1. Part I: The Background Jessica Gibson
Creating a Customized and Sustainable Interface for CARLI Digital Collections
Part I: The Background
Jessica Gibson

2. About CARLI Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois
I-Share integrated library system; E-resources brokering; the Illinois Library Delivery Service (ILDS); the CARLI Book Digitization Initiative; CARLI Digital Collections; centrally run SFX server
CARLI serves over 98% of Illinois higher education students at 153 member libraries
108 member libraries at the “governing” level
I-Share = 76 institutions
over 1,000 discounted subscriptions to electronic journals and other resources in fiscal year 2008
ILDS offers 24-hour delivery among 141 CARLI libraries and all of the state’s regional library systems
a partnership with the Open Content Alliance to provide a digitization opportunity for Illinois academic and research libraries

3. About CARLI Digital Collections
Brought online in April 2006
Server centrally run and maintained by CARLI
21 libraries across the state actively using our CONTENTdm installation
70+ collections
Over 55,000 items
Currently running CONTENTdm 5.1

4. CARLI Digital Collections Users’ Group
Committee of 12 individuals from the member libraries
Serves to advise CARLI on the consortial aspects of our CONTENTdm system
Represents collections administrators as well as collection users
Formed an Interface Subcommittee early on to identify desired improvements to the site, one of its goals being to address the home page…

6. The Main Page of CARLI Digital Collections was
Text heavy
Arranged in an obscure way
Did not promote discovery
Generally unattractive
Very easy to update when new collections were added

7. Where to start?
Interface Subcommittee began to search out other interfaces with elements that it thought were useful and attractive
CARLI evaluated internal staff expertise/skills and decided to hire a short-term technical consultant to perform a redesign of CARLI Digital Collections front page and to provide other aesthetic improvements
Created a wish list of features and functionality

8. Inspirational Interfaces
Louisiana Digital Library
Yale University Library Digital Collections
American Memory Project

9. Wish List Improved look and feel Featured images or collections
Easy to navigate browsing options by categories:
Subjects
Format
Institution
Thumbnails representing each collection
Scalability as the number of collections grows
Sustainability for CARLI staff maintaining the server

10. Browsing Options by Subject and Format
Initially, the Subcommittee analyzed the existing collections to create a list of subjects covered and formats used and apply them to each collection
Before implementation, collections administrators were sent the categorizations and asked for feedback
Since implementation, collection administrators choose subject and format categories upon publishing a new collection
Collection administrators are notified quarterly of new “choices” but can make changes at any time
We know that collection administrators know the content of their collections best.
We are in the process of creating a web form by which they can choose categories and submit changes.

11. Part II: The Nitty-Gritty Kerri Willette
Creating a Customized and Sustainable Interface for CARLI Digital Collections
Part II: The Nitty-Gritty
Kerri Willette

12. Project Scope Communication Plan Software Customization & Design:
Needs Analysis
Element Design
Documentation & Training

13. Communication Plan

14. Communication Plan Regular meetings Project blog: Meeting notes
Timesheets
Updates

15. Software Customization & Design
Needs Analysis
Element Design

16. Needs Analysis Review of existing metadata structures.
Review of exiting interface strengths & weaknesses.
Determine desired search & browse options.
This part was easy for me because CARLI staff and the Digital Collections Users Group had done their homework and were able to provide me with a lot of this information right up front.
-- Reviewed existing collection metadata structures, including field mapping and controlled vocabularies.
-- Reviewed strengths and weaknesses of the existing interface, as well as known preferences for color schemes, imagery, and layout.
---Determined desired search and browse options for each collection.

