Documentation Committee Minutes
Wednesday, October 17,
2001
Mann Library 361
In attendance: Lee LaFleur, Angela
Horne, Mihoko Hosoi, Kornelia Tancheva, Mary Patterson, Leah Solla
1.
The Documentation Committee welcomed Mary Patterson to the group. Mary is a Public Services Librarian at
the Engineering Library.
2. The group discussed a suggestion from
Jim Morris Knower that a Library of
Congress Subject Headings reference page be added to Help. The group felt that in addition to
simply illustrating the classification system, it would be helpful to include
an explanatory section on the use of Subject Headings as well as how to
distinguish them from simple keywords.
This page could be then be linked from the Basic Search Help (Research Tools : CU
Library Catalog : Basic Search) or the Finding Books page (Research Strategy and
Process : Finding
Specific Types of Material:).
Currently, the “Finding Books page (http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/finding/books.html)
contains a section on “Library of Congress classification and call
numbers” which includes links to the OKU LCSH page at (http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/info5a.htm),
Library of Congress Outline (http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html)
and a page at About.Com on Understanding Call Numbers (http://geography.miningco.com/library/congress/blhowto.htm). Mihoko agreed to investigate and work
on such a page
3. The group addressed
the notion of a general Library Help redesign and the overall long-term vision
for the role of Gateway Help. The
group agreed to begin accessing the contents of the main Help TOC page in
order to determine which categories could be removed or relocated (i.e. “Email
Notifications” and “Request purchase for library collection”. We'll also keep aware of the changes to
re-design the CUL web presence. The
group also agreed to look at the contents of the Resolve Errors and Technical
Questions section (i.e. FAQ sections on remote access and proxy server) to see
how it could be better organized.
Kornelia volunteered for this task. The idea of implementing a
method for the automatic “weighting” of frequently asked questions was also
raised. Angela will contact
Howard Raskin (Mann Access/Public Services) and Susan Currie (OKU Access
Services) to see if they would like to participate in this initiative.
4.
The Committee discussed a general concern regarding the prevalence of
“problem pages” (broken links, outdated pages, old references to Networked
Resources) by issuing a reminder to keep looking for, reporting and working to
update/eliminate these pages. In
addition to the need for a link checking system (see #5 below), the group
identified a few concerns on the NY page
5.
Regarding Link checkers, the Documentation Committee reaffirmed its
interest in implementing a link checking system to better manage the CUL help
page directory. Lee is currently
investigating a free link checker called Linkscan, but is open to any
suggestions on applications that others may be able to offer.
6.
New e-Reserves Page- Lee announced the new e-Reserves page that is now
available through the Gateway Help (http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_services/ereserves.html). This page is a modified version of the
original OKU Access Services ereserves page. A reference for the page is now
available from the main Gateway Help TOC page.
7.
Mac caching page. The group discussed the creation of an instruction
page on clearing cache for the Macintosh computer. Currently pages on clearing cache are
available for the PC with reference to Internet Explorer and Netscape
browsers. Mary Patterson agreed
to work on creating a page explaining this process for the
Macintosh.
8. Additional Issues: CUWebLogin, MyContents, Doc Delivery
The group discussed upcoming projects that
will eventually require documentation.
- A
system called CUWebLogin that may soon be implemented on campus. This system would allow certain
patrons to login and use CUL resources without the proxy server/Bear
Access problems now encountered (such as those behind firewalls).
- Document Delivery, which is becoming a more prevalent service on
campus
- MyContents, the which is the table of contents delivery system
that is being developed for My Library.
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