Summary of Kickoff Meeting - UIAS Task Force for User Services

Wednesday, June 3, 1998 - at WestEd in Seal Beach

User Services Task Force members -- Paul Adalian (Cal Poly, SLO), Barbara Case (CSU Los Angeles), Judith Faust (CSU Hayward), LaVonne Jacobsen (SFSU), James Koga (Cal Poly Pomona), Pat Robles (CSU Bakersfield)
Project Manager Marvin Pollard
Management Team Members -- Rob Hersberger (CSU Bakersfield),
Harold Schleifer (Cal Poly Pomona), Gordon Smith (Chancellor's Office)

Management Team members updated the group on the current status of the
project. PHAROS - the prototype interface - was modeled on OCLC's
SiteSearch and adapted after comments from the 5 pilot campuses
(Bakersfield, Chico, Sonoma, SLO & Pomona). It is only a starter
interface -- this group is responsible for the design that will be rolled
out to all CSU libraries (target Spring 1999). Ideally, we will develop
an attractive, user-tested interface that can be used "out of the box" or
with minimal local customization such as adding unique databases or logos.

The prototype does not yet have broadcast searching (target date is 15
July), patron authentification, nor marking and sending to e-mail or
print. Longer range, the project expects the system to merge
search results, de-dup them, rank them by relevance, etc.

The TF will be working with a "moving target" because changes are made all
the time.

Discussion began with the UIAS "Outcomes and Dimensions" document
(http://uias.calstate.edu/Dimensions.shtml) which introduces the project
goals and continued as we collectively reviewed the prototype and OCLC's
Site Search [links to both available on the web site]. The short version
of our wide-ranging discussion -- the system is extremely malleable and we
have a lot of options as a task force in what we can design.

The Management Team will appoint a Chair for this TF at its next meeting;
until then, Marvin will be the convenor.
Barbara Case proposed that the next meeting be a two-day work session
this summer. The group agreed to meet at SLO on July 30th-31st.
Timeline target: come to general agreement on basic design elements
by the end of summer. The pilot libraries will continue to test
new features (patron authentification, ILL, broadcast searching,
etc.) during the fall. User Services will then focus more on
instructional elements and its other charges.

Paul proposed that we begin our work independently by exploring
existing interface designs - with a common set of questions to answer
(structured around an SLO document he has just distributed to the mailing
list). Judith agreed to include SilverPlatter/WebSPIRS in her review and
LaVonne agreed to review OVID interfaces. Paul will do FirstSearch, CARL
and Lexis/Nexis Web. Volunteers are need to review various opac vendor
interfaces, IAC databases and other major suppliers.

Send URLs for well-designed interfaces and design proposals in html to
Marvin who will post them at http://uias.calstate.edu/UserDocs.shtml.

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