Documentation Committee Meeting

Documentation Committee Meeting
8/4/2006 1-2 PM
Olin 106

Present: Jim Alberts, Camille Andrews, Amy Blumenthal, Melody Padgett, Susan Kendrick, Jesse Koennecke (guest)

Announcements

Find Databases Quickguide: Camille will redo the lost revisions and send them to the group for comment, then post the revised quick guide. Melody will take the guide to the Copy Center.
The Dissertation page at needs updating to include the fact that Dissertation Abstracts only goes up to 1980 and now ProQuest Dissertations and These should be consulted for anything after that date. Susan will do this.

Blackboard/Library integration update

Blackboard upgrade is going live by August 14th so documentation will need to be ready by then. Committee will send any comments to Camille.
Camille will crosscheck the links in our documentation with Blackboard by August 8th. and post the revised documentation.

ReDs Update

The WebFeat team is working on the Find articles replacement for the fall (this may also be used as the Find Databases interface in the future as well).
Find Databases: No new databases are being added right now but a committee led by Kizer and Virginia are looking at the contents of Find databases for review and have created a document that lists all the resources that have been dropped or readded. Find Databases should be smaller still and will hopefully have an improved user interface in the future.
Discussion of the role of ReDs: incremental improvements in the OPAC and other systems vs. global steering of various system initiatives
The new Voyager upgrade will not directly affect public services staff but it will definitely affect technical services. This upgrade will also fix the persistent problem of expired patron circ notifications.

Find Articles quick guide and search tips: Gail Steinhart did a draft and Kizer Walker will give us an updated copy by the launch. Jesse Koennecke is working on the technical support tip sheet. More databases are being added to Find Articles though no major interface changes until spring (Phase 2 beings around January). FA can include more than just databases but also the Catalog, photos (AD White collection), statistics (Lexis Nexis Statistical), geospatial data (CUGIR), etc.

Camille will post the revised Find Articles quick guide and search tips when they arrive and alert everyone.
Melody will check the Gateway Help pages for any other mentions of Find Articles that need to be updated and take the revised guides to the copy center.

Updating of Find Database and Find e-Journal links
Since Find Databases and Find e-Journals have also moved to new systems within the last year, some link housecleaning is needed to make sure that all the links in Gateway Help are pointing to the new addresses. Susan will check this.

Meeting adjourned at 1:45.