2019-01-23 Strategic Partners Meeting notes

Blacklight Update

• Big release earlier this month included a bunch of bug fixes and some additions

• Big change was the navigational updates that were the result of some user testing - have only received positive feedback thus far.

• May do some more testing related to mobile.

• Now moving forward. Goals for the spring including additional record types that we can add

  • starting with databases A-Z list

  • simple integration with CONTENTdm

  • thinking about the impact of the move to Charles and integration with the website - may affect requesting, etc.

  • thinking about ways to engage with the collections in ways other than search, including browse - Jackie is working on use cases and dev team is working with Leanne and Holly to look at authority files in new ways

  • Q: Do we have an idea of how this will look? A: Add stuff from authority files into the bib records, but then also use robust data points. Working mostly on the underlying infrastructure piece right now. Still thinking about what UX/UI features we would want.

  • C: We’re calling it “Browse”, but it’s actually quite different from what we normally think about as “browse”, so it’s important to make the difference

Blacklight QA Testing

• A lot of this work now falls to Emily or whoever is coming on as an ‘expert’ who is working with the Dev team.

• Right now it is very Ad Hoc and usually falls to one person which is not sustainable in the long term

• Thinking about bringing in testers for a given sprint - this group could be a pool of people to volunteer for individual sprints

• Q: several people have been brought onto sprints for consults. A: The difference here is that the content might be more generalized for a larger area of expertise.

• C: We should have a checklist or spreadsheet that makes sure testing is done in a consistent manner. Need to provide better documentation or provide a training of some sort.

• C: Like the idea of people in this working on QA, but also have people on the sprint bring in people that they think would be knowledgeable about the area. It would be really helpful to bring in other people to create a wider understanding of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

  • A: slightly concerned about the learning curve involved in getting up to speed with the project

  • C: Different people have slightly different standards for testing

• Q: How much of QA testing is just verifying that key features still work? Maybe create a procedure to make sure all the major things are still working and wasn’t broken. This could be done on a regular basis regardless of new feature releases.

  • A: This is an area where we could use more work. Because of time constraints, we haven’t been able to do this type of regular testing as much as we should.

  • Gabe has some spreadsheets that he used to use for testing.

• C: Time commitments - several individuals are already at capacity with preparations for move

  • A: Imagine it being more of a call for volunteers for a specific, limited period of time.

Integrating Blacklight and Website

We want to make the website available somewhere where can gather feedback. Also, we know that we need to integrate library search into the website. The plan right now is to put the website on librarybeta site that was used for Blacklight testing.

• Integration will happen late February

• C: Think ahead about how we might receive feedback from staff - what kind of actionable feedback do we want to solicit

Web Content Strategy

After the Writing for the web workshop two weeks ago, we realized that a revised procedure for content writing was necessary.

• Q: Timeline

  • A: The hope is that we will be able to get draft of the services completed by mid March. The drafts will be prepared by the content strategy group and shared with stakeholders for input.

• Q: Will HSL’s services be taken into consideration?

  • A: Yes, one of the goals of this project is to streamline descriptions for similar services that are offered at multiple libraries/locations. Stakeholders from HSL will be consulted when the service is one that they provide.

Design

• C: a way of pulling in more public services input

• Q: what communications/expectations are you looking for outside of UX that aren’t happening?

  • A: I would like to see - Q: did we use the persona’s in the Blacklight development

    • A: We looked at them initially, but they haven’t been central to

  • A: Would like to go back to the personas as we’re considering the navigation and how different personas navigate the website. UX feedback not so much as an A/B testing, but a “show me how you do this”

  • C: Interpreted this initially as involving more public services staff

  • C: In terms of thinking about navigation, how we organize the information may fall more under content strategy group - content organization will impact design and vice versa.

  • C: regarding plans for soliciting feedback from larger portions of the staff; this should be done efficiently - leverage the public forums

  • S: We could print out a big picture of a page, we can hang the picture in the staff lounge and then solicit feedback

  • C: We had a similar situation with Blacklight in terms of timeline and gathering feedback - advocate for the public forums, but also worth recognizing that they don’t always for everyone. Once initial beta of Blacklight was up, there was a window of time when staff were invited to provide feedback on specific items

  • C: We’re talking about two separate things: 1) gathering feedback from the library staff, 2) missing out on possible expertise that we could have on these core groups

Abbreviations: A: Answer, C: Comment, Q: Question, S: Suggestion