Archive for March, 2006

how a templated version of infodome might look

Monday, March 27th, 2006

Just wanted to give the SDSU templates a try. Obviously, it’s just a test - the SDSU logo is messed up, I didn’t create all the links, we wouldn’t necessarily use this type of navigation, we might want a dome fade behind the logo, and there would be footer info. Oh, and there will be new SDSU templates soon, so we wouldn’t use this one anyhow. But I thought it was a concept worth discussing at some point.

A very draft test page.

another CMS

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

Joomla

Things that make you go ‘hunh?’

Monday, March 20th, 2006

What labels on our site make students go ‘hunh?’ I know of a few possibilities:

  • Catalog (the PAC)
  • Service point [as in ’service point hours’]
  • Article databases [though it’s better than just ‘databases’]

What else?

Open source Content Management System

Monday, March 20th, 2006

Plone is an open source content management system (CMS).

A CMS is a tool that lets people create and update Web content easily, without knowing any HTML. Think Contribute, but more robust. Blogging tools like blogger and wordpress are specialized CMS’s. A CMS could be a good way to manage Library Web content.

I have no idea if this is the right tool for us, but there’s a consortial project in Oregon called Plinkit that’s using Plone.

Our campus may, some day, license a CMS, and perhaps the CSU will. So we’ll want to keep one eye on the future as we look at these ideas.

Blogging & RSS in libraries

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Blogging libraries - a list by Amanda Etches-Johnson at blogwithoutalibrary. tinci vinci test1 trali vali net (also some other good info on blogging and RSS).

And here’s her entries on libraries using RSS feedstest2 proxodili >. Check it out, some examples will help us imagine the possibilit eto nam test3 ne zadavali ies.

RSS-a-licious

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Some links on RSS feeds, for future reference:

The term ‘RSS’ either sounds sort of scary or it means nothing to a lot of people. But really, it’s just a tool to pull web content into one easy-to-read place. And it’s easy to set up, too. The first two links below are background on RSS. The second two are techie stuff on how to set it up on our Website.

Cleaning up the style sheets

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Our style sheets need some work. Some things don’t display so nicely in Firefox, and I’m scared to look at them from a MAC. Nothing breaks, they just need some help.

I’ve also been wanting to set us up so that people don’t have to click ‘printer friendly’ in order to get a printer friendly version. Information here.

But I wonder if it’s worth the effort at this point - maybe we’ll create a cleaner style that prints better?

Content: what’s buried, what’s non-existant, what could be RSS’d?

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Buried content:

  • E-reserve (+ reserves, period)
  • check your circulation record

Non-existant content:

  • how to print
  • photocoppy and printing info (including color printing)
  • library services for disabled students.

RSS feeds:

  • New books
  • new databases.

Other ideas?

Calendaring software

Monday, March 13th, 2006

One product I’ve seen in use: BosDates

Usability stuff

Monday, March 13th, 2006

Library terms evaluated in usability tests and other studies

Terms on tested pages

(thanks, Carolyn)