Minutes of January 12, 2000 Meeting

Progress Report: Design Group (Sam)

• /rulib/ was officially decommissioned. i.e. 'cloud button' removed, and auto-redirect from /rulib/ to /rul/ put into place. Note: the top levels have moved however there are miscellaneous documents such as staff resources and Finding Aids to be moved yet.
• the new indexes main page went up with the full-alpha list present in the left column and the Subject breakdown in the right column
• A new news section 'Expected Downtimes' will be added when the next vendor downtime announcement arrives
• The Mary Dana Women's Art series page has gone up and is associated with the exhibit listing. A new section will added for Online Exhibits and will include other online exhibits
• Hours pages now have the days of the week in the middle of the page and are accompanied by a PDF version.
• E-Journals page tightened up

Progress Report: I'Things (Theo)

• Position description for new WAC: I'Things member written by Ron and passed to Harry for comments.
• ArtBibliography Moderne and Georef coming soon
• Theo reports that she created a template for the information that she needs for Online Resources. this template was sent to targeted people, however she received no responses.
• Some resources are difficult and require subject specialty. How do we expedite getting assistance? Jeanne will talk to the Collection Development Council and Public Services Council to get input and support.
• Question: should Indexes/Online resources be listed on the Trial Indexes page until they have full documentation?
  - no announcement while on trial page, announced when moved to full-production on the main indexes page
  - tabled for further discussion later
• Update: Statistical Universe, Turfgrass are up. Electronic Data Library (EDL), Early English Books Online (EEBO), and Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICSPR) coming soon.

Progress Report: Research Guides (Au)

• The Religion Research Guide is up - it is an eg. of the first minimalist Research Guide
• The Career Research Guide will be up soon - this will be an example of promoting several Finding Aids to a Research Guide
• The Newspapers Research Guide is almost ready - Au will send the URL out to WAC for review
• The Agriculture Research Guide is up
• The next Finding Aid-to-Research Guide will probably be literature or business
• The next minimal Research Guide will probably be Nursing...in development
• revising the History Research Guide has been put on hold
• Dissertations Research Guide discussion: we will start to develop a process for creation of this resource; Jeanne will speak with Special Collections/University Archives
• Other possibilities for new Research Guide's: Genetics, Jazz, Biotech, Computer Science, Math (though the feedback from an inquiry reports that it is not necessary...will probably be a minimal if created.)
• In conclusion, the priority Research Guide's are Statistics (Ron/Au), Dissertations (starting), Nursing (in process by Ann Watkins)

See also" Additions for indexes

• Subject lists will be kept alphabetical
• will cross-link to Research Guide's if they exist (specifically the index listing of the Research Guide)
• primary index guidelines: no more than 7
• secondary see-also's: link to Research Guide, link to 'Multidisciplinary' indexes (wording to be decided in the Design Group), no others; recommendation that indexes that are in the General Index listing not be listed as a primary index for a subject
• Pharmacy section will be a demonstration of implementation
• final guidelines will be written after the prototype (Pharmacy Indexes) has been finalized
• following the finalization of the guidelines an announcement will be made to the lists

Download Instructions

• Sam will create an inventory of index parts/pieces, & status
• Search Guides and Descriptions will time stamped at bottom of page (like News)
• Need to set up a calendar of review and assign responsible parties to do the review and revisions

Looking ahead for the next 6 months:

Projects:

• Staff pages (hopefully up in July, working model (a good start) for May) (navigation, content)
• Search Engine (navigation)
• See also's (navigation)
• Decommission /rulib/
• Research Guides (content)
• Assessment
• Special Collections/University Archives(content)
• ongoing maintenance - How to Download, Email, & Print
• Missing elements: Instruction..alternative interface: novice

Next meeting: 9:30 Feb. 23, 2000, SCC