I just got access to the BB yesterday after leaving for the day.
Here at SUNY Potsdam we have been working on four large projects over the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year.
EBSCO Discovery Service implementation and
EBSCO A to Z and Link Source implementation
Starting the first week of July we have been working on implementation EBSCO's Discovery Service, A to Z and Link Source at the same time to have the ready by the first week of school. With any large undertaking the implementation of these three products have had their ups and downs. The Discovery Service was a much smother implementation than the other two products because it is brand new and new replacing an existing one. On the other hand, A to Z and Link Source has taken more time and effort because it is replacing products that we are currently using by Serial Solutions. All three products are up and running. Now that they have been implemented the need to be customized to work better with the online resources that our libraries subscribe too.
Subject Guides redesign inside of LibGuides
The redesign of the subject guides started at the end of last year and has continued up until this point in time. The goal of the project is to balance the needs of users, best practices in usability, the teaching and learning that takes place in the Crumb Library. Part of the process used in redesigning the subject guides is taking an interactive approach that was similar to the one used to redesign the College Libraries website. The project started with a discussion about good design principles that included showing examples of both websites and subject guides that were created using solid design principles with a user in mind. Most of the subject guides were updated prior to the start of the fall semester.
Library Quest
This is a game that has replaced a one day activity that was designed to educate incoming students who are taking FY 100 about the libraries. Another way to think about it is a brief orientation to the services and items that reside in the libraries. The Library Quest involves a student taking part in an online game that asks people to locate information in the libraries catalog and find information within the Crumb Library. You can view the Library Quest on the SUNY Potsdam Libraries website by going to the following URL:
http://www.lib.potsdam.edu/libraryquest/.
These have been the large projects that we have been working on over the past few Months. There have been several other things going on, but these are the ones that have been taking up most of our time.
