Background

The public interface [a.k.a. "portal"] committee has one of the most important tasks in WYLD.

Wyoming residents have access to a myriad of resources from library catalogs, licensed electronic resources, digital collections, web pages, etc. Designing an interface that emphasizes awareness, maximizes discovery and ensures relevance for a range of users from elementary school students to sophisticated researchers is a huge challenge. The committee must also acknowledge that many users only want to know if their library has a particular item and if that item is available.

Among the issues to be considered:

• Who are our users?
• How do they seek information?
• What do we include? Should we incorporate public social media?
• How do we insure accessibility for users with disabilities?
• How do we test for ease of use?
• Are there implications for training library staff and the public?

Related Documents

• WYLD Visioning Document - April 2009
• The web services steering committee of the University of Minnesota libraries recently identified five trends that are relevant to the development of interfaces http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/48258/3/DiscoverabilityPhase1Report.pdf (February, 2009):
  1. Users are discovering relevant resources outside traditional library systems.
  2. Users expect discovery and delivery to coincide.
  3. Usage of portable Internet-capable devices is expanding.
  4. Discovery increasingly happens through recommending.
  5. Users increasingly rely on emerging nontraditional information objects.
• Although somewhat dated, an article in Educause Quarterly (2001) discusses factors and decisions influencing interface development. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0134.pdf

Committee Members

• Brian Greene - brian.greene@wyo.gov; WYLD Support Team - Wyoming State Library Interim Chair
• Casey Debus - Casey.Debus@ewc.wy.edu; Eastern Wyoming College
• Jamie Kearley - jkearley@uwyo.edu; University of Wyoming
• Cindy Moore - cmoore@sweetwaterlibraries.com; Sweetwater County
• Desiree Saunders - des@will.state.wy.us; Wyoming State Library, WYLD Support Team
• Elizabeth Thorson - ethorson@lclsonline.org; Laramie County Library System
• Byron Tomingas - btomingas@tclib.org; Teton County Library

• PowerPoint for WLA
• Related Article: "Web-Scale Discovery: A Review of Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service, and WorldCat Local". Rowe, Ronda. The Charleston Advisor , Volume 12, Number 1, July 2010 , pp. 5-10(6)
• Committee presentation at WLA, Casper WY, September 30th 2010
• Ongoing product reviews with vendors in fall of 2010
• Minutes and other documents will be shared via Google Docs among committee members