17:610:553
DIGITAL LIBRARIES
Tefko Saracevic, Michael Lesk
Fall 2002
Exercise 7
Note: To prepare for this exercise, the students should recall the content and organizational structure of the Rutgers University Libraries website at http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu, as done in Exercise 1. Also particularly relevant is the article no. 15 (Morgan, K. & Reade, T. (2000). Pioneering portals: MyLibrary@NCState. Information Technology and Libraries, 19(4), 191-198.).
Objective: The objective of this exercise is to introduce students to some of the digital library user interface issues of selecting, organizing and presenting information on the web.
Background: Academic library websites provide access to a huge amount of information (both electronic and print) that is used by students, faculty, and staff. Typically, these websites are not organized or customized to meet the needs of specific segments of the academic community (the assumption is that "one size" fits all). However, we know that the information needs at the university differ considerably depending on whether you are a first year student, a senior, a graduate student, or a member of the teaching faculty. Needs also vary by academic departments (the information needs of a history major are quite different from those of a chemistry major).
Exercise: The students will each design a webpage or pages that will present the information sources that are needed by students in the RU Library and Information Science master's program. The webpage should contain links to important resources from RUL (e.g. indexes library periodicals) as well as Internet resources. You should think of this webpage as a customized portal which provides access to all the important resources needed to complete an MLS at Rutgers. Consideration should be given to content, organization, and ease of access. To do this exercise, you will need to know basic html and have familiarity with an html editor (either text editor or a tool like Dreamweaver).
Deliverable: A webpage or pages that are installed on the SCILS (or another Rutgers) server and can be accessed at /~loginname. See instructions in file 553 Setting up your account for ~ web page (on the class Web site) on how to install your web page on the server. Print out the page and privde URL.