sakaibrary: linking library resources into the learning environment mark notess jon dunn indiana...

Sakaibrary: Linking Library Resources into the Learning

Environment

Mark NotessJon Dunn

Indiana University Digital Library Program

Outline

• Project overview

• Usage scenarios

• Requirements

• Design directions

• Implementation plans

• Discussion

Sakaibrary Project Overview

• Partnership of Indiana University and University of Michigan Libraries

• Supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and IU/UM– Integrating Licensed Library Resources with Sakai– Proposal available on project website:

http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sakai/

• January 1, 2006 - June 30, 2008

Project Goals (Abridged)1. Build tools to provide seamless integration of

content from licensed library databases within Sakai for instructors

2. Leverage existing library technology infrastructure

3. Prototype functionality for librarians to present content in Sakai and students to discover licensed content within Sakai.

4. Engage librarians, students, and faculty in the design and testing

5. Collaborate with the Sakai community

Project Activities

• Build Twin Peaks Navigator into a functional library database search and linking tool– Use library federated search and link resolver

tools to connect to multiple sources

• Enhance core Sakai features, including Resources tool, to enable better integration of library content

• Build tools for creation of subject research guides by librarians and/or faculty

Project Activities

• Develop requirements and designs with feedback from partner institutions

• Conduct evaluation at IU and UM

• Release tools as open source

Sakaibrary Project Staff

• Indiana:– Jon Dunn, Mark Notess, Steve Smail,

Diane Dallis, Carolyn Walters, Vern Wilkins

• Michigan:– Susan Hollar, Gaurav Bhatnagar,

Bill Dueber, Jim Eng

Usage Scenarios

• Collected from librarians at Indiana, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, & Yale

• Standard template: Usage Scenario: <title><Source><Last modified:>Summary: <short paragraph>

ScenarioContext: <why it matters>Users: <User1>’s view: <User1>’s view: Assumptions: Issues:

Usage Scenario Selections

Collaborative Identification of Course Readings (Yale)

A Professor and his students in a graduate seminar identify licensed journal articles for discussion / research and place them in the resources area of their Sakai course site. Students also have the ability to add article citations to their Refworks account in order to build bibliographies.


Librarian’s view (Yale)Librarian Smith and Professor Sanders meet during a scheduled appointment to develop a list of databases that provide good source material in this research area. Librarian Smith logs into Sakai and selects the Neuro Ethics seminar tab, one of many classes he supports. He then sets up an integrated metasearch box of relevant databases in the Sakai course site. The databases are available via a Search box in the left hand navigation bar.


Subject Research Guide Functionality (Michigan)

The proposed prototype Subject Research Guide (SRG) consists of a collection of processes and systems used to integrate instructor knowledge, library resources and librarian expertise within the structure of a Sakai course. While research guides are a mainstay of library web sites, we hope to provide both more control to the instructor and, most importantly, the ease-of-use and inherent authority that comes though associating these resources with a course in its native Sakai environment.


Instructor’s View (Indiana)Nick’s administrative interface includes a list of options for library research support. The list includes “Reference Services” and “Class Research Guide”. Nick checks the box for these two options which 1) enables the subject librarian’s IM Reference Hours and username to appear on the “Resources” section of the site and 2) initiates a request for a course specific research guide. Because Nick’s class is offered through the history department the librarian for History, Celestina, is contacted. Celestina communicates with Nick and he explains parameters of the research paper assignment and his expectations. Within in a week, a course specific research guide (a class page) appears on the library resources tool for this course.


An instructor working within Sakai wants to add a link for a federated search box that would allow students to search the across a number of the library’s licensed resources for a topic. (Johns Hopkins)

(For details, see next slide)


Instructor’s viewThe instructor creates an instance of a directed search tool. The instructor also adds other directed search tools that are not included in the federated search tool. The instructor includes example searches which were developed in conjunction with the departmental librarian.

Librarian’s viewThe librarian adds a paragraph of instructions for the search tools. The librarian provides background on each of the tools being searched and example searches.

Student’s viewThe student opens the directed search tool and uses the example citations and descriptions to locate appropriate resources. When resources are selected, the student saves the citations for later use. The tool allows the citations to be sorted in several lists. The tool allows for citations to be imported and exported into and out of RefWorks.