17. Needs Analysis CARLI PROVIDED:
Controlled vocabularies for:
Collections by name
Collections by topic
Collections by format
Collections by institution
Example collections:
Yale Digital Collections
LOUISiana Digital Library
CARLI & DCUG Gave me what amounted to the controlled vocabulary information we needed to create the custom browse features they wanted. And, provided me with some examples of digital collection interfaces they liked along with a document outlining the reasons they liked them.
CARLI provided me with the following lists:
Collections by Name.
Collections by Topic.
Collections by Format (Media).
Collections by Institution.
Example collections the committee liked:
Yale Digital Collections (non-CONTENTdm) -
LOUISiana Digital Library (CONTENTdm) -

18. Element Design INCLUDING: Based on findings from Needs Analysis.
Index.php
Custom browse options
Featured items
About.php
Header, menu, footer
New template for collection home pages
Based on findings from Needs Analysis.
Design elements included the following:
Index.php
About.php
Custom headers
Custom footer
Custom menus
Home page template for individual collections.
Didn’t know exactly what the custom browse options would look like – eventually became the Collection of Collections with custom search and browse page templates.

19. Element Design
Before & After

20. index.php - before Basic page elements include: Global header & menu
Long list of collection names in alphabetical order by Institution.
Global footer

21. index.php - after Basic page elements include: Custom header & menu
Main content area (slider , collections, & more)
Global footer
The home page and other CDC custom pages rely on a CARLI Digital Collections custom style sheet (in addition to the global_style file) to control the layout and certain style elements.

22. index.php - after Image Slider
Featured collection images appear in an animated image slider on the home page. The slider allows users to browse and click through to ten individual collection items.
The image slider script was adapted from
Slider is a J-Query script that can be updated and edited by CARLI staff. Met the user group’s desire for a featured image selection.

23. index.php - after Custom Menus
These menus provide direct access from the home page to the custom browse options and other CARLI Digital Collections information.
The collection menu on the left is directly tied to the CARLI Collection of Collections.

24. about.php - before global_header.php global_footer.php
Basic page elements include:
Global header & menu
Main content area
Global footer
The about page also relies on a CARLI Digital Collections custom style file to control the layout and certain style elements.
global_footer.php

25. about.php - after Custom header.php global_footer.php
Like the index.php file:
Custom header & menu
Main content area
Global footer
Also relies on a CARLI Digital Collections custom style sheet (in addition to the global_style file) to control the layout and certain style elements.
global_footer.php

26. global_header.php - before
headers & menus
global_header.php - before
Global Header & Menu files, customized versions of the CONTENTdm web templates.
custum header.php - after
Custom Header & Menu files are based on (but distinct from) the CONTENTdm web templates.
The header and menu files that now appear on the home and other custom pages of the CDC are also custom files, based on the CONTENTdm web templates. The header file contains the menu, as well as the CARLI Digital Collection logo, and a search box for all CDC collections. The file is also styled with background images that allow for the appearance of texture and shape.

27. global_footer.php – before
The original global file was a minimally styled version of the CONTENTdm web template.
global_footer.php – after
Every page in the collection still calls a customized version of the global footer file, but it is now more heavily customized, including background images that blend with the new design, as well as the CARLI logo.
The global_footer (cdm4/includes/global_footer.php) is the only CONTENTdm web template file that is called by every single page of the CDC, including the custom home and browse pages. It contains a background image and the CARLI logo image.

28. collection homepage - before
global_header.php
This is an example of a collection home page before the redesign.
The original home page templates for individual collections included a “Browse this Collection” link and a search box for the collection. There was also space for collection content specified by the institution.
The global header and menu were called, but styled by the collection’s specific system style file (/cdm4/client/STY_collectionID_style.php).

29. collection homepage - after
global_header.php
Two column page layout
The style elements of the individual collection home pages (such as background, menu item, and font colors) can still be customized by editing the individual collection’s STY_alias_style file. However, the home page layout is based on a custom designed template file.
global_footer.php

30. global_header.php - before
Global Header & Menu files, customized versions of the CONTENTdm web templates.
global_header.php - after
Custom Header & Menu files are based on (but distinct from) the CONTENTdm web templates.
Here are the global header and menu files that now appear on the collection home pages, advanced search, favorites, and other CDM pages. Collection pages still call the global header file (elements of which are also styled by the individual collection sty_style file), but it has been customized to include CARLI branding and links back to the CARLI Digital Collections.

