Uploaded byMelissa Rethlefsen
Converting an Intranet Site to the Cloud: Using LibGuides to Refresh a Library Portal
The library at Mayo Clinic converted their intranet portal to the cloud-based LibGuides platform to refresh their online presence. LibGuides provided more flexibility than their previous system by allowing customization of style, color, structure, content and organization. It also simplified permissions and allowed combination of "Hot Topics" and resource pages into streamlined subject guides. Screenshots highlighted improvements like reduced length and good organization through grouping of categories and association of related subjects.
Converting an Intranet Site to the Cloud: Using LibGuides to Refresh a Library Portal
- 1. Converting an IntranetSite to the Cloud: Using LibGuides to Refresh a Library Portal Melissa L. Rethlefsen, Leah Osterhaus, Ann Farrell Karen Larsen, Dana Gerberi, Vladana Gajic-Zoric, Wanda Elkharwily Mayo Clinic Libraries
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- 13. Decisions style colorstructure content organization
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- 20. Combine Hot Topics& Resources for?
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- 24. Screen shots ofold guide highlighting length ………………………………………………… ..
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- 26. Good organization neverends… Grouping categories Associating subjects
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- 30. Screen shot ofold resources for and hot topics pages
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- 33. Thank you tothe LibGuides Team (Ann, Karen, Dana, Vladana, Wanda) and Dawn Daehn, Neil Maffitt, and Terry Smoley
Editor's Notes
- #2 http://www.flickr.com/photos/nirak/644335254/sizes/o/
- #3 The story of the library’s transition to LibGuides is really the story of technology in the library and at Mayo Clinic. Going to give you a little background
- #4 Mayo Clinic is a group practice with locations in Minnesota, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, and other areas. Because it’s so widely spread out, there has been major emphasis in recent years to make it “One Mayo”—all services and offerings the same at each location, beginning with our intranet. There are 18 libraries in the Mayo Clinic system, all sharing the same digital library. The library web site is on the intranet, and it was one of the first sites to really encompass the One Mayo philosophy.
- #5 The library website had a major redesign project that started in 2001 and ended in 2003. After the usability study, we ended up with a robust, well-designed, usable web site, complete with a mental model behind its development.
- #6 The new site utilized the new Mayo Clinic standard, Macromedia Contribute to manage all site content except for the home page. This meant several things for our library staff. One group outside the libraries maintained the home page, forms, and database-driven components of the site. An second group outside the libraries maintained all of the templates for the look and feel of the web pages, plus controlled all of the navigation structures of the site.
- #7 So, basically, when we edited a library web page, all we could edit was a small portion.
- #9 And to edit that small portion, we had an incredibly complex set of permissions. Certain people could access certain folders. Only one person had access to the whole site.
- #10 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22197407@N04/4683158298/sizes/o/ Every time someone made a change, it had to be pushed from the development server to the live server. Some people could do this for their folders; other people had to ask to have their changes pushed live. The system imposed a burden on staff—working with people outside the library for changes, pushing, etc. Another burden was the cost of individual licenses and the versioning of the Contribute software across the institution.
- #11 More importantly, with all the new stuff happening on the web, there was little to flexibility to actually use it. Only one staff person could use Dreamweaver to access the site code to put in javascript and other widgets. We were experimenting with RSS feeds, Delicious tag clouds, lightbox javascript for image display, but it all had to be done within the confines of the existing templates. Creating new content outside the existing structure was nearly impossible, because we couldn’t create our own content, so a lot of things ended up in places that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. We needed a new system that had a little more flexibility, but the institution wasn’t there yet in 2007, when LibGuides was first proposed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetapersonal/3444913860/sizes/l/
- #12 After a few years, the library was finally in a place where there were no more roadblocks, or at least the ones that were there, we could easily circumvent. We’d gone rogue with our internal document delivery system and our WordPress blogs, using Delicious and LibraryThing to put content on our web site, and rolled RSS feeds from our newsletter on the site already. The institution began using blogs and RSS feeds, embraced YouTube and Twitter. When Dana brought LibGuides to the attention of the Library Technology Committee again in 2010, it was perfect timing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitakitts/15374445/sizes/l/
- #13 More importantly than the fact that we could do it, though, LibGuides was going to be able to solve a lot of problems for us. Involve more staff in creating content Process is one step for making live – less admin overhead No need to install software Automatic way to pull in RSS feeds Can add videos New book displays without LibraryThing Tagging without Delicious Can integrate into current web site, use current web site design Brought in Augsburg College for demo, brought to LTC, LMC for approval. Talked to PMTS about potential. Tested it and bought CampusGuides.
- #14 Task force was formed to do the initial work to implement LibGuides. Process involved continuous decision-making and close teamwork To start: decisions had to be made to set up Style Guide and determine how the LibGuides would look (including colors, font, spacing)
- #15 In the end we modified a style sheet from Augsburg using a bright color scheme (WHAT OTHER MODIFICATIONS DID WE DO)
- #16 After style decisions were made, the task force had to decide what content to transition over and who was going to work on which resources. Find a library: library information How do I: process question ~ kind of like FAQ or Help Resources for: mostly pathfinders to internet resources geared towards specific user groups or on specific topics (clinicians, writers, evidence-based medicine) Hot topics: pathfinders on many topics of interest (INCLUDING). Hot topics included books, AV, and web-resources Divided task force and content Combine hot topics and resources for??
- #17 LibGuide Content Decisions Controlled vocabulary Pre-determined pages of content Rules and regulations Photo from flickr seychelles88
- #20 After style decisions were made, the task force had to decide what content to transition over and who was going to work on which resources. Find a library: library information How do I: process question ~ kind of like FAQ or Help Resources for: mostly pathfinders to internet resources geared towards specific user groups or on specific topics (clinicians, writers, evidence-based medicine) Hot topics: pathfinders on many topics of interest (INCLUDING). Hot topics included books, AV, and web-resources Divided task force and content Combine hot topics and resources for??
- #21 Similar concepts as both were pathfinders. Hot Topics had been developed with a more specific target user group in mind, however the guides were full of content that would benefit a wider audience of users. Another pro to combining would be that it would help bring Hot Topics forward in the Mayo library site, making them more likely to be discovered by more users. (show 3 clicks). There were also cons ~ combining, moving, and renaming the Hot Topics would alter and possibly disrupt access for avid users. The task force ultimately decided to combine Hot Topics and Resources for, creating resources titled “subject guides”. These guides are linked to the homepage of the library.
- #22 Combining related how’ do I’s?
- #25 Dividing content of “Subject Guides” into multiple pages within single LibGuide
- #29 Combining related how’ do I’s?
- #33 Results and Conclusions: The work group transferred 135 resources into LibGuides, updating content as needed. 7 new guides were created for a total of 142 published guides. We worked with our IT department to convert and redirect all the links to the new LibGuide pages. Hands-on classes will be offered to library staff so that they can create and maintain guides. With this new interface, the need for licensed software and its expense will be eliminated. Library staff will be able to create their own usage reports, which create more efficiency and flexibility. Other areas within our institution could conceivably use LibGuides as an easy-to-use interface for creating web pages. The College of Medicine and the Department of Nursing could use LibGuides for course information. LibGuides could be used as a collaborative tool within the institution. Impetus to redesign site Remove barriers/staff can update, web site more responsive