University of Saskatchewan Library Aboriginal portal project

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University of Saskatchewan LibraryAboriginal
portal project
A presentation by Allan Poulin Room 12, Main
Library 29 April 2003
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Introduction
AboriginalUNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
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Ur-portals

• Information clearinghouse
• Internet directory, digest, guide
• Resource or research network
• Subject gateway (SBIG)
• Virtual, digital or e-Libraries, eArchives
• Resource discovery service
• Content aggregation service

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Scanning the field

• eBusiness 162,970
• Enterprise 95,400
• Service 70,900
• Education 50,650
• eGovernment 45,660
• Network 42,200
• Corporate 35,100
• eCommerce 34,700
• Vertical 21,200
• eLearning 20,170
• Knowledge 18,900
• Resource 14,800
• Research 13,000
• Intranet 12,500
• Regional 11,500

• Library 7,700
• Knowledge
• management KM 5,491
• Information 4,990
• International 4,750
• Academic 3,360
• National 2,870
• University 2,630
• Subject 1,990
• Scholars 1,010
• Time-space 194
• Intergalactic 61
• Scholarly 47
• Aboriginal 215

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Dichotomy and continuum
INFORMATION
SERVICES
COMMUNITY
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Sarah Michalaks dream portal

• Sarah Michalak, director of the University of
  Utah Libraries, has defined a 'dream portal' as a
  super discovery tool that specializes in
  high-quality content. The dream portal is fast
  and powerful. It searches across formats and
  resources and returns results that are deduped
  and relevancy ranked. It is more than a discovery
  tool because it delivers full text or information
  objects whenever available. The dream portal
  integrates appropriate applications such as
  course management software. Finally, the dream
  portal supports authentication and permits
  customization and personalization, e.g., alerts,
  saved hits or searches, and custom views of
  resources. A portal combines powerful searching
  with the diverse resources and services that
  patrons find when they use a library.

Jackson, M.E. 2002 Sept.15. The advent of
portals. Library journal.
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Critical core features of the ARL Super Discovery
Tool

• First, the ability to query two distinct streams
  of electronic resources and databases
• "universal stream" of unrestricted resources (Web
  pages and searchable databases) from Web sites
  targeted for quality and academic relevance, and
• "local stream" of information, access to which is
  restricted to local users by license or other
  agreement.
• Second, the ability to map a search against
  different types of metadata.

ARL Scholars Portal Working Group Final Report.
2002-05-21. Retrieved from http//www.arl.org/acc
ess/scholarsportal/final.html
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Information Architecture

• Offer seamless, single window access to all
  relevant resources
• Allow users to customize search and display
  options
• Respond to different ways of seeking information
• Support community interaction

Inuit mother and child. Richard Harrington
National Archives of Canada. PA-145005.
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Content framework

• Development
• Selection for relevance
• Evaluation of quality and usefulness
• Institutional aggregation
• Harvesting
• Management
• Classification
• Description (Metadata schema)
• Indexing (Thesauri)
• Delivery
• High quality surrogates
• Digital content where available
• Related resource clusters
• Embedded content
• Push technology

Fishing on the Skeena River. Horatio Nelson
Topley. National Archives of Canada, PA-011213.
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Supporting the learning and research needs of our
communities
AboriginalUNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
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ltMETA NAME"Description CONTENT"A complete
guide to the programs, services and departments
of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada"gt

• Services and Resources Index ?
• Campus Communities ? Aboriginal
  Resources Entries5
• Information for current students ? Aboriginal
  Students Entries9
• Information for prospective students ?
  Aboriginal students n/a
• Quick search
• aboriginal resources Results8 aboriginal
  services Results3
• Googles university search (University of
  Saskatchewan)
• aboriginal resources Results18 aboriginal
  services Results9

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Immediate aboriginal entry points. None.

• Searching the Librarys pages
• Title
• Aboriginal Results 11
• Native Results 32
• First Nations Results 1
• Indian Results 94
• Document path
• Aboriginal Results 8
• Native Results 94
• First Nations Results 0
• Indian Results 0

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• Where do we want to be?
• Operating within a user-centered Information
  Architecture and an Aboriginal Content framework
  that provides staff and clients with efficient,
  effective and reliable access to relevant
  information.
• How do we get there from here?
• Commit to strategic priorities
• Identify users and target needs
• Evaluate existing services
• Plan new or expanded services
• Negotiate new relationships
• Manage changes
• Think and work in a client-centered mode

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Commit to strategic priorities

• New partnerships
• Academic support
• Aboriginal course content
• Aboriginal student needs
• Recruitment
• Community outreach
• Cross-cultural awareness
• Traditional knowledge
• Institutional cooperation

• Research
• Conducting
• Library information research
• Supporting
• Access to primary sources
• Current awareness
• Preserving and sharing
• Institutional repository
• Promoting
• Networking tools
• Trends opportunities

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Identify users and target needs

• Information and services
• Convenient and equitable access
• Relevant, high quality resources
• Efficient, integrated search tools
• Communication channels
• Customization features
• your observations here

• Stakeholders
• Prospective students
• Students
• Researchers
• Educators
• Administrators
• Alumni Lifelong learners
• Outside communities

As information becomes more available and
applicable to its users, its value increases. If
you can lay your hands on exactly what you need
exactly when you need it, the information is
golden. If you can't, it's chicken scratch.
Heath Row. 1997-01-15. Out of the stacks. CIO
magazine.
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Evaluate existing services