31. Element Design INCLUDING: Custom browse options
Index.php
Custom browse options
Featured items
About.php
Header, menu, footer
New template for collection home pages
Custom browse options
Looking back on the Element Design slide – the only piece we really still needed to address was the custom browse options.
Didn’t know exactly what the custom browse options would look like – eventually became the Collection of Collections with custom search and browse page templates.

32. Element Design Custom Browse Pages CARLI Collection of Collections
Four custom browse pages
Custom results and item viewer templates
Much of the added functionality the committee desired came down to custom browse options at the collecton level. In other words, they wanted users to be able to view collections grouped by Institution Name, Topic, & Media types. This would allow users to more easily find the types of collections that best met their needs.
In addition to Index.php and About.php there are 4 other custom pages in the CARLI Digital Collections – Browse by Name, Browse by Topic, Browse by Media, and Browse by Institution.
The functionality used in the LOUISiana collections (they graciously shared their scripts with us) could have worked for CARLI. The functionality is very usable and and was specifically requested by the DCUG interface committee. However, the LOUISiana scripts were intimately connected with interface functionality in CONTENTdm.   That meant that if a script broke at any point in the future, the CDC front page would break.  If that happened, CARLI would need one of their developers (basically someone with php/programming skills) to repair or update the code.

33. Collection of Collections
custom browse pages
Collection of Collections
Created a CARLI Collections of Collections
Collection status “Not Published”
Each CARLI Digital Collection is added as an item in the Collection of Collections.
Required metadata for each item includes collection name, topics, media, institution and description
For these reasons, my recommendation was to implement an interface design model that would require more hands-on maintenance in everday up-keep by CARLI staff, but which would be simpler and more sustainable for CARLI to maintain in the future. To this end, it was agreed that the CDC interface design would still make use of the CARLI Collection of Collections (carli_colls), but would rely on CQR scripts to generate search and browse options by topic, media, and institution name.

34. Collection of Collections
custom browse pages
Collection of Collections
CARLI Collection of Collections (carli_colls) – unpublished with certain required metadata fields.
Each collection that is added to CARLI Digital Collections is also added as an item in the CARLI Collection of Collections. Items consist of a representative thumbnail image and informational metadata for each collection. Required metadata for each item includes collection name, topics, media, institution and description

35. custom browse pages
Four custom pages were created. Each contains a Collection of Collections browse option generated by a CQR script.
4 custom pages in the CARLI Digital Collections – Browse by Name, Browse by Topic, Browse by Media, and Browse by Institution.

36. custom browse pages
Custom results and item viewer display templates were also created so that search and browse results would blend more seamlessly with the overall look and feel of the site.
Each of the Collection of Collections browse pages contains a CQR script that generates a search on the /carli_colls collection in CONTENTdm.
Select a controlled vocab from the list to generate a custom Results page (a customized template based on the results.php file – we named it results_colls.php & specify it in the CQR).
Then select an item to view, and that opens a custom Item Viewer page (a customized template based on the item_viewer.php – we call it, item_viewer_colls.php).

37. custom browse pages
Custom lists and searches created using the CQR do not update automatically. When new data is entered into a collection, CARLI staff must generate a new CQR index boxes.
Each of the Collection of Collections browse pages contains a CQR script that generates a search on the /carli_colls collection in CONTENTdm.
CARLI staff simply specifies the custom results and item_viewer templates when they generate the custom query. Then they cut and paste the html generated by the query into whichever custom browse page they are updating.

38. Documentation & Training

39. Documentation & Training
Created detailed documentation for customization maintenance
No in-person training sessions have been necessary…yet

40. Questions?
For Kerri or Jessica