Customized Search Engines

Eurekster Swicki

Today I was researching how to build a customized search engine, and I thought that it would be incredibly useful for users of the VRC Web Resources page to be able to conduct a federated search across all of the resources that we list. Here is the basic search engine that I designed in the Eurekster Swicki. I have included the first seven sites listed on the Web Resources for architecture.

Grab this swicki from eurekster.com

It seems to work by searching the sites you have listed first and then across the web generally. I also customized this search engine to search images and video content. We can post the swicki on the site and it is also listed in a directory with other swickis and a user can "grab" any swicki on the Eurekster Swicki site and put a link to it on their site. Users can also rate the sites found by searching the swicki and results that are "voted" for are rasied higher in the list of results. The owner of the swicki retains complete control over it.

Google Custom Search

As a point of contrast, I also created a custom search in Google using the same sites. 

Comparison

Personally, I prefer the look of the Swicki.  The tag cloud gives the Swicki more visual interest than the Google page, and it allows users to browse via one of these keywords, which give an indication of the topics included in the sites in the search engine.  Users can also search on their own terms.  Additionally, the Swicki is something the VRC could include directly on its Web site.  

The main advantages of a Google custom search is that it has no limit to how many sites you can include in a customized search .  The swicki has a limit of 50 sites.  Users are also familiar with the Google interface and they may feel more comfortable using this interface.

In any case I think that we could use one of these formats to make it easier for users to find images on the web.

Week of January 28-February 3

RSS Feeds

This week I researched Web 2.0 tools that I learned about in the publication How to Use Web 2.0 in Your Library by Phil Bradley.  I have found the first few chapters on RSS and blogs to be very useful in terms of thinking about how I could leverage these technologies for the Marketing Plan.  This book had some interesting suggestions, including incorporating RSS feeds from a source, such as the New York Times, and incorporating them onto your site.  I also researched RSS providers which allow you to create RSS feeds and to post feeds from multiple sources onto your website.  I have bookmarked these sites on my delicious account, which you can access here.

I explored the Arts feed from the New York Times, and it doesn't seem like it would be the best feed option, if we added RSS feeds to the VRC website.  I think that if I could find a way to incorporate a feed from the magazines Metropolis or Dwell, it would be much more interesting since these magazines tend to focus on the latest trends in architecture, interior design, and sustainable design.  

Blogs

This week I also thought it might be interesting if we incorporated a video blog (vlog) on the VRC's Web site.  There are a number of topics that we could do a vlog on.  It might be really useful to have a short vlog on how to find images through resources available to UT affiliates, such as ARTstor and Digital Archive Services (DASe).  Another interesting vlog would be on how to find maps and we could showcase UT's map collection.   These vlogs could be incorporated into the Web Resources Guide on the VRC's website and they could also be shared with a wider audience via YouTube.  One software that the VRC could purchase to create vlogs is Vlog It, available from Adobe for $29.00.  This software seems very easy to use and the low price tag makes it attractive to use for experimenting with vlog publishing.

The VRC curates and exhibition every semester.  We could use a blog to publicize this exhibition by creating a virtual exhibition in Flickr with images from the exhibition.  Of course, this would depend on several factors, such as copyright and permissions, but it would be another way of connecting users with the VRC's services by using Web 2.0 tools.

Web Analytics

This week I contacted Chris Rankin, the School of Architecture's Webmaster, about obtaining usage statistics for the VRC's Web site.  He is going to send the reports to me next week.  I thought that it would be interesting to evaluate how the VRC's Web site is currently being utilized.  The VRC could also use these statistics to track how traffic to the site evolves as Web 2.0 features are used.  

Additionally, the developer of DASe is going to send me information about how the users of this collection save images in their personalized collections.  This information will be valuable for determining how users are currently using the VRC's images in DASe.

For Next Week

Next week I would like to review the Web sites of the VRC's peer institutions to evaluate how they are leveraging Web 2.0 tools.  I would also like to continue researching Web 2.0 tools and begin writing the Marketing Plan.

Week of January 21-27

Overview

This week was dedicated to putting content from the VRC's cataloging manual into a staff wiki and to learning about the creation and implementation of  The University of Texas Fine Arts Library Marketing and Outreach Plan created by Beth Hallmark as her Capstone project.  

Staff Wiki Site

Later this spring the VRC will launch a new image database, and in preparation for the launch of this database, I am creating a staff wiki site that contains the VRC's cataloging manual for the staff to access when cataloging questions arise.  The staff wiki also contains other pertinent information for the staff, such as scanning information and checkout procedures for books from the Architecture and Planning Library, and it will function as a collaborative tool that contains information which can be easily updated and shared amongst all members of staff.  

