Digital Project Proposal—Heard Library Web Site Update
Final Revision February 2006
Project team membership:
- Suellen Stringer-Hye, Project Lead
- Chris Benda
- Amy Limpitlaw
- Henry Shipman
- Susan Widmer
Project Summary/Abstract:
This charge expands the scope of the former Heard Web Site maintenance project. The expanded scope includes updating and refreshing the look and feel and making adjustments to basic navigation for the Heard Library web site. Maintenance of existing pages, with appropriate updating or weeding of time-sensitive content, is also part of the scope. Additional web pages can be added to the site by the project team, if in the judgment of the project leader these fall within this scope. If requests for significant expansion of the existing site or changes to the underlying technical infrastructure come to this project team, the project leader will consult with the DLSC concerning the requests.
In carrying out this project, the project team will identify key stakeholders and consult widely throughout the library. For example, the project team may elect to call public services staff members to particular team meetings or for consultations. The project team will also put in place a process to solicit library-wide feedback prior to the release of the updated pages into production. For example, an open meeting to present drafts of the revisions would meet this requirement.
For any pages that require significant redesign and/or coding changes, the project team will make every reasonable effort to insure that newly coded pages, largely re-coded pages, headers, footers and sidebars validate to XHTML 1.0 and style sheets to CSS 1. Exceptions can be made in particular cases only if this requirement significantly delays progress toward the completion date.
Finally, with the production release of the revised pages on August 1, 2006, the charge will revert to the original maintenance charge, with a probable reduction in the number of team members remaining on the team.
Timeline:
- Draft revision by June 30, 2006
- Solicit final feedback during July 2006.
- Final Release into Production August 1, 2006
Statement of Need:
The Heard Library web site is used by many library users as an initial point of access to library resources. It is also used by the Library as a means to communicate library news to the public. After discussions within the DLSC and with the Research Services and Communication Committees, it is clear that the existing site needs updating for the fall of 2006. It is also clear that this work should not detract from parallel efforts to significantly redesign the Library’s web presence and the underlying infrastructure on which it is based. For additional background information see:
http://wiki.library.vanderbilt.edu/committees/pmwiki.php/RSC/12January2006
While the longer term changes for the Library’s web presence are under development, we need a means for updating the existing site for the Fall of 2006. This project team would meet this need.
Project Champion/owner:
The project owner in this case is the Digital Library Steering Committee, with significant participation by the Research Services and Communications Committees. The DLSC will coordinate with other committees as needed.
Project leader/coordinator:
Suellen Stringer-Hye will serve as project leader.
Documentation and Reporting:
The project leader will report project activities to the DLSC on a monthly basis and will assure that a log of changes to this site is maintained for the duration of the project.
Other Personnel involved/required:
The DLSC, RSC, and CC will appoint five additional project team members to assist with the tasks associated with this project.
The project leader can also call on individuals within the libraries who already have responsibility for maintaining separate sections of this site. A list of these assignments will be provided by John Haar.
This project will be used as an opportunity to provide experience to library staff who may not have worked directly with the Heard web site, but who already have experience with basic html and basic web design principles.
Various members of the LITS staff and the DLSC can be called upon as technical resources for consultation. Various public services staff can be called for consultation with the team as pages are being revised.
Related Project(s):
The DLSC has requested that the Communications Committee develop a project to keep the news (news ticker) updated with appropriate information. Therefore, this Heard Site Update project will need to be aware of and coordinate with this effort.
The DLSC plans to develop a market research/beta testing site separate from the production web site. The Heard Site Update project should be aware of the activities of this project and take advantage of opportunities to make navigation between the production and beta sites clear and seamless.
The Research Services Committee plans a project team to examine the issue of consistent use of language and terminology across the libraries web sites. If, in the course of its work, the Heard Site Update project team discovers what appear to be inconsistencies of this sort, they will report these to the RSC’s project.
Budget:
While this project itself requires no significant additional funding, it is clear that the library needs to invest in some sort of web analytics package to support both assessment and planning. Packages that would be able to analyze a significant portion of the library’s web based services range from $3,500 to $10,000.
Assessment:
This project is meant to remedy certain perceived deficiencies of the existing site, to attract more users, and to make it more navigable. One basis for assessment might be a comparison of the web analytics from the Fall of 2005 with similar analytics at the end of the Fall semester in 2006.
Active participation in project teams is critical to the success of the library’s strategic plan. All project team leaders will be asked to complete an assessment form for project team members at the completion of the project. This will be given to the project team members’ supervisor for use in annual performance evaluation. The form will rate several facets of team member participation in the project.