Portals Libraries and Avoiding the Trash Bin Computers

Portals, Libraries, and Avoiding the Trash Bin Computers in Libraries 2005 Missy Harvey Carnegie Mellon University harvey@andrew. cmu. edu March 2005

Portal Development at Carnegie Mellon University n n n n Started Efforts in Fall 2001 Released Portal Fall 2003 Libraries Have Been a Major Part Enabling Libraries to Become a More Prominent and Thriving Resource Delivering Content Around the World Mistakes and Lessons Learned Libraries Involvement Along the Way

What is a Portal? A portal is: n n n a dynamic customizable Web service that offers content and applications to users based on their relationship with an institution A portal provides: n n consistent navigation as well as a consistent interface

Relationships Portal Content Targets Groups of Users = (Relationship) Users May Be: n n Department Heads Staff in History Graduate Students in Physics Student Members of a Student Organization

Portlets Portal Content is Delivered in Portlets / Channels Portlets Can Be: q q q q E-mail Calendars Headlines Surveys or Forms RSS or XML Feeds Results of JDBC Queries Links to Existing Web Pages

Portal vs. Web Site n Web Site Information is Static q n Every User Sees the Same Thing Portal Information is Dynamic q q Determined by Who They Are What Groups They Belong To

Carnegie Mellon Composition n Core population is about 13, 470 people: q q q q 5389 Undergraduates 4274 Graduate Students 1300 Faculty 2500 Full-Time Staff 70, 000+ Alumni Prospective Students Research Partners

Distance Education n 16 Distance Education Programs q q Remote Campuses Remote Sites with In-Person and Online Courses Collaborative Programs with Other Institutions Executive Education Programs

Impact on University Libraries Adequate and Timely Services n Delivering Books to Faculty/Students in Remote Places n Expanding our Interlibrary Loan Procedures n Providing Database Services to Users Using a VPN or a Unique IP Address

Technical Issues n Authentication / Single Sign-On q q q Web. ISO / Pubcookie Kerberos 5 Shibboleth n Scalability n Unique E-Mail System q q Use Existing Mail Programs Mirrored Bboards n Event Calendar n Content Management System (CMS)

Event Calendar

Are Portals Really Becoming Necessary? On Our Existing Campus Web Site We Found: n n n Information was Hard to Find People Used Bookmarks Potential Security Problems Abounded Lots of Redundant Web Work Underway Across Campus Uncoordinated Institutional Image

Green, K. C. 2004 National Survey of Information Technology in U. S. Higher Education.

Why Should Libraries Care? n Disruptive Changes Being Driven By: q q q n Cellphones Entertainment Devices Consumers of Content Whose Interests and Tastes are Supported by the Technology Pay Attention to How Content Is: q q q Created Found, and Used by the Self-Sufficient but also Demanding and Discerning Information Consumer and Producer

Why Should Libraries Care? n Coordinated Management of Digital Assets of Institutions q q q Data Sets e-Prints Theses and Dissertations Videos of lectures More…. n Content Behaviors Have Changed n Potential to Increase Campus Presence

Resulting Vision n n A Unified “Digital Dashboard” of Campus Services Content Personalized To and Customized By Users An Information Management Platform for the Web An Infrastructure for University Information Management in General

Challenges Faced / Mistakes Made n Stakeholders q q q Problems getting all stakeholders on campus to become involved with the project from the start Important to involve as many as possible in portal planning and implementation Need to encourage the need to adhere to principles and tools that allow for all units to leverage unifying technologies

Challenges Faced / Mistakes Made n Interviewed Remote Campuses/Sites q q Should have interviewed more remote campuses and sites to learn what worked and did not work for them We brought them in later rather than earlier

Challenges Faced / Mistakes Made n Timing q q Timing is can be crucial to success One of our colleges on campus had already developed a portal to be used by their own people

Challenges Faced / Mistakes Made n Publishing Challenges q q q At the moment, most publishing of portlets has to be handled by Computing Services This made sense initially but is causing other campus projects to be delayed This problem is being addressed as we speak

Lessons Learned n President/Provost Involvement q q Seek assistance from them, as well as all deans, to require involvement in such a major undertaking Entire campus needs to understand the significance

Lessons Learned n Well-Defined Committee Structure q q Set-up a well defined committee structure to oversee the portal development Allow the committee structure to evolve as tasks are accomplished and the focus of activities change

Lessons Learned n Good Communication q q q Maintain good communication lines with the entire campus about developments with the portal One tool we use is a Web site showing tools, presentations, training, etc. http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/