Instructor’s view (Northwestern)Charlie opens the “Search Library Resources” tool and selects three periodical article databases that he would like his students to use for their searches: Academic Search Premier, Social Sciences Abstracts and Sociological Abstracts. He saves the set and publishes it to his course workspace so that it will be visible to his students when they open the Library Resources tool.


Storing a previously-discovered article for later use (Berkeley)

An instructor wants to retain items discovered in a metasearch of licensed databases, for later reuse in another course’s reading list.

Student posting of licensed journal articles to Sakai wiki site (Berkeley)

A student posts a link to a licensed journal article within his class’s Sakai wiki.


Using in-Line Citation Management Tools to coordinate readings and other structured data resources for science courses (Stanford)

An instructor/researcher teaching in the Biological Sciences uses a citation manager to manage reading lists for a course that is being taught using Sakai. The list is actually derivative of a larger set of citation libraries that the instructor/ researcher maintains as part of ongoing work. At the same time, a citation list of other types of data resources such as molecular and protein structures is uploaded to Sakai and linked with relevant journal articles, projects, and assignments across the CMS tool.


Student’s view (Michigan)Ann notices that not only is there a convenient link to the general chat-based library reference services on the page, but Mark, the librarian is currently available via chat. She pulls up the chat window and describes her research project to Mark. Mark suggests some alternative search terms, and Ann tries her search again.

Roles & Responsibilities

Instructor

• design instruction• instruct• give grades

Librarian

• support faculty• support students

Students

• complete assignments

• take tests

(generalized)

Roles & Responsibilities

Library• physical content• owned, online content• licensed online content• public online content• finding aids

Sakai• documents• links• communication tools

Instructor

• design instruction• instruct• give grades

Librarian

• support faculty• support students

Students

• complete assignments

• take tests

Process

• base usage scenarios on real examples

• plan themed releases around user-meaningful feature clusters, ideally related to one or more pilot projects

• clearly tie requirements to user needs by using both user and functional requirements

Requirements

• user requirement– a non-technical instructor can create a reliable,

informative link to a licensed article within an assignment or syllabus document

• functional requirement– the “add citation” operation is configurable,

supporting a variety of commonly used citation formats (APA, MLA, …)

User Requirements

U1 Users can create citation lists consisting of references to and links (if available) to materials from licensed databases, the public web, materials uploaded within Sakai, or links to canned or constrained searches.

U2 Users can embed citation lists within other document types in Sakai, whether structured (e.g., a template-based syllabus or assignment), unstructured (e.g., a discussion posting, an announcement), or a research guide.

U3 Within Sakai and from a single search box, users can search across licensed databases or other relevant resources to locate and add citations to a citation list.

User Requirements

U4 In addition to a simple search, users can specify fielded search terms and other constraints for a search, including which databases, journals, or other resource collections or resource types are searched.

U5 Users can name, annotate, and save predefined (canned or constrained) searches for future modification and use by themselves or others, or for inclusion into research guides and other document types.

U6 Users can save citations as standalone objects (e.g., resources) within Sakai to facilitate use and reuse in a variety of contexts

U7 Users can edit and repurpose citation lists.

U8 Users can add custom citations to a citation list.

User Requirements

U9 Users can import from/export to other citation management tools such as Endnote or Refworks.

U10 Users can test a citation list and receive a report of broken links.

U11 Librarians can create research guides as a distinct document type within Sakai, associating the guides with relevant classes according to the local policy, access control, and workflow.

U12 Librarians can put such objects as citation lists, canned or constrained searches, and unstructured document content (text, pictures, etc.) into research guides.

U13 Librarians can communicate with instructors and students with the Sakai context visible (e.g., the librarian can tell what course the student "coming from", even if the student doesn't mention it).

Design Directions

• Following screen shots are just conceptual—not completed design

• Illustrate how citation lists and metasearch could be integrated

• Still lots of details to work out.

Implementation Plans

• Initial version of tools by mid-Fall 2006 for pilot testing at IU and UM– Instructor search/linking (Twin Peaks)– Citation handling

• Second release in Spring 2007 for pilot testing at IU and UM and testing by partners / beta test sites

• Public release Summer 2008• Still talking about packaging issues re: Sakai

Discussion

• What are some good models for developing structured documents such as a research guide within Sakai (including citations, canned or constrained searches, and explanatory text)? OSP templates?

•

sakaibrary: linking library resources into the learning environment mark notess jon dunn indiana...

Documents