Design Decisions

 April 30
  • Changes to the Project Brief were discussed and agreed upon
  • The group agreed to have four level of Resource Types as illustrated in Resource Types

    May 7
    • Resource Types renamed Information Types
    • Further discussion changed Information Types
      • Information Types will use three tiers
      • Information Types will include subject specific info types
      • Users will be presented with the cross discipline information types as well as their subject specific information types when assigning an information type to a resource.
    • An information type will be assigned to a resource when the resource is added to the database
    • Services will be separate from resources
    • The group viewed the fields for Resource Descriptions and offered suggestions:
      • Add "Number of Sources Indexed"
      • Separate Vendor and Publisher
      • Add "Materials Indexed"
      • Add a field to enter a link for "Sources Indexed"
      • Add a way to attach a broad subject to the resource
    May 14
    • "Aleph System Number" rather than "Catalog Number" on Resource Description
    • CIP Codes on Subjects only (for now); not assigned to Resources
    • Specialist field on Subjects will use system username
    • "Tertiary Library" field added to Subject Description
    • "Partial full text" field added to Resource Description
    • Library Description should have "Reference Phone Number" field and a "Secondary phone number" field
    • "Wireless Access" field on Library Description
    • The group also discussed Services Description
    May 21
    • Service Types will have only one tier
    • Add a "Non-affiliated" flag on Services
    • Descriptions should have multiple versions: a default version, then multiple versions depending on subject or course.
    • Idea: have a Yahoo MyLibrary type model for adding services to a CourseLib page (for example) with check boxes.
    • Break out Service Types from Services page. This has been done.
    • Search tool discussion:
      • Searching to find where a resource is to add it to a page. For example, I know I want to put "PCI" on this page, but I have no idea where it is in this database. It would be nice to be able to search for a known item and then plop it onto a page.
      • Management searching -- who has touched this resource? When was it last touched? Who "owns" the record? How many pages does so and so control? etc.
      • Searching should be able to keep you within the application or task you are trying to perform. For example, if you are adding a resource to a RQS page, but you are first forced to search for it, wouldn't it be nice for the system to allow you to look for the resource while still remembering where you are in your page creation efforts? Wouldn't that be nice?!? Say it!!
      • And wouldn't it be nice if when entering new, supposedly "unique" resources that the system could tell you if the resource has already been entered somewhere else?
    • The group thought it might be a good idea to talk with Chuck Thomas regarding metadata and our little project. Shane will contact Chuck.
    June 2
    • After a great deal of discussion, the group decided to use the main system to generate QuickStart pages (with only two levels rather than 4), and use the CourseLib system (Paul has named this PageScribe) to generate CourseLib pages as well as Subject Resources pages, if that's what a person wants to do. The PageScribe system will be able to generate all kinds of different "looks" including Subject Resources which can then be attached to a corresponding QuickStart page.
    • QuickStart will be the gateway to Subject Resources pages off of the home page, although there is nothing to keep someone from linking to the Subject Resource page from another site such as Wilson Library's home page.
    June 16
    • Paul demonstrated his first crack at the Page Scribe system. Everyone was, of course, very impressed. The group discussed Page Scribe for a little bit and decided to break further meetings into two groups: The RQS group and the Page Scribe group. The RQS group consists of Laura Dale, Laurie, Kate, Shane, and Paul. The Page Scribe group consists of Laurie, Andrea, Tammy, John, Shane and Paul. The RQS group will work first as Kate will be going on maternity leave soon.
    June 23
    • The group discussed entering new resources into the database by inspecting the current fields suggested for entering new resources. Fields that were axed include: No. of sources indexed, format, and date URL last visited. It was decided that these were not necessary.
    • The group then discussed how to assign resources to a subject, essentially the core function of RQS. Kate came up with a genius level idea to use a sort of Page Scribe model to plop resources onto a subject page. Paul agreed to give it a try.
    July 30
    • On the Main Admin Console instead of just having a "New" button for a new resource, a person entering a new resource will now have to "Select Master Subject" and "Select Master Info Type" and then click "New." This is done to decrease the number of Infotypes on the new resource form, and to pre-populate the "Assign Broad Subject" box with at least one broad subject.

    • New Resources entry form located at http://staff.lib.umn.edu/libdata/resource-form.phtml

    • You'll need to create a new Vendor table to help populate the new Vendor drop down menu on the New Resource entry form. Of course, you would have probably figured that out by just looking at the form.

    • On Resource Assignments II, add a link to "Add a New Resource," and add a link to "Add a New Info Type" on the Edit subscreen menu.

    • On Resource Assignments II add a "Core" button next to "Add" at the top when adding a resource to a subject. Also add a core button on the "Edit" subscreens.

    • On Resource Assignments II we also discussed further search limits. This includes being able to search within Master Info Types (like Periodical Indexes), and possibly being able to limit to only full text resources. Kate also mentioned that it would be neat to be able to pull all the resources already assigned to another subject, and then select those resources to put on another subject page. That, indeed, would be cool.

    • On the Subject pages (create or edit) we need a new tool to be able to assign library locations to a subject, and also assign a primary library location to the subject. I think you drew a picture of Kate's idea yesterday at the meeting. In addition then, I suppose you'll need to attach library information to the patron output screens of your new RQS.

    • While we're on the subject of patron screens, we also decided to have an intermediary page that would present the Master Info Types and the Info Types in a tiered TOC format for patrons to both choose from and see what is available for any given subject. This is instead of just plopping a user on a potentially large screen of information right off the bat. See UCLA or Washington for ideas.

  • Design Decisions are now archived in the documentation section of the LibData tool itself.