TOWARD A UNIFIED WEB PRESENCE FOR YOUR LIBRARY Web Manager’s Academy Marshall Breeding Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology.

TOWARD A UNIFIED WEB PRESENCE FOR YOUR LIBRARY

Web Manager’s Academy

Marshall BreedingVanderbilt University LibraryFounder and Publisher, Library Technology Guideshttp://www.librarytechnology.org/http://twitter.com/mbreeding

October 21, 2012

Therapy for your Library Web site• Diagnosing the patient

• Split personalities? • Schizophrenic?• Fragmented?• Integrated and reasonably

healthy?• Enlightened?

Disjointed interfaces for information and service delivery?• Silos Prevail

• Books: Library OPAC (ILS module)• Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal

collections• OpenURL linking services• E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver)• Subject guides (e.g. Springshare LibGuides)• About the Library…• Local digital collections

• ETDs, photos, rich media collections

• Metasearch engines

• All offered in separate containers

Search?• How many search boxes are offered and what do they

do?• Online Catalog?• Discovery Interface?• Web site content?• Article databases?• Federated Search• Do users know what kind of results to expect?

Delivering a consistent and coherent experience

• Look and Feel• Branding / Sub-branding

• Parent institution – Library – Branches and departments

• Authentication / single sign-on• Integrated Personality / non-schizophrenic• Smooth over complexities on the back with more

seamless presentation layer

Complex Library Infrastructure• Integrated Library System

• Online Catalog

• OpenURL Link Resolver

• Digital Asset Management Systems• Institutional Repositories

• Electronic Theses and Dissertations

• Electronic Resource Management• Institutional / Library Web site

• Web Content Management System

• Authentication Services

Thinking about the User

• Does your library’s Web presence have a presentation layer that manages all aspects of end-user experience or does it simply hand users off from one interface to another as they muddle through your Web site?

Examples: Unified or not?

• Amazon.com• Harvard University

• http://lib.harvard.edu/

• Walter Reed Army Hospital Library• http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Professionals/library

/• Nashville Public Library

• http://www.library.nashville.org/

• Phoenix Public Library• http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/

Tools and Techniques

• Consistent branding and design• Shared style sheets among applications• Web content management system

• Integrate functionality of other components through plug-ins, widgets, Web services

• Avoid direct hand-offs• Unified presentation framework

• Drupal with plug-ins• Specialized library tools: BiblioCommons, SOPAC, Axiel Arena,

Infor Iguana, etc

Library Web Presence

Integrated Library System

Library Web site

SubjectGuides

Article, Databases,E-Book collections

Public Interfaces:

Presentation Layer

Unified Search Model

Search:

Digital Collections

Web site data

…

User Contributed

Content

Search Results

Discovery Index

ILS Data

Consolidated

Indexes of Articles

Consolidated index

Search Engine

Unified Presentation LayerSearch:

Digital Coll

ProQuest

EBSCO…

JSTOR

Other Resourc

es

New Library Management Model

`

API Layer

Library Services Platform

LearningManagemen

t

LearningManagemen

t

Enterprise ResourcePlanning

Enterprise ResourcePlanning

StockManagemen

t

StockManagemen

t

Self-Check /Automated

Return

Self-Check /Automated

Return

Authentication

Service

Authentication

Service

Smart Cad / Payment systems

Smart Cad / Payment systems

Discovery

Service

RESOURCE DISCOVERY LAYER PRODUCTS

Web Manager’s Academy

Marshall BreedingDirector for Innovative Technology and ResearchVanderbilt University LibraryFounder and Publisher, Library Technology Guideshttp://www.librarytechnology.org/http://twitter.com/mbreeding March 20, 2012

Discovery Products

http://www.librarytechnology.org/

discovery.pl

Decoupled from ILS

Discovery Interface

Search: Digital

Collections

ProQuest

EBSCOhost

…MLA

Bibliography

ABC-CLIO

Search Results

Real-time query and responses

ILS Data

Local Index

MetaS

earch E

ngine

Differentiation in Discovery• Products increasingly specialized between public and

academic libraries• Public libraries: emphasis on engagement with physical

collection• Academic libraries: concern for discovery of

heterogeneous material types, especially books + articles + digital objects

Discovery from Local to Web-scale• Initial products focused on technology

• AquaBrowser, Endeca, Primo, Encore, VuFind• Mostly locally-installed software

• Current phase focused on pre-populated indexes that aim to deliver Web-scale discovery• Summon (Serials Solutions)• WorldCat Local (OCLC)• EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO)• Primo Central• Encore with Article Integration

Web-scale Discovery

Search: Digital

Collections

ProQuest

EBSCOhost

…MLA

Bibliography

ABC-CLIO

Search Results

Pre-built harvesting and indexing

Consolidated Index

ILS Data

State-wide Discovery

Search: Digital

Collections

EBSCO

ILS Data: Nashville

Public

…ILS Data:

UTK

ILS Data: Tinn-Share

Search Results

Pre-built harvesting and indexing

Consolidated Index

ILS DataVanderbilt

Encore Synergy

Search: Digital

Collections

ProQuest

…Local Index

ILS Data

Web S

ervices

Local Index Results

Local Index Results

Remote Search Results

EBSCOhost

…MLA

Bibliography

ABC-CLIO

Social Discovery

Search:

Digital Collections

Web site data

…User

Contributed Content

Search Results

Local Index

ILS Data

Some Examples

• VuFind• Villanova University• http://library.villanova.edu/

• BiblioCommons• http://epl.bibliocommons.com/

• Summon• Dartmouth College Library• http://library.dartmouth.edu/

MAKING LIBRARY CONTENT DISCOVERABLE: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Web Manager’s Academy

Marshall BreedingDirector for Innovative Technology and ResearchVanderbilt University LibraryFounder and Publisher, Library Technology Guideshttp://www.librarytechnology.org/http://twitter.com/mbreeding March 20, 2012

Search Engine Optimization• Important to ensure that unique content on your site will

be findable by through search engines, especially Google• General principles:

• clear and valuable content• Optimize for real users• Don’t try to game the system

• Good coding and metadata important

Coding for findability• <title> tag: short and unique descriptive title• <description> summary of content, peppered with

keywords• <h1><h2> tags lightly indexed• Search engines will attempt to find key content on pages

in the absence of meta tags• Pages will be punished if meta tags and content are

inconsistent

Article posted

HTML Source

Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools

Google Search Results

Google Analytics