Building a User-Centric Website by Integrating Course Enrollment Data
1. 2012 SLA-SD Fall Seminar October 5, 2012
Spotlight on the User: Enhancing Value
through User-Centric Design and Innovation
leveraging student data to create
website personalization
Ian Chan
Web Development Librarian, California State University San Marcos
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21. similar goals, different approaches
customization personalization
User drives content selection & System drives content selection
layout
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22. personalization
Personalization is a process that „„changes the
functionality, interface, information content, or distinctiveness of a
system to increase its personal relevance to an individual‟‟
(Blom, 2000, p. 313)
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23. assessment of a library portal
Galter Health Sciences Library studied the use of their portal from
2003-2008
“The automated application of specialty-based, personalized
HSLs was more frequently adopted than manual
customization by users” (Shedlock et al., 2010).
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24. students want smart systems
“Student and faculty groups both expressed a desire for
systems that know the individual better and that behave “more
like Amazon” in remembering who they are, what they like, and
where they left off in their work” (Jafari et. al. 2006).
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26. what we‟d like our site to do
Expedite access to our resources
Connect students with individual librarians
Personalize the research experience
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29. project requirements (highlights)
Technical
Leverage existing user data transfer
Integrate login with EZproxy/campus authentication
Secure
UX
Don‟t bother the user
… but add value
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30. we use…
Drupal
Small, custom PHP scripts
Match subjects to user course selections
Generate XML data to sync guide info into Drupal
Generate personalized course reserve listings
Data export (for now)
from campus enrollment management system and viable library ILS
[Integrated Library System]
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31. connecting users with resources
CCK [D6] / Fields [D7]
Taxonomy Content
Profile
Views
Similar by
Terms
Personalized
Web
Panels
Pages
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32. essential, non-core modules
Content Profile
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/13jv?size=o
EZproxy
LDAP Integration
Similar by Terms
Views
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/rgq4
CCK
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33. (really) nice to have
Panels
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/i50r?size=o
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/v6np?size=o
Context
Flag
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34. user data prep
Simple PHP scripting to analyze course data and cross-
reference with subjects
Data prep - about 15 minutes of staff time for each load
But the above is all going away!
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35. user data load
User Import Module
Batch import for account
Node Import Module
Batch import for user profile
Data load
occurs once a week – more often at semester start
But the above is all going away!
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36. user data interactions
User Data
Source
LDAP
User Import Node Import
Integration
Campus
LDAP
EZproxy User Accounts User Profile
Integration
Recommendations
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45. Upcoming developments
Query user data in library catalog directly and instantly update
course data
Integrate saved articles from Summon Discovery Service
Provide dynamic, course-specific library widgets to learning
management system
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47. References
Blom, Jan. 2000. “Personalization: a Taxonomy.” In , 313. ACM Press. doi:10.1145/633292.633483.
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=633483.
Jafari, A., McGee, P., Carmean, C., 2006. Managing Courses Defining Learning: What Faculty, Students, and
Administrators Want. EDUCAUSE Review 41, 50–52,54,56–58,60,62,64,66,68,70.
Shedlock, James, Michelle Frisque, Steve Hunt, Linda Walton, Jonathan Handler, and Michael Gillam. 2010.
“Case Study: The Health SmartLibrary Experiences in Web Personalization and Customization at the
Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University.” Journal of the Medical Library Association :
JMLA 98 (April): 98–104. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.98.2.003.
Sundar, S. Shyam, and Sampada S. Marathe. 2010. “Personalization Versus Customization: The Importance
of Agency, Privacy, and Power Usage.” Human Communication Research 36 (3) (July): 298–322.
doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01377.x.
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Notas do Editor
there’s so much stuff on library websites
We strive to work one-on-one with our users. Our librarians really work hard to make themselves visible to students and faculty.
well, it’s not that big, but its today’s catchphrase
like any project that involves something new, it’s important to define it’s value, first
Does anyone use iGoogle?My initial interest in Drupal was for customization
AaronTay asks if it’s worth the investmentMyLibrary is no longer used at ND, NCSU, CornellI was intrigued – use Drupal to create a library site like iGoogleWhy? I hoped it would help our users and get their attention
For now, customization seems to have run its course
This past summer, twitter began to offer rec on who to follow
Netflix?
How many of you have an account on Amazon?
Convergence of increasing amounts of user data and expanding collections of information resources
Customization – users identify with somethingPersonalization – system identifies with user, system relates to the userSystems are not necessarily one or the other – For example, Pandora and GoodReads require a limited amount of customization to start withGoogle Reader is largely based on user customization but also includes recommendationsPersonalization requires lots of dataGet users more involved and better meet their needs and wants
EMPHASIS: Users want to see relevance
Interesting sentence from this article on a study that asked students what they wanted
We really emphasize thatstudents and faculty should get to know their librariansI think students have really respond to this – IM, individual appointmentsSo, personalization fits into the goals for our site and for our libraryAmong goals for our web site are the desire to put a human face on the library and to make the web experience personableOur library focuses on teaching and personal assistance – our web site promotes the same values
We HAVE user data
Limit extra work for campus ITDon’t interfere with the user’s current research pathwaysno account creationno subject selection required
Checks course code letters to find matching subjects from cross-reference tableThe Feeds module parses the XML feeds at set intervals
LDAP integration Uses campus LDAP for authentication credentials & allows auto-creation of user accountsContent Profile Attaches CCK user profile content type to user accounthttp://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/g781?size=ohttp://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/13jv?size=oEZProxyIntegrate Drupal login with EZproxy authenticationLDAP IntegrationIntegrate Drupal login with campus authentication systemFlagsMark resources as user favorites
Flag makes it super easy to… flag?Panels makes the arrangement content easy and makes use of views very
Note: Authorized campus users who are not in the batch loads can still sign-in and system will auto-create their account
LDAP integration Uses campus LDAP for authentication credentials & allows auto-creation of user accountsContent Profile Attaches CCK user profile content type to user accountEZProxyIntegrate Drupal login with EZproxy authenticationLDAP IntegrationIntegrate Drupal login with campus authentication systemFlagsMark resources as user favoritesUser Import – 3 fieldsBatch import basic account infoNode Import & Node Import Update – 2 fieldsBatch import & update user profile data
Library web site before login
Library web site after login
Please post your questions if I didn’t capture it here