The document provides an overview of Valerie Forrestal's presentation for a web services librarian position. It discusses designing an intuitive library website with clear navigation, simple design, and engaging content. It emphasizes user testing during the design process and defining user groups to meet their needs. The presentation also covers migrating content to a new content management system and training staff on maintenance responsibilities.

1. Valerie Forrestal
vforrestal@gmail.com
vforrestal.info
Web Services Librarian Candidate Presentation ● College of Staten Island ● 12/3/12

2.  Clear, concise and logical navigation
 Simple, elegant design
 Advertise news and upcoming events
 Central search box for finding resources
 Repository for forms, policies, hours and
contact information

3.  User testing
 Layout
 Navigation
 User testing
 Content
 User testing

4.  Define all relevant audiences
• Undergraduates/Graduate students
• Faculty/Staff
• Potential students/donors/local residents/parents/etc
 Create “user stories” or “use cases” for each
audience which define common tasks and their
steps for completion
 Consider # of steps for users to complete
desired tasks in mind when organizing
navigation/content

5.  CMS/template restraints:
• Logos/colors
• Required links from school
 General layout:
• Items for homepage, subpages, or to be included
on every page
• Header, footer, columns
 Navigation levels

6.  How many templates will you need?
 1 vs 2 column design
• Right-side columns good for contact info, links or
widgets
• BUT- you don’t want to force it! Avoid empty or
redundant side columns
• How will your mobile version handle right column?
Drop it? Stack them? (This influences how you
structure your content-see LibGuides mobile site.)

7.  Responsive design uses CSS to format the
site based on auto-detected screen
size/orientation.
Mobile
Desktop/laptop vs. device/tablet

8. 4
1
4
3 5
2 1
5
6
2
3
6

9.  Guided navigation for new users (on
homepage only)
 Logical hierarchical navigation for normal
users (on left-hand side of each page)
 Quicklinks – direct to resources – for expert
users (on top or bottom of every page
 Deep footer with related links from
school/other departments (academic
calendar, writing center, staff directories,
registrar, IT, etc)

10.  Flat vs. Hierarchical organization of pages
• Flat design can lead to a sprawling, out of control
site.
• Will your page groupings make sense to users?
• Deep hierarchical design may require extra
navigation, such as secondary nav menus and/or
breadcrumb links
• Folder structure will also affect how links look (see
next slide)

11. From:
“How to Create a Directory Structure
Search Engines Rock To”
by Stoney deGeyter
(http://www.searchengineguide.com/
stoney-degeyter/how-to-create-a-
directory-structure-sear.php)

12.  Create annotated sitemap for old site
 Identify content that does not need to be migrated
 Identify content that would benefit from “object”
approach (ie-forms, policies, contact info)
• This content will be pulled into “blocks” which can then be
reused
• For consistency, edits are made in one place and pushed
to pages that contain the blocks
 Identify content that needs restructuring, or that
would benefit from additional sub menus that
template doesn’t provide.
 Identify content to be pushed into 3rd party
software (like LibGuides.)

13.  Will the site be locally or remotely hosted?
• Drupal requirements: http://drupal.org/requirements
• Joomla: http://help.joomla.org/content/view/1938/310/
• WordPress: http://wordpress.org/about/requirements/
 Follow proper folder structure and use
relative links, so entire site can be moved
without link breakage
 Compatibility with services located on
other servers:
• Ezproxy server
• Catalog
• Link Resolver

14.  Staff should be trained on new CMS before site launch
 Documentation should be created to identify roles of
staff in maintaining content
• Who owns what content?
• How often should updates be made or content/links
checked?
• Are approvals of content necessary?
 In theory, a CMS makes it possible for all/most staff to
contribute to site maintenance, however, in practice this
is not always the optimal scenario. Key personnel must
be named and held responsible for checking the content
remains up-to-date.

15.  Realistically, migration can take place in under
a semester.
 Ideally, user-testing should be done during fall
semester, site design over spring semester,
and content migration over the summer, for
minimal inconvenience to users.
 If agile methodologies are preferred, user
testing and site design can be done in the
same semester, site launch over winter or
summer break, and follow-up user testing and
design tweaks in the following semester.

16. Although the redesign of any website inherently carries some risks,
probably the most notable of which is making major changes to a
resource that is already familiar to its users, the ever-evolving nature of
the internet sometimes makes an update necessary. Website success
can often be traced back to several important concepts, including
simplicity in design, logical organization and navigation, media
richness, and interactivity2. In that vein, a homepage needs to be
intuitive to navigate, and organized to facilitate ease of finding
information for all levels of user experience. There should be a focus on
technologies enabling communication and interactivity throughout
the site, and access to resources and services should be seamless 3.
Sources:
[1] McFedries, P. (2006). The Web, Take Two. IEEE Spectrum, 43(6), 68-68.
[2] Palmer, J. (2002). Web Site Usability, Design, and Performance Metrics. Information Systems Research, 13(2), 151-167.
[3] ACRLog: Formula for Academic Library Success (http://acrlblog.org/2007/05/14/formula-for-academic-library-success/)

17. Source: Stephen Abram-
http://www.sirsidynix.com/Resources/Pdfs/Company/Abram/ny metro.pdf

19. Service CSI Service-provider SIT Service-provider
CMS Joomla Typo 3/Drupal
Catalog Ex Libris Sirsi Dynex
Federated Search/DS Ebscohost Integrated Search EDS/Summon
Room/Equip. Reserve ? -
Authentication EzProxy EzProxy
Repository Software ? CONTENTdm
Integrated Catalog Search IDS-OCLC -
Chat Reference Library H3lp LibChat
Research Guides LibGuides LibGuides
Events Google Calendar/Docs EventBrite
ERM Serials Solutions Serials Solutions
Citation Management RefWorks RefWorks
Blog WordPress Blogger
Course Management System Blackboard Blackboard/Moodle
Printing Web-based? UniPrint (drivers required)

20.  What technologies are the students and professors already using?
Bring the library to them, wherever they are.
 Facilitate professor involvement (can they contribute to resource
guides or create curated course resources?)
 How can we get the users to the content they need, as quickly as
possible? Are we supporting all levels of users, without getting in the
way?
 Appification/responsive design (mobile-friendly versions are no
longer optional)
 flexible display of content to allow users to construct/organize
information according to their own understanding/project/learning-
type/subject-specialty (customized/customizable information
aggregation/user tagging)
 Seamless integration of services provided by 3rd party vendors
 W3C issues: ADA and semantic web compliant