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Creating a Cohesive Discovery Experience

Creating a Cohesive Discovery Experience. @ the. Building the. Some stepping stones toward unification: Creation of a brand (and promoting it!) Streamlining a discovery framework Unifying disparate web presences COLLABORATION ! And projects resulting ... And,

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Creating a Cohesive Discovery Experience

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  1. Creating a Cohesive Discovery Experience @ the

  2. Building the Some stepping stones toward unification: • Creation of a brand (and promoting it!) • Streamlining a discovery framework • Unifying disparate web presences • COLLABORATION! And projects resulting... And, How the heck we did it and what’s left to do [HINT: a lot!]?

  3. Making magic happen at Who are we? Ginny M. Boyer, MLIS boyerg@ecu.edu Virginia Bacon, MLS baconv@ecu.edu

  4. A little about the • The East Carolina University Libraries • Joyner (ALS)– Main Library (big) • Music Library – a branch of Joyner (littlest) • Laupus (HSL) Health Sciences Library (little) • About the university • 24k full time enrollment • Located in Greenville, NC • Doctoral/research University & Medical School

  5. Why it took magicians • Ours is a complicated situation… • Administratively separate • Different cultures, both internal & external • Physically separate & different division affiliations • Solutions • Buy-in for a shared Libraries brand • Neutral persons to facilitate collaboration • Shared discovery interfaces

  6. Historically, some things we shared • Resources, tools, and positions funded out of the Virtual Library • ILS (Symphony) • An ILS Administrator • ERMS (Serials Solutions 360RM, 360 MARC) • Costly resource acquisitions • Science Direct • Web of Science, etc. • And later… Summon (but that’s where things got tricky…)

  7. And some things we didn’t… • Public access points and discovery tools • OPACs (Symphony’s e-Library) • Database List(s) • ILLiad • OCLC (WorldCatLocal) • Library websites • And pretty much everything else…

  8. Mo’ Libraries, Mo’ Problems • What kind of problems did this division produce? • Duplication of effort • Wasted and fragmented staff resources • Multiplicity of access points • Poorly designed and outdated search tools • Poor communication between complimentary departments (mostly) • Fragmented resource discovery • Isolated library websites • I could go on, and on, and on, and on….

  9. Summon ‘One Search’ • A resource discovery solution for the Libraries • The tool was branded One Search • Search widgets were deployed to both of the libraries homepages • Decision: Include the Libraries local catalog MARC records… • Problem: At the item level the resource links out to the native OPAC... So what was the issue?

  10. Collaboration, what?! • Consolidation = dirty word… ‘collaboration’ and ‘unification’ are safer • Why, yes! Everyone is special! • Task forces– how the ECU Libraries get stuff done • You need one heck of a project manager, and strategic leadership • You have to be willing to give a little… • You need tech folks to play nicely, or tech leaders to be directly involved in the projects • Communication and interaction across departments is key!

  11. The Evolution of a brand • First of all, why? Why is this necessary? • Served to fortify us from within • A public declaration of our combined efforts to benefit the University • Approved by university marketing as an official logo • Recruiting to support the ECU Libraries • Creation of a cohesive user experience under a combined front

  12. The evolution of discovery In the beginning… In the now… Search tools and their overall usability User experience and its impact on discovery Integration of library websites as an essential piece of discovery Overall access and retrieval concerns as they affect discovery • Summon, ILS, WorldCat Local

  13. Streamlining search • Step 1: Consolidate Classic Catalog (and a re-brand Summon) • Step 2: Consolidate WorldCat Local • Step 3: Consolidate the Database Lists • Step 4: Redesign Research Guides (LibGuides) [and LibAnswers too] • Step 5: Implementation of VuFind/Bento • Step 6: Redesign all Serials Solutions pages/tools (Citation Linker, link resolver, e-Journal/e-Book Portal) • Step 7: Blackboard Bento – embedded subject specific resources • Step 8: Who knows?!

  14. Summon ‘one search’ re-branding

  15. Unification of the webaka ‘a tough nut to crack’ Where we are… Where we’re headed… Hopefully, an ECU Libraries Web How? ECU Libs is trending Centralized IT dept. serves all websites, so consolidation is more feasible… and in progress. • ECU Libraries • Blackboard • ECU ‘Libraries’ link • Joyner’s Web • Music is a sub-site • Laupus’ Web

  16. What do we hope to achieve? • A web/discovery experience that: • Fronts a strong, consolidated ECU Libraries • Delivers seamless navigation • Delivers optimal discovery and retrieval of resources • Integrates *everything* the ECU Libs have to offer • Demonstrates a combined effort to serve the University community • Demonstrates fiscal & organizational responsibility • Provides what our users want!

  17. How do we know we’ve succeeded? • “If [the user] ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” • User Testing as our guide • UX Working Group • Collaboration with UX faculty • Recruitment: UX/UI developer • Assessing the need for more staff support for UX

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