• Usage
• User satisfaction
• Self-assessment
• Information systems
• Knowledge management
• Collection strengths and weaknesses

Fort QuAppelle Indian Industrial School. O.B.
Buell National Archives of Canada, PA-118765.
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Plan new or modified services

• Resource integration
• Single window access
• (cross-searching of Web resources, databases and
  library catalogue)
• Resource clusters
• Specialized free text search engine
• Registration Authentication
• Manage access restrictions
• Customize user interface
• Current awareness profiles
• Archive search strategies
• Communication tools
• Feedback comments, suggestions, reviews
• eReference
• Forums Newsgroups - Message boards - Chats

• Selection, organization and description of Web
  resources
• Content development
• Guides, tutorials, etc.
• Push technology applications
• Featured resources, alerting, news and events
  channels (webcasting)
• eReserves, Course tools
• Partnership initiatives
• Resource sharing / data harvesting
• Institutional repository
• Digital archives

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Negotiate new relationships

• Determinants
• Organizational capacity
• Expertise and commitment
• Staff development
• Risk management
• Benefit realization
• Complementary resources
• Value-added organization
• Improved user services
• General efficiencies
• Effectiveness

• Guiding values
• Respect for diversity
• Pursuit of excellence
• Cooperation
• Lifelong learning
• Resource development and management
• Governance and leadership
• Coordination of efforts
• Pro tem initiatives
• Relational dynamic
• Collaborative
• Managed competition

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Manage changes in service

• High level project sponsorship
• Early and ongoing communication
• Team building
• Sound project planning and management
• Progressive implementation
• Staff training and development
• User education

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Relating to the larger community
AboriginalUNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
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Whos doing what?

• eGovernment
• Federal
• Provincial
• First Nations
• Universities
• Educational, research and public policy
  organizations
• Libraries
• Museums
• Archives
• Associations
• Exemplary individual or commercial sites

Piegan lodges. Edward S. Curtis. National
Archives of Canada, C-019983.
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So what?

• Resource discovery
• Directory of peak entities
• Evaluation and selection of exemplary resources
• Specialized search engine
• Building partnerships
• Link / include
• Cross searching
• Data harvesting
• Sharing expertise
• (Collaborations, lessons learned, best
  practices)

Hesquiaht woman. Edward S. Curtis. National
Archives of Canada. PA-039476
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Critical success factors
AboriginalUNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
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Key design considerations

• Classification and
• directory structure
• Search features
• Communication
• channels
• Data capture and creation

• Resource integration
• Visual
• appeal
• and
• Usability
• Registration
• Push technology

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Braun design
innovative it is forward-looking and embodies
technical and functional product
innovationspractical usability and simplicity
are key product valuesdistinctive it sets
standards for high-quality design with a unique
identityappealing geared to meeting the needs
of the user, it has a friendly, likeable and
natural presence.clear its formal clarity and
logical layout make products self-explanatory.h
onest it is open, comprehensible and
self-confident.aesthetic it is well balanced and
is characterized by an overall sense of
harmony http//www.braun.com/global/company/br
aunvalues/design/evolution.html
In many cases, consumers are not aware of their
needs, or are not capable of clearly articulating
their requirements. Bernhard Wild, Chairman,
Braun GmbH
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Key content considerations

• Web resource selection
• Stakeholder needs
• Collection development policy
• Collaborative resource identification
• Organization
• Implementation of extensible classification
  schema
• Description
• Choice of metadata schema and associated content
  rules
• Implementation of controlled vocabularies
• Quality assurance and
• record maintenance

• Content development
• Information literacy materials, subject guides,
  online tutorials
• Local services directory
• eReserves Course specific content
• Institutional repository
• External partnerships

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Key service considerations

• User-centered
• Visible and usable
• Progressive and sustainable
• Flexible
• Equitable
• Value added
• Performance monitoring

If we dont offer the service, we should know who
does
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Key implementation considerations

• Project level
• Planning
• Project management
• Capacity building
• Workgroup team building
• Collaborative content development
• Completion and project closure

• Corporate level
• Strategic vision and framework
• Resource commitment
• Governance structure
• Change, risk and quality management
• Development of partnerships
• Deployment - Marketing initiatives and live
  launch

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COMMUNICATION
COLLABORATION
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Key evaluation considerations

• DIMENSIONS
• Awareness and usage
• Quality
• Resources (range and appropriateness)
• Metadata descriptions
• Classification and indexing
• Usability
• Functionality
• Speed and reliability
• Subjective rating factors
• Specified strategic and project objectives
• Partnerships, content developed, research output,
  change management activities, etc.

• METHODS
• Project evaluation
• Close-out assessment, best practices and
  lessons-learned
• Continuous evaluation
• Routine monitoring with periodic formal
  evaluation
• Metrics
• Web stats (volume, resource usage, search logs
  etc)
• Content analysis
• Bibliometrics
• Usability testing
• Online feedback
• Stakeholder consultations
• Surveys, interviews, focus groups
• Follow-up strategic planning exercises

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Thank you!
Questions Comments Concerns

• Contact
• allan.poulin_at_usask.ca

Fine Day - Portrait. 1925. University of
Saskatchewan Libraries Special Collections,
Morton Photographs, C550/2/5.15b.
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Title slide credit . Woman with child. 1964.
University of Saskatchewan Archives, Institute
for Northern Studies Records (RG 26), Photograph
Collection, Photograph 179.