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Putting it All Together: Designing a Library Website using Project Management Techniques

Putting it All Together: Designing a Library Website using Project Management Techniques. Katherine E. Pitcher Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian Milne Library SUNY Geneseo Geneseo, New York. Abstract.

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Putting it All Together: Designing a Library Website using Project Management Techniques

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  1. Putting it All Together:Designing a Library Website using Project Management Techniques Katherine E. PitcherReference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian Milne Library SUNY Geneseo Geneseo, New York

  2. Abstract Using project management techniques to organize and plan a large-scale redesign of their library website. The presenter will show how these techniques were used to manage a complex web project and how project planning and workflow can be used effectively in a library setting.

  3. SUNY Geneseo 2003-2004 StatsPublic liberal arts college5550 students (5307 undergrads)Faculty-to-Student Ratio: 18.79:1Computer-to-Student Ratio: 1:640.4 % admission rate

  4. Milne Library Total space: 70, 591 square feet Annual visitors: 550,396 Hours open per week: 106 Print resources: 516,700 Current database subscriptions: 98 Computer workstations: 90 Laptops: 185 Multimedia classrooms: 4 Staff members: 32

  5. Background • Milne Library website originally created in 1995 • Redesigned in 1999/2000 • Minor revisions and updates periodically • No web development services or team to oversee site • No web librarian

  6. 1999 version

  7. 2005 version

  8. Spring of 2005 • Reference ~10 hrs per week • Instruction ~ 20-25 classes a semester • Government documents • Supervising 1 clerk and 2 student workers • Webmaster for special projects • Collection development • Another hat??

  9. How to do it all? (you can’t!) • Prioritize • May have to give up something (“delegate”) • Ask for resources (“communicate what you need”) • 4. Know your limits • 5. Use project management techniques to manage workflow

  10. What is project management? The planning, organizing, scheduling, leading, communicating, and controlling of work activities to achieve a pre-defined outcome on time and within budget

  11. What is a project manager? A Project Manager controls the progress of the project against any detrimental influences on the time, cost, and quality involved in regard to the client, the place of work, market forces, other external influences, and the development team

  12. A good project manager is… • Communicator • Troubleshooter & problem-solver • Able to take responsibility • Knowledgeable about: • Working practices • Technical details

  13. StudentsFacultyStaffAlumniCommunityOther Libraries Administration Web Development Information Technology Librarians and Library Staff

  14. Find out what resources you need • Write clear objectives • Once you have your outcomes, you then can plan what resources need to be acquired to get the job done • What are your requirements?

  15. Find out who can do it Get your team in place: • Programmer • Production • Designer/Graphic Artist • Content manager • Project manager

  16. Find out how you are going to do it • Talk to your people • Schedule • Create a project plan • Budget

  17. Milne Library Web Project • Advisory committee formed by director • 3 librarians, 3 professional staff • Chaired by Project manager • Oversee redesign of site as well as make policy recommendations to Library Management team • Ongoing library team

  18. Web Team

  19. Project Management Cycle

  20. Defined project method • Checklist • Framework • Accountability • Progress reporting • Standards • Control mechanism • “Big Picture”

  21. Development • 4 phases of workflow • Each have their own stages and deliverables

  22. Phase IPreproduction • Project clarification • Solution definition • Project specification

  23. Stage OneProject Clarification Why? of project planning • Discovery stage • Gather information • Ask questions of your stakeholders • Analyze other library websites • Identify needs • Determine overall goals & objectives (write these down in a document!)

  24. Stage TwoSolution definition How? of project planning • What requirements must you meet?

  25. Stage ThreeProject specification What? of project planning • what you have to deliver • how you are going to do it • with what resources • by when

  26. Project Communication • Write your communication brief • Email • Listserv • Project website or blog • Regular updates to your stakeholders • Meeting minutes

  27. Project blog

  28. Email

  29. Phase IIProduction • Content • Design and construction • Testing and launch

  30. Stage FourContent • Form a separate subcommittee to deal with content • Do a content inventory of existing content on website (what do you want to keep? discard?) • Develop a content delivery plan

  31. Stage FiveDesign and construction • Form separate subcommittees to deal with design and functionality issues • Prototyping • Recommendations sent to all librarians for comment & feedback • Works closely with content subcommittee

  32. Stage SixTesting • Develop a quality control plan • “bug-tracking” • Designate someone, but this may fall to project manager • QC Cycle

  33. Quality Control Cycle

  34. Stage SixLaunch • Develop plan for launch day: • What files need to be moved? • How are you launching? • When are you launching? • Who needs to be notified?

  35. Launch Day

  36. Phase IIIMaintenance • Maintenance • Ongoing and eternal

  37. Stage SevenMaintenance • Develop a maintenance plan • Who will be responsible for changes and updates? • When & how often will it be updated? • How will changes be made? • What areas of the website need maintaining?

  38. Phase IVEvaluation • Review and evaluation • Ongoing assessment • Use a survey tool to gather feedback from users • Conduct usability testing

  39. Stage EightReview and Evaluation

  40. Ongoing assessment

  41. Dos and Don’ts • Do make sure you have key players involved • Don’t set up unnecessary meetings “just” to have them • Do communicate with your team members regularly and follow-up after meetings • Don’t forget to get buy-in from stakeholders (administration, librarians, staff, etc.) • Do ask questions!

  42. New Milne Library Website

  43. Library School Reunion Website

  44. Recommended Resources: Friedlein, Ashley. Web Project Management: delivering successful commercial web sites. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2001. Goto, Kelly and Emily Cotler. Web Redesign 2.0: workflow that works. Berkeley, CA: New Riders Press, 2005.

  45. Contact Me: Katherine E. Pitcher Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian SUNY Geneseo Milne Library, Room 201a 1 College Circle Geneseo, New York 14454 (585) 245-5064 pitcher@geneseo.edu http://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher

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