Meeting with Laura Schwartz

I met with Laura Schwartz, the Head Librarian at the University of Texas Fine Arts Library (FAL), on Friday to discuss their marketing plan.  My discussion with Laura was very helpful. Even though the FAL's plan focuses  on increasing on-site visits by faculty and students, Laura made several suggestions, such as working with UT's office for Measurement and Evaluation to design a user survey and implementing a web tracking tool to measure how many hits the VRC's website receives.  One tool that is currently used by the UT General Libraries is called Urchin.  I'm not sure that the VRC would be able to use this tool, and next week I would like to investigate web traffic tools that could be implemented by the VRC to measure how many hits its site is getting.

Ideas

The FAL's Marketing and Outreach Plan mentioned that several things that I think would be helpful to include in the Marketing Plan that I am creating.  These ideas include:

• Creating a VRC brand and developing a logo, message, and tagline to be included on the Web 2.0 tools that are implemented.
• Working with the School of Architecture's (SOA) communications office to publicize some of the technologies that we implement.
• Creating an e-Newsletter.  I'm not sure that the VRC would have enough content for an e-Newsletter, but we could send a weekly email with an "Image of the Week" or something similar to generate traffic to the VRC's website and create interest in the collection as well as educate users about the diverse images in the collection.
• Creating a website wiki for users to discuss projects they are working on or resources they have found to be helpful.
• Investigating search engine optimizations and the use of descriptive metatags to direct people to the VRC's website.
• Creating an online survey to gather ongoing feedback from users of the site.

Web 2.0 ideas from this week include:

• Creating an Flickr (Flickr-like) site for architecture students to post their portfolios or share images with others.
• Allowing image groups to be shared on DASe
• Allowing images to be emailed to other users.
• Adding a citation creator to the image database that would provide citations for each image in the collection.

Conclusion

This week I received the strategic plan and the demographics about the School of Architecture from Elizabeth Schaub.  I will review those next week and begin to formulate ideas about how to incorporate this information into the Marketing Plan.  I would also like to review WebJunction's (an online community for library staff) site for information about creating collaborative communities.  This resource was suggested in the FAL's Marketing and Outreach Plan.  Finally, I would like to investigate web tracking tools and to begin compiling my sources for a bibliography.

Week of January 14 - 18

The Marketing Plan

After creating a timeline of deliverables with my field supervisor (the timeline will be posted soon), I dedicated the first week of my Capstone project to researching the process of creating a marketing plan and evaluating applicable Web 2.0 technologies. I checked out two books from the library entitled Blueprint for Your Library Marketing Plan: A Guide to Help You Survive and Thrive by Patricia H. Fisher and Marseille M. Pride and The Marketing Plan Handbook by Marian Burk Wood. Today I began reading Blueprint for Your Library and I have found it extremely useful in terms of providing a framework for a marketing plan.

Information that I would like to gather in the next week includes:

• A copy of the Visual Resources Collection (VRC) strategic plan so that I can align the marketing plan with the goals outlined in the strategic plan.
• Identify the target users of the services that will be described in the plan, i.e. first year students.
• Statistics on the student and faculty population in the School of Architecture (SOA).
• Statistics on the use of Digital Archive Services (DASe), an image database available to University of Texas at Austin affiliates that contains images from the VRC and other collections on campus.

I also set up a meeting for next Friday with Laura Schwartz, the Head Librarian of the Fine Arts Library, to review their marketing plan that was also created by an iSchool student as a Capstone project.



Web 2.0 Technologies

I also investigated and evaluated Web 2.0 technologies this week. In order to consoldiate my research on Web 2.0 technologies, I downloaded a widget from the UT Libraries site, which allows me to post links to del.icio.us directly, and I posted a few links to my user account, which you can access below.



I attended a really interesting session entitled (Re)Thinking the Subject Guide at ALA Midwinter that was sponsored by the Women's Studies Section of ACRL. Different subject specialists discussed their use of Web 2.0 technologies to create subject guides.

I noticed that a lot of librarians are using wikis to create subject guides. I'm not sure if this is a good way to utilize the power of wiki technology, since the great advantage of using a wiki is its capacity for collaboration. For my project I would really like to avoid implementing technology for technology's sake. Some of the technologies that were mentioned in this discussion were both open source and proprietary. The ones that I looked at today included:

• pbwiki - A wiki for educators
  
• FURL - A del.icio.us type tagging tool
• Lib Guides - A Web 2.0 application that makes content available in Facebook, allows patrons to chat with a librarian, and search the catalog from facebook. I really liked the structure of this application. See these at Temple University for examples of what these look like.

One technology that I learned about in class this week which might be interesting for us to implement was microformats. One of the more interesting ones for us to use would be hCalendar, which would allow people to download info about events at the VRC, such as exhibition openings, directly from the VRC website into their calendars.

Conclusion

My research this week has helped me to formulate a structure for the marketing plan and given me greater insight into some of the tools that academic librarians are using to convey library resources to students. Next week I would like to gather the information listed above, continue my research both on writing a marketing plan and investigate tools being used by Visual Resources Collection at peer institutions.