Lessons Learned n Invest Substantial Time Choosing Portal Software q q Decide what components of the package you need to buy from the vendor and what parts you can modify or develop from scratch with your own programming staff We chose Epi. Centric / Vignette

Lessons Learned n Collaborative Tools q q q Find easy and helpful collaborative tools to share communication within and between committees We use a Wiki to share documents amongst our various subcommittees Twiki site: http: //twiki. org/

Lessons Learned n Design from a Customer Perspective q Simple to use q Dependable and predictable q Demonstrate value (or deliver results) q Make the user more self-reliant

Lessons Learned n Culture Change Will Be Needed q q q Users may need to be encourage dept. by dept. to see the potential For those who’ve been at an institution longer, previous methods of communication and finding information are entrenched The major trends—and challenges—are social and are profoundly changing how content is created, collected, used, shared and preserved

Lessons Learned n Capability to Gradually Change q q The portal should change as the status and the activity in it changes Successful portals are bi-directional, enabling users to make real-time transactions, such as finding timely information, using changeable scheduling, or using financial services

Lessons Learned n Strong Relationship Between the Library and Computing Services q q Key to success Allows for a strong library presence in portal development Leads to improved visibility for the libraries Opens the door for other new initiatives in the future

Present State (since Aug. 2004)

Usage by Student Group

What’s Ahead for the Near Future? n Web. Forum http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/ q q Comprised of various subcommittees, each assigned with various tasks The Web. Forum itself meets once per semester with all webmasters / stakeholders

Leadership Committee n Coordinate the meetings and communications of the Web Forum n Carry out the recommendations of the Forum n Suggest broad goals and priorities for the Web Forum n Create and manage subcommittees n Make tactical decisions in support of strategic goals set forth in the Forum

Content Management http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/content-management/ n Improve the timeliness of information n Improve the accuracy of information n Help make information easier to find n Help make Web sites and other information processes work more efficiently

Infrastructure http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/infrastructure/ n Focus on the evolution of the University's Web development toolkit and backend systems

Marketing http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/marketing/ n How do we communicate with our users? n What is the purpose of that communication? n How do we measure our effect? n How can we improve the user's experience without compromising necessary individuality? n What information do we want to gather from our collective Web services to better inform our efforts?

Portal http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/portal/ n What is our vision and strategy? n Tactical details of development efforts n Continue past work in usability n Identify applications to add n Look at targeting n Address interface design

Search http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/search/ n Determine whether we should develop and deploy an improved search system n If so, recommend a solution

Standards and Practices http: //www. cmu. edu/webforum/standards-practices/ n How do Web professionals make best use of the university’s development toolkit? n Deal with Web testing for usability and accessibility

Library Involvement is Key n We have at least one library staff member on every subcommittee, as well as the overall Leadership Committee n We seek to collaborate on initiatives that are of interest to the libraries n We step up to volunteer for beta testing of applications of use in the libraries n We promote the portal from our library Web site and in library instruction

Summary n We have a lot of work we’ve completed n Much more work ahead to continue to ensure the success of our campus portal development n Learning from our mistakes and our lessons, you can make productive and informed decisions for your own institution n You don’t want to invest and work hard at implementing a portal and then find it in the trash bin because it does not meet your needs

Further Reading Bell, Steven J. (2004, January). Promotion through “teachnology. ” Library Journal net. Connect. Available at http: //www. libraryjournal. com/article/CA 371208. Green, Kenneth C. (2004, October). 2004 National Survey of Information Technology in U. S. Higher Education. Available at http: //www. campuscomputing. net/summaries/2004/. Harvey, Melissa J. (2004, March). Opening doors: Libraries and portals. Computer in Libraries Conference. Available at http: //www. cs. cmu. edu/~missy/Portals/index. ppt. Ipri, Tom & Sell, James H. (2005, Feb. ). Opening the portal to better relationships. Computers in Libraries, 25(2). Lakos, Amos A. (2004, Oct. /Nov. ). Portals in libraries: Portal vision. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 31(1). Available at http: //www. asis. org/Bulletin/Oct-04/lakos 2. html. OCLC. (2004, Sept. ). 2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers. Available at http: //www 5. oclc. org/downloads/community/2004 infotrends_content. pdf. OCLC. (2002, June). How academic librarians can influence students’ Web-based information choices. OCLC White Paper on the Information Habits of College Students. Available at http: //www 2. oclc. org/oclc/pdf/printondemand/informationhabits. pdf. Sennema, Greg. (2004, Jan. ). Creating an internal content management system. Computers in Libraries, 24(1). Available at http: //www. infotoday. com/cilmag/jan 04/sennema. shtml.