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Web Advisory Committee Quarterly Report

Quarterly Report: Q1 2006-2007

5 January 2007 (postponed from 14 December 2006)
Sarah Jones, Chair

Issues, decisions made, and activities during Q1 2006-2007

• Finalized and implemented web site rebranding, including name change, revised page headers and footers, and a modified home page design
  
• Reviewed projects and priorities for the coming year:
  • Leftover from last year:
    • Message Boards (vBulletin)
    • Finalization of LIFT implementation
    • Google Mini search appliance
  • Potential new projects:
    • Continue adjusting home page design and general look-and-feel
    • Resources by Subject (4.3.3 strategy for this year)
    • Resources for You
      • Use/audience targeting
      • Content choice/development
      • Layout for understandability/scanability
    • Other sections of internal pages to reevaluate
    • Use the Movable Type installation that is on swiss
      • GIS, SEL, Publications
    • Display of UT Arlington owned DVDs, with images and descriptions, on the web site. As an extract from Voyager?
    • College of William and Mary - integrated Meebo.com online chat availability icons and chat client browser integration
    • Usability program activities
• From a proposal to provide podcast interview with Focus on Faculty speakers, if content is provided, it will be hosted on the library’s web site
• From a user suggestion, replaced the home page link to OneSearch with a link to the "My Account" section of the Library Catalog. A link to OneSearch will be restored after additional work is done on OneSearch
• From LMT suggestions, a set of web pages were prepared for library staff regarding how to do web page updates, new web page creation, and new web site section creation. Final review by LMT was postponed to Jan 4, 2007 due to the WAC chair’s absence from one LMT meeting and overloaded agendas at the subsequent LMT meetings. These pages are integrated into a new "How to" section of the WAC web site
• The subscription to the hosted version of Lift Assistive (formerly LIFT Text Transcoder) was renewed.

Activities in progress a the end of Q1 2006-2007

• Led by Gretchen Trkay, we are investigating grant opportunities to fund the application and interaction design for a Research Wizard for the library’s public web site. Gretchen is working with Scott Self, and is looking at possiblities with the MacArthur Foundation’s new grants in digital media and education.
• Continuing with a proposal to host a PDF version of the IS-created paper DVD list, pending the outcome of an investigation regarding the use of DVD cover images in the web-hosted PDF version of the DVD list.
• Implementing Meebo as a web-based platform for offering users live chat help from various web pages
• Message Boards, especially for GIS
• Blogs for SEL, Publications, GIS
• Google Mini search appliance

Anticipated Activities for Q2 2006-2007

• Develop WAC-specific (specific for the UT Arlington Library web site) usability standards (in conjunction with the Usability Program)
• Continue with the redesign of Resources by Subject (in conjunction with Strategy 4.3.3)
• Review the home page design and layout and develop proposals for a new design/layout
• Redesign the Locations and Hours page(s)