Building Cohesive Library Services

1
Building Cohesive Library Services

• Karen A. Coombs
• Amanda Hollister

2
Agenda

• Who we are
• Challenges
• Potential technological solutions
• Aesthetically creating a consistent look
• Integrating Content from Disparate Systems
• Lessons Learned

3
Who We Are

• Shared web responsibilities at SUNY Cortland
• Originally one person in charge of web site
• Too many duties for one person so duties split
• Web-based systems
• Library web site

4
Challenges

• Disparate systems
• ILLiad, Docutek, SFX, OPAC
• Different vendors
• Atlas, Sirsi,ExLibris, Serial Solutions
• Distributed servers
• Diverse content
• Different ways for users to authenticate

5
Potential Technological Solutions

• XML
• Federated Search
• OpenURL
• OLDB/ODBC connections
• APIs
• XML Servers

6
Aesthetically creating a Consistent Look

• Consistent navigation elements
• CSS
• Server Side Includes
• Branding
• Include both print and web documents

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
Consistent Design Elements

• Color Scheme
• Fonts
• Logo

10
Adding Site Design Elements to External Systems

• ILLiad
• WebOPAC
• Before
• After
• Docutek
• Library Databases
• SFX

11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Integrating Content from Disparate Systems

• Periodical Holdings
• Export Local holdings to include in list
• Connect to OPAC API to link to holdings page
• This how the ILS target in our OpenURL resolver
  should work!
• Unified My Account page
• Items check out from ILS
• ILL items from ILLiad
• Citation Linker from SFX

18
(No Transcript)
19
Incorporating the OPAC

• Adding a catalog search box to library homepage
• Users get taken to search results within the
  catalog
• Search boxes on pages for specific collections
• Incorporating OPAC data on library page
• New Books Lists
• Pull data from catalog
• Format and display on library web site
• Create RSS feed

20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
Lessons Learned

• How closed is the system you are purchasing?
• Will the vendor let you have access to database
  behind the scenes?
• Is there an API you can use to access data?
• Can you get an export of your data at any time?
• Think ahead about how you are going to connect
  data from one system to another
• Try to use the same user id throughout

23
(No Transcript)