Web Advisory Group Home > Minutes > 15 October 2003
Minutes - 15 October 2003Present: Hennig (chair), Duke, Edelman, Quirion, Skuce (minutes)
1. Brownbag followup
We reviewed comments from attendees and observed, once again, that tradeoffs are inevitable and necessary: for example, the need for more flexibility conflicts with the desire for large numbers of clickable links. Nicole had prepared some new, different mockups based on comments at the Brownbag, and WAG spent much of the meeting on further refinements. We are very interested in getting feedback from staff who were unable to attend on October 8. Nicole will update the wireframe mockups, WAG will review them via email, and we will contact Libraries staff for comments.
2. Getting aggregator titles into Vera
Following a discussion in VOLT, Nicole set up 2 new test-Veras in order to compare methods for incorporating large numbers of titles buried in packages. Using a script from CalTech, and with Rich Wenger's help, Nicole got a report of the titles in SFX. The Bell URLs work correctly (that is, they go as far into the source as possible), and they work from off campus (an improvement on the current situation). But the coverage statements are not in the format we need, with start dates and end dates in separate columns. And with both SFX and Bell, some foreign language characters were not displaying properly. Nicole will speak with Serials Solutions about the possibility of getting the coverage dates in our preferred format.
3. Issues referred from VOLT
- Some Vera titles have limits on the number of simultaneous users. WAG discussed ways to alert our users to the problem. We agreed with VOLT that it should be put in the format/access column under "licensed for MIT" and it should say "allows x simultaneous users." We would then link that phrase to a page that gives further information about this.
- The meaning of "includes full text": This has been interpreted to mean only full text journal articles, but it could also mean databases that are packages of statistics, directories, and other types of information other than journal articles. We agreed that it would be good to interpret it to include all of these as full text. A message could be sent to subject selectors asking them to notify Ellen of any titles already in Vera that they feel should have this designation. Existing titles could gradually be marked and it's not a big deal if some are missed. We should just focus on interpreting "full text" in the broadest sense for new titles going forward.
- Onsite non-MIT users: Certain products do not allow use by people not associated with MIT, even if they're on campus. WAG agreed with VOLT on the wording "requires MIT identification" for those titles in Vera.
4. Quick updates
WAG got a status report on the "green box" product from Ex Libris, and reviewed where we are with spotlighting subject pages.
Next meeting:Wednesday, November 5, 2-3:30, Barker Conference Room
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Web Advisory Group Home > Minutes > 15 October 2003