Minutes of the Meeting of February 10, 2010
2 - 3:30 pm, Dana Porter Library, 428
Present: Annie Bélanger, Allan Bell (Chair), Nancy Collins (recorder), Marian Davies, Chris Gray, Tim Ireland, Esther Millar, Bill Oldfield, Doug Morton
Regrets: Charles Woods
- WebOps minutes of January 13 approved with minor changes.
- Business Arising
#2B. The Google Analytics code has been added for LibGuides.
Action: Bill and Chris will set up a profile for the LibGuides group.
#4B. Tim approached Glenn from IST regarding the possibility of setting up independent instructional scheduling systems. IST is willing to set these up for us when we fill out a request form (Tim has emailed the form to the group).
Action: Tim and Nancy will work with Annie to forward a request for an independent system.
#5. We have access to a webinar on Search & Discovery patterns. Chris has booked LIB 428 for a group viewing on February 18 from 2-4 pm.
#8. Esther changed the shade of red on the Library’s website to match the red we’re using in LibGuides.
- Problem Alerting Service on Library’s Home Page
Doug presented some possibilities for implementing an alerting service on the Library’s home page to communicate problems with our databases (e.g. Scholars Portal is down; TRELLIS upgrades).
He showed the two blogs he is currently maintaining as well as alerting services being used by other academic libraries.
The group supported the concept of an alerting service, agreeing that:
- we need a consistent place for people to find this type of information
- this information should be fed through an automatic mechanism
- a triage should be established based on importance of the problem (e.g. home page alert for “catastrophic” problems; other pages for lesser problems)
- back-up teams need to be established for when Doug is on vacation
- people from departments outside of ISR should be involved as well
Action: Doug, Nancy, and Tim will develop a plan for creating an alerting system in light of the issues raised at this meeting.
During this agenda item’s discussion, the group also had a tangent conversation relating to the management of the Library’s blogs. The group agreed that the Library’s blogs need to be cleaned up. Tim expressed interest in taking over the screencasting blog.
Action: Chris will review our current list of blogs and flag those that haven’t been updated up 6 months.
Action: Chris will provide Tim with editor access to the screencast blog.
Action: Chris will also add Google Analytics to the public blog Library Computer Issues
- Document Repository
Tim proposed the idea of creating a public document repository that will enable the screencast working group to share its best practices documents.
The group decided that a new web site location be created to accommodate this. The suggested url is www.screencast.uwaterloo.ca.
- Document for Technical Support
Allan recapped Melanie’s request for IT support pages to be added to the Library’s website. Esther mocked up the pages prior to the meeting. The group approved the pages as created, with minor edits.
- “Popular Choices” databases
Nancy asked the group about the current criteria for including resources in the “Popular Choices” list on the Research Databases page.
To date, no criteria has been established. Inclusion has been mostly based on convenience (e.g. for grouped resources like Gale / Knowledge Ontario resources)
The group agreed that we should review the "popular choices" list and develop criteria for inclusion.
Action: Doug and Nancy will review the list, develop suggested criteria, and report back to the group. Bill will get the current usage stats for “Popular Choices.”
- Lynda Instruction Accounts
Allan explained that IST has subscribed to Lynda.com, a web-based software training company. Lynda is lincensed by IST for 10 seats (2 are reserved for committees) that can be used by individuals in 1-week packets. Right now there is a queue for seats. Some members of WebOps are already taking advantage of Lynda.
- WatIAM and Library email addresses
Esther asked about the discrepancies with email addresses appearing in the WatIAM directory. Currently, the email addresses in WatIAM may be different from the Library email addresses.
Allan explained that old email addresses were associated with a server (e.g. Library server). WatIAM IDs were derived from this. We have now moved to the Connect server 'connect.uwaterloo.ca' which is what is showing in the WatIAM directory. Even though email addresses may differ, they all work.
In the future, people will have the flexibility to choose email addresses based on their names. For example, prefixes will allow for more than just 8 characters.
- Around the Table
Nancy reported that she recently got a behind-the-scenes look at the Ryerson Library's intranet site (developed in Drupal). Impressive stuff!
- Next Meeting: February 24, Davis Conf., 2-3:30 pm. Recorder: Marian
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March 11, 2010
