Minutes of March 31, 2005 Meeting

Present:

Stephanie Bartz (acting chair & recorder), Natalie Borisovets, Ellen Calhoun, Theo Haynes (remote), Sam McDonald (guest), John Shepard, Bob Warwick

1. Update on changes

• The changes to iLink that were detailed in the minutes of March 17 were reviewed to determine what remains undone.
• Bob also provided a spreadsheet on "Test System iLink Implementation" that divides system changes into 4 categories: in progress/under investigation, finished, nothing needed, and cancelled/not possible.

2. Discussion of iLink appearance

• The new design for iLink created by Sam McDonald was reviewed. Members of the committee agreed that using Rutgers red and black as the basic colors was preferable to the blue design in the product as it was delivered. Additional colors will be added using the standard Rutgers color template. Sam will provide Bob with the information needed to convert the Test Catalog to the new appearance.
• The RU Libraries logo will be added to the bottom left corner of the main IRIS page and the SIRSI logo will move to the right corner and replace the link to "Top."
• Shaun Ellis will be asked to create a new IRIS header (IRIS, Rutgers University Libraries' Information System) in transparent gif format, and to create a version of the RUL logo to resemble the SIRSI logo (i.e., outline box containing blue logo on a white background).
• IPAC will also investigate whether "Online Scholars' Portal" needs to remain as part of the SIRSI copyright statement. The consensus was that removing it would eliminate possible confusion regarding the name of the catalog.

3. Review of feedback

• Feedback on iLink has been limited, but there have been several useful suggestions and comments. Each suggestion was discussed and a decision made on whether or not to pursue it.
• The "category" frame is essentially a way to narrow the results of a search to records that fall into a specific category (categories are pulled from LC class schedules). The categories frame will be removed from the individual record display and "You found titles in categories" will be changed to "Limit these results to" on the other screens on which it appears.
• There are two ways to return to original search results after clicking through "Try these too" or "You found titles in categories." Repeated clicking of the Go Back button will return you through earlier screens viewed, or the "[return to full results] link that appears in the center of the new search results screen can be selected. No further action is needed.
• The "search history" feature of iLink will be turned on for review by IPAC.
• The colors of the Item Information and Catalog Record tabs will be changed to try to make the active tab more obvious. A pale grey for the inactive tab was suggested.
• The word "campus" will be removed from all library lists.
• The Questions link will be renamed Ask a Librarian/FAQs.
• The Research Resources and Ask a Librarian/FAQs links will be retained in the top button bar.
• The default is set so that the Item Information tab is always on top of the Catalog Record tab when a record is first viewed. There is no way to set it so the default can be changed for each user session. The default exists for the entire system, not just for an individual session. IPAC will investigate this again in the future.
• There will be no quick link to ILL from within IRIS.
• The E-ZBorrow link will be retained in iLink at its current location for now since the system will automatically block requests for items that are available at Rutgers. For the future, IPAC will investigate the possibility of having the link appear only when E-ZBorrow is actually a valid option.
• In the Reserve Desk section of IRIS, the New Search button will be set to return to the initial Reserve search screen instead of the IRIS Basic Search screen. The results screen for reserve will also be narrowed to take up less of the page.
• The radio buttons used in Webcat will not be incorporated into iLink. The new drop down menu design replaces them.
• The expanded language drop down menu in iLink will be retained as is even though not all records retrieved will be solely in the language searched. The language field in a cataloging record includes codes for every language relevant to that item, including that from which the text was translated. IPAC agreed that being able to search for languages, even if the search results include more than may be desired, is preferable to not being able to search by language.
• The "Try these too" frame will be removed from the individual record display to parallel the removal of the "You found titles in categories" frame on the same screen.
• The Remove button has been changed to say "Unmark" to better correspond with the Mark button. The Mark/Unmark buttons will appear grouped with the Deliver/Recall, Request Article/Other, and Report Error buttons.
• The Go Back button will be retained as is without explanations of where it goes back to from each screen. The implication of Go Back, and the reality, is that it goes back one screen previous to the one currently being viewed.
• The Kept button will be changed to Marked Items so that it corresponds to the Mark/Unmark buttons.
• The current "WORDS anywhere" default on the Basic Search screen will be retained.
• Since there is currently no federated searching through IRIS, the "libraries" label on the drop down menu will be retained as is. In the future, if federated searching through IRIS becomes a reality, IPAC will review the labels.
• The RUL logo within iLink will be made a link that will open a new window at the library homepage.
• The call number column heading will be added to the individual record displays in iLink, mirroring the way it appears in Webcat.
• Stephanie will contact Judy Gardner to ask that someone be assigned to work with Bob to identify all of the customized messages so that they can be put into iLink.

4. Review of additional changes

• The Search/Home button in the top button bar will be renamed Basic Search.
• On the Advanced Search and Call Number Search pages, the "type" label will be changed to "sub-location".
• On the Report Error form, the list of error types will be left in the existing order, but the second Misspelling - Author will be removed.
• On the Report Error form, the *REQUIRED FIELD* that appears in the email and name boxes will be removed.
• On the Call number search results pages, Mark/Unmark buttons and search history will be added.
• On the Search Results pages, "Try these too" will be left as is even though some searches will retrieve multiple "Try these too" lists. The heading cannot be changed to "Try these subject headings too," because the lists sometimes include authors.
• On the Print/Email page, the header will be changed to "Email, save, or print marked records."
• On the Print/Email page, the email box label will be changed to "Email to."
• On the Print/Email page, the libraries list will be cleaned up to match the other lists in the system.
• On the Print/Email and the Change display pages, the "view of records" options will remain All, Full, and Brief.
• On the Change Display screen, "view of records" will be changed to "view of catalog records."

5. Timeline

• IPAC will do a final review of iLink at its April 21 meeting to determine if it's ready for release. It will need to be static and announced sometime the following week in order to allow sufficient time for related guides, tutorials, and web pages to be changed before it gets put into the production system.
• After the colors for iLink have been changed, Stephanie will send a reminder about reviewing iLink to RUL_everyone.

6. Other

The results displays for ISSN searches of IRIS from LinkSource will be discussed at a future meeting.

Next meeting: April 21, 2005, 1:30 p.m., University Librarian's Conference Room

4/4/2005sb