1. Lia Friedman, Head of Public Services - Instruction & Outreach
Librarian, University of California, San Diego Libraries
@piebrarian
#CILDC
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/4642
3. Matt Critchlow
Web Technical Manager
University of California, San Diego Libraries
Dan Suchy
User Services Technology Analyst
University of California, San Diego Libraries
4. UCSD: Numbers
– UCSD includes six undergraduate colleges, five academic divisions and five
graduate and professional schools
– UCSD Libraries consist of 8 libraries, with more than 7,300 people streaming
through the libraries each day.
– Library website resources are accessed more than 87,500 times daily
– Fairly large student population:
• 23,000 undergraduates
• 4,200 graduates
– 26,000 faculty and staff
Source: http://www.ucsd.edu/explore/about/facts.html, http://libraries.ucsd.edu/about
5. UCSD Library: How Stuff Gets Done
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kheelcenter/5278999437/
9. Simplify
• Form a Single Super Committee
• 4 representatives from User Services Groups
• Facilitator
• Web Technical Manager
• Agile-based project management
• Open Communication Channels
16. What Went Right
We’re all in this together.
Building the notion that IT works with and not for User Services.
Each group is ultimately only as effective as the other.
Transparency is key.
17. How Could You Pull This Off?
Support from library administration to try something new.
o Give project group decision-making power and freedom to choose
projects.
o Flatten reporting lines.
o Promise faster results, less ‘death by committee’.
Let everyone do what they are good at.
o Public Services staff know the front-line user requirements.
o IT staff know what requirements can and cannot be realized.
Open and frank reality checks.
18. But, Really, How Could You Pull This Off?
Find a pilot project to establish or reestablish the relationship
Change up the process.
Cherry-pick your team.
Find common ground.
Good morning, my name isliafriedman, if you are tweeting this session, the hashtag for the conference is #cildc and for this session #cildcmobile. This talk is an extension of a paper that was published in the code4lib journal. The address is here, and I’ll have it again on the last slide.
Im going to talk about the mobile libraries site that we created at UCSD libraries last year, the methodolgy that we used in implementing it and how you might do the same at your instuitution or organization.
Youll notice that both of these gentlemen have the word technology or technical in their titles and that I …..do not. So what I’ll be discussing is the front end, the testing, the public services side of things and the ways in which we developed the committee to do this work and how that turned out.
Non mobile website redesign completed by UCSD libraries in the past year or so in order to keep in line with the campus-wide website look and feel. This project involved forming several committees with representatives from each of the 10 libraries as well as various other stakeholder groups (interlibrary loan, reserves, IT, administration, etc). The entire process spanned many months, and near the end of the project additional groups were formed to provide feedback and discuss ongoing issues. Just one of these ancillary groups was made up of the Web Managing Editor, the libraries’ Director of Communications, a public services Member-at-Large, a representative from Bibliographers’ Council, an instruction representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, an outreach representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, a representative from the Reference & Information Services Committee and a representative from the Document Delivery Service /Inter-Library Loan committee. the outcome and response to this project was positive, a project of this scope and scale required a long timeline and a huge number of people..
Non mobile website redesign completed by UCSD libraries in the past year or so in order to keep in line with the campus-wide website look and feel. This project involved forming several committees with representatives from each of the 8 libraries as well as various other stakeholder groups (interlibrary loan, reserves, IT, administration, etc). The entire process spanned many months, and near the end of the project additional groups were formed to provide feedback and discuss ongoing issues. Just one of these ancillary groups was made up of the Web Managing Editor, the libraries’ Director of Communications, a public services Member-at-Large, a representative from Bibliographers’ Council, an instruction representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, an outreach representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, a representative from the Reference & Information Services Committee and a representative from the Document Delivery Service /Inter-Library Loan committee. the outcome and response to this project was positive, a project of this scope and scale required a long timeline.
Non mobile website redesign completed by UCSD libraries in the past year or so in order to keep in line with the campus-wide website look and feel. This project involved forming several committees with representatives from each of the 8 libraries as well as various other stakeholder groups (interlibrary loan, reserves, IT, administration, etc). The entire process spanned many months, and near the end of the project additional groups were formed to provide feedback and discuss ongoing issues. Just one of these ancillary groups was made up of the Web Managing Editor, the libraries’ Director of Communications, a public services Member-at-Large, a representative from Bibliographers’ Council, an instruction representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, an outreach representative from the Instruction & Outreach Committee, a representative from the Reference & Information Services Committee and a representative from the Document Delivery Service /Inter-Library Loan committee. the outcome and response to this project was positive, a project of this scope and scale required a long timeline.
Simplify!
Simplify the process, using many of the ideas involved in agile implementation.We used short, iterative development cycles with an emphasis on in-person communication between library web developers and user services representatives.
We began with an environmental scan of what library mobile websites currently offer, examining around 25 sites for content and useabilityWe know and you know, that the continuing dramatic rise of smartphones, with a 2010 Pew study showing that nine out of ten 18 to 29 year olds own a cellphoneand that 65% of them access the internet using these devices so this illustrated the need for us to act quickly. And that word quickly actually means something here, as I’ll get to in a bit in a bit.
Left, we have what our site looks like normally, and the left was our goal for a mobile site. We discussed the things that we felt would be important to have represented, choosing, hours, catalog, ask a librarian, research tools, maps and directions and contacts.
So again, using basic tenets of agile development we set the parameters of short, iterative development cycles with an emphasis on in-person communication between library web developers and user services representatives.We then employed 3 two-week cycles Week 1, Monday-Friday: Web Development team creates a website section, using initialsuggestions from the mobile advisory group and distributes the changes to the group.Week 2, Monday-Wednesday: The 4-person Mobile Advisory Group tests for functionality and accuracy, and submits changes using the project wiki.That same week, Week 2, Thursday-Friday: Development team incorporates feedback, and releases the section to production.Week 3, Monday: Advisory Group meets with the Development team to discuss the next upcoming cycle. As with the kickoff meeting we met in person- a good opportunity to set mutual work expectations and reinforce the short timeline. It also made sure that everyone was at the table bothfigureatively and literally, since it’s a challenge to hide, not provide feedback, not be involved, if you are physically at the table with four other people. Also, really important, It also allows the developers to communicate any technical challenges that would be out of scope for the next cycle.Weeks 3-6: Two additional cycles are completed.So first week, develop-test –review
We would all use different devices. Luckily IT was able to get a couple of devices for us to play with, but we also wanted to test on our own devices as well.
We used a simple wiki to keep track of changes throughout each cycle, device used, fuctionality and useability were all looked at and evaluated.
It was incredible important to have open communication throughout this process, we had to be willing to propose things we werent sure would work, be creative, and most importantly we had to be unafraid of looking foolish. This was a group of technical people and public services people, and as you know each speaks a language which certainly overlaps, but isn’t the same. We wanted people to feel comfortable proposing things and asking any question, as well as being able to be free to tell the tech side that while beautiful or seemingly sensible, something that they proposed wasn’t logical from a user services standpoint.
This worked for us. We finished in the time allotted and were very happy with the result, but we did learn a few things.Its obvious that we are all in this together, but sometimes we can get comfortable in our own roles and sections in the library, and we forget about the work being done in different departments, and how we each intersect and work together knowingly or not.
