache configuration file.

    Action: Bill will further research the Google Webmaster Tools to discover and hopefully resolve the missing pages. Everyone was encouraged to continue to test the engine and report any issues using the blog established for that purpose (http://blogs.lib.uwaterloo.ca/sitesearch).

    2.7. Connect from Home
    After login to EZProxy a user should, ideally, be returned to the page from which they accessed the login page. Action: Chris will look into a way of doing this at the EZProxy level and if necessary using a javascript approach as in LibX.
    Action: Nancy will respond to Stephen Smith's comments.

    4. Google Analytics
    Action: Charles will run Fastracks again a subset of the site and compare the differences between the Fastracks and Google Analytics results. This will help assess the reliability of using GA for our statistics.

    5. More Prominent Feedback (A-Z List)
    A number of mockups were examined to prominently solicit feedback. The preference seems to be a simple button requesting feedback. Action: Bill will mockup the positioning of the button on the screen and Esther will design a button.

    6. SFX A-Z List
    Chris noted the March SFX changes that that have been announced by ExLibris. The current work on the A-Z List and the SFX Menu will continue and the ExLibris activities monitored.

    There will be a session this Friday for ISR introducing the SFX Menu/TRELLIS Catalogue interactions that are being developed.

    8. Blogspot Usage
    The use of blogspot by Library departments rather than our local WordPress blogs was noted. Action: Chris and Allan will research why this is happening.

  3. Agenda Review
     Since most of the content of item 6 was covered in Business Arising, the complaint received from a student about the new list (A-Z List Complaint) was assigned to item 6.

  4. Writing for the Web (Allan - 10 minutes)
     There is a webinar about writing for the web scheduled for March 25th. Action: Esther will prepare an email for Library staff.

    Action: Allan will find out the interest of the Library staff for Eva to give one of her sessions or whether staff should just be alerted to their availability through the regular IST course offerings.

  5. Home Page Link for Dana Porter Renovations (Nancy - 15 minutes)
     A Porter renovation web site will be available this summer. The space under the left navigation on the home page seems most appropriate for the links. The possibility of a thumbnail image which links to the site will be explored. Action: Nancy will create a link on the homepage to the site and explore with Carl Nagel any webcam possibility.

  6. A-Z List Complaint (Doug and Nancy)
    Doug and Nancy met with the student and the complaint centered around 2 issues:
    a) Window Control - Often a second or third popup window, even if it is updated with new information, can get lost under other windows.
    When a new window is referenced as a Target with a name, whereever that window is it is used to write the new information. If Target:blank is used the window pops up on the top. Article Finder opens up in a new tab, which is another option we can explore to provide better window control. Action Doug and Bill will explore the options to provide our users with better window control.

    b) A-Z List more links - The "Title starts with:" links are meaningless when they are identical as happens in the larger lettered lists. This is a situation that may be resolved with the March changes promised by ExLibris. Action: Bill and Doug will explore the SFX templates to see if changes can be made at this level.

  7. Literature Review (Group - 30 minutes)
     The contents of chapters "5. Omit needless words" and "6. Street signs and Breadcrumbs" from Don't Make Me Think were discussed.

    Under the banner "Instructions must die", the idea that if a webpage is well designed it should obviate the need for instructions is interesting. But, since giving instructions on how to use others sites is often what we do, this option is not always available.
    The idea of an editorial workflow was mentioned but creativity can be stifled in that kind of environment. Content maintainers education on best practices was deemed a better approach.

    Navigation consistency and breadcrumbs to help people know where they are at all times is essential to a quality website. Breadcrumbs are possible with content management. Plone, an open source CMS, has most of the needed functionality built in. Action: Chris will give a demo of Plone at our next meeting. The possibility of using Plone to build our beta site was discussed.

    Chapters 7- 9 were assigned for the next meeting. Action: Everyone should read and be ready to discuss these chapters at our next meeting.

  8. Around the Table
     Esther mentioned the Student Life program at the end of July and asked about any timelines for changes to the Library's website. At least a week's time is needed for preparation.

    Allan will take the UW Library Web Strategy document to the Library Executive and then the Web Executive Board (WEB) for comment and implementation.

    Allan noted that 3 reports from the subgroups of the Web Advisory Group have been submitted. There are 4 subgroups, Content Management, CLF, Audience and Navigation.

    Allan mentioned that he has joined a University branding group. An RFP has been issued for the rebranding of the University. They will start with printing but eventual it will also apply to the web.

    Tim mentioned that he has established a Facebook group for Web Design. If you are not in ask Tim.

    Charles asked whether anyone was looking at the newest version of Dreamweaver. No one is evaluating it at the moment.

  9. Next Meeting
    March 12, 2 - 3:30 pm, Porter Conference Room (LIB 428)

 

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May 12, 2008