Digital Project Proposal—Heard Library “Test Bed” Site
Final Draft February 2006
Project team membership:
- TBD
Project Summary/Abstract
This project will develop and maintain a separate “Library Test Bed” site. The site will showcase contemplated and proposed additions to the production environment (digital services and collections); will provide a venue for beta testing and refining services nearing production; will actively solicit user input on the usefulness and usability of collections and services being beta tested by the library; will aggressively solicit suggestions from users for potential services and collections; and will help recruit users for focus groups and marketing efforts. The project will also maintain data gathered, along with web analytics related to the site, for use by the DLSC, S&P Council, and other committees.
The site should be experimental and even “edgy,” but should be professional in design. It should incorporate rigorous feedback, assessment, and evaluation tools and methods. The site should remain clearly distinguishable from the production web presence. (See, for example, UVA’s Library Lab site mentioned below). The first iteration of this site should be available no later than June 2006, but, in keeping with its more experimental nature, can introduce further iterations relatively rapidly after its initial release. The project will be evaluated for effectiveness and potential renewal at the end of one year.
The project team will make every reasonable effort to insure that pages, headers, footers and sidebars developed for this site validate to XHTML 1.0 and style sheets to CSS 1.
The DLSC, with input from the Digital Library Advisory Board and the Library’s Strategy and Planning Council, will develop procedures for identifying and moving candidate services and collections to the Test Bed environment and for moving “proven” services from the Test Bed environment to production.
Timeline:
- June 2006 -> First Iteration
- February 2007 -> Review of effectiveness
Statement of Need
In discussions with various groups involved with the library’s web presence over the past years, we’ve noticed at least three recurring themes.
- We are hesitant to release a service until it is as nearly “perfect” as possible (or at least is highly predictable in its “imperfections”).
- We have no “on-going” market research or usability testing efforts. Most of the research is done in short bursts, typically related to a proposed project (e.g., refreshing the library’s web site), and is not aimed specifically at gathering ideas for new services.
- We are hesitant to time the release of services into “production” without careful coordination with the academic calendar. This often results in lengthy delays for introducing and testing new services. It also results in a congested time over the summer when several new services are being readied for simultaneous release in the fall semester.
The Library Test Bed site would address all three issues by providing a virtual “place” where our users could both propose and help us evaluate potential new services. By implementing rigorous analyses and creative information gathering techniques, this site would also provide one of many significant “market research” channels. By allowing prompt release of contemplated services, it would also allow both users and library staff to become comfortable with services that may eventually move into the stable, production environment without being bound by the academic calendar.
Examples of services that might be tested from this site (each of which may need a separate project team):
- Contemplated additions to the production environment.
- Meta-search services.
- Spell-checker for Acorn.
- Firefox library search toolbar.
- Enhanced electronic document delivery services.
- Contemplated local digital collections (e.g., Global Music Archive)
- Parsed Heard Library RSS (for external communications).
Examples that might be used as starting points to develop the concept:
Project Champion/owner:
The project owner in this case is the Digital Library Steering Committee, with significant participation by the Research Services and Communications Committee. The DLSC will coordinate with other committees as needed.
Project leader/coordinator:
TBD.
Documentation and Reporting:
The project leader will report project activities to the DLSC on a monthly basis and will assure that a log of developments for this site is maintained for the duration of the project.
Other Personnel involved/required:
The DLSC, RSC, and CC will appoint between five and seven additional project team members to assist with the tasks associated with this project.
The project leader can also call on individuals or teams within the libraries who have responsibilities for digital initiatives for consultation and advice.
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, basic web design principles, or experience with assessment and evaluation methodologies.
Related Project(s):
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 Test Bed sites clear and seamless. Both teams should work to insure that access to services on the Test Bed site are seamlessly accessible from the production site, and vice versa, while maintaining a clear distinction between the sites.
The Strategy and Planning Council and the DLSC will ensure that as other related projects are initiated, they are aware of the Test Bed effort and are coordinated appropriately.
Budget:
While this project itself does not necessarily require 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. This investment would serve needs shared by all or most of the libraries digital initiatives.
It may also be advisable to host this site on a separate platform from that used for the production site. Hardware and software could range between $3,500 and $6,000.
Assessment:
This project is meant to address the three issues mention in the statement of need. Measures of success should address each of these areas. In addition to statistics associated with standard web analytics, statistics should be kept on user feedback and input.