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Good things come in small packages: Mobile-ready responsive design at MacEwan University
(2014) Betz, Sonya
Mobile-ready. User-centred. Responsive. These buzzwords have become increasingly common in describing the current focus of web and application design and development theory, but how many libraries have wholeheartedly adopted these philosophies? What does mobile-ready, responsive, user-centred design mean, and how does it look? This poster illustrates the innovative, mobile-first approach MacEwan University Library is taking in transforming its online environment from a rigid, desktop-only interface, to a seamless, user-friendly experience. Using APIs and web services, MacEwan integrated its ILS, discovery service, and other vendor-supplied products directly into its own web environment, and applied a user experience philosophy to all design decisions. This transformation has significantly improved access to the Library’s collections and services from all devices. This poster provides an overview of the convincing case for pursuing mobile-ready responsive design in digital library environments.
Integrating discovery to improve the user experience
(2016) Betz, Sonya; Roberton, Ian
This chapter examines the effects of integrating APIs for academic library services through a case study examining the development of a seamless, responsive discovery environment at MacEwan University Library, a medium-sized Canadian university.
Microinterations, macro results: why you should design the details
(2014) Betz, Sonya; Hall, Robyn
Details matter. Each of these presentations share tips and advice on getting the interactions and content on your website right for your users. MacEwan librarians look at how micro-interactions, the moments when we delight our users by refining the way we offer services, lead to macro-results. Get concrete recommendations for designing positive micro-interactions with library users in mind. Speakers use their own experience designing a new institutional repository to outline steps to identify, refine, and test micro-interactions with users, and highlight the impact of their strategy on the overall user experience.
Open access mandates in Canada
(2019) Betz, Sonya; Gallilee, Patty; Hall, Robyn
Since the mid-2000s, funding agencies, research institutions, and governments have been implementing open access (OA) mandates in an effort to increase unrestricted access to publicly funded research. These formally established policies typically require that researchers either self-archive a final peer-reviewed draft of their work in an institutional repository (IR), or publish in an OA journal. Research has demonstrated that mandates can