Missouri Digital Heritage: Actions and Plans

Haiying Qian

Missouri State Library

haiying.qian@sos.mo.gov

MLA Annual Conference, October 6, 2011

Usability Study Report Recommendations

Structure and organization Terminology and Labeling

of content Basic search features and

functionality Federated searching

4 Committees Tasked

Navigation Committee Categorization Committee Format Committee Search Functionality Committee Report to

MDH Management Team

Navigation CommitteeMake hover drop-down menus for tabs Make the link for “All Collections” more visible and

appear both on top and bottom of pageAdd “back to top” buttons on long pagesGet rid of “Moderate Relevance” search results

when browsing the collections. Put contact information on the “About” page,

including email, phone and mailing addressMake Breadcrumb clickable

Navigation Committee Create a drop down menu under “about”, have information

about “MDH” and “Missouri”

Improve image viewers so users can see the whole record

Add browse by media type option

Format Committee Shrink banner Shrink title/institution fonts on splash pagesPlace View and Search buttons above the images on splash

pages For the Clusters area on the Advanced Search results page,

change the square bullets to round to avoid confusion over whether or not they are checkboxes.

Change “Clusters” to “Results by Collection.”“About” tab should have drop-down for “About MDH,”

“FAQs,” etc. Add RSS button for notification when new collections are

added

Categorization CommitteeRemove High Relevancy and Moderate Relevancy

go to a straight alphabetical listRemove Archives presentations from the topics list

presentations linked off the “Education” tabFinding Aids should only be listed under Guides and

Finding AidsSeparate media types out of the topics listNew definition: collections/exhibits/education pages

Rename Topics & New Definitions Add New Topic: Missouri History

Delete and Merge: Agriculture merge with Business as Business, Industry and AgricultureCounty & Municipal Recordsmerge with Government and Political Records

Move to Media Type:Archives and manuscripts collection guides; Books, Pamphlets, and monographs; Maps,; Newspapers, Photographs and Images

Change title and Description:Business, Commerce, Industry and Manufacturing Business, Industry and Agriculture

Family and Faith Genealogy Medicine, Science, Technology, and Nature Science and Nature

Military Records and Resources Military and ConflictsSports and Recreation Recreation and Tourism

No Changes:Art, Architecture, Literature, Music and Theatre; Cultures and Communities; Exploration and Settlement; Transportation; Women

Search Functionality Committee Separate “People Search” and “Keyword Search”

Create New Search Page with options of “People Search”, “Keyword Search” or “Detailed Search”

People searches People searches will be performed on name centered SQL databases and selected

CONTENTdm collections. Users should be able to search first name and last name first, and then further limit their search results by County and/or Year

Keyword Search We recommend using a search design like CONTENTdm to search across fields. The SQL databases linked with keyword search are: Civil War Provost Marshal; Coroner’s Inquest; Supreme Court Historical Database; Missouri Judicial Index; Soldiers (for conflict) etc. The CONTENTdm collections linked with Keyword Search are: all collections but Hall’s Index; SHS index to newspapers, etc…

Detailed SearchList of all databases link to native detailed search

Newspapers as one groupCreate a Newspaper Page to search all newspapers as one collection

MDH Management Team

Review all proposed changes approve/disapprove/suggestion changes

75 recommendations were approvedNext step: Implementation

An Implementation Tracking Spreadsheet was created to track status

Implementation Tracking Spreadsheet

MDH Website RedesignIn house web redesign

– many done or will be done soonNew List of Categories Approved, will implement next

Review Collection Title convention: official title vs. best known title Remove Moderate Relevancy On topic pages

Finding aids only list under Guides and Finding Aids New browse by “Media Type” option New “help” files in prominent places with more FAQ included

Vendor work – Federated Search related design/issues Short term: Fix Boolean Search, Rename Clusters , etc..

long term goal: Redesign Federated Search

Main Page--Search Box Location Old Main Page – Search box upright

New Main Page– Google like search box

Smaller Banner for subpages Old Collections Page

New Smaller Banner

Renamed Tabs/Drop Down Menu

Civil War Sesquicentennial Promotion: New Civil War Portal

Five Regional Collaboration ProjectsOzark Region – Springfield Greene County PL

St. Louis Region- Missouri History Museum

Kansas City region – Kansas City Public LibraryCentral Region – State Historical Society of MissouriSoutheast Region -- Southeast Missouri State Univ.

Navigation Friendly Buttons

Changes Next Year and Beyond CONTENTdm: Update software to version 6.1, improved user interface

design; Retrofit data for better facet browsing option, federated search link to CONTENTdm Servers Around Missouri : multi-site server ?

Federated Search: Separate People/Keyword Search, Make most use of native search (Detailed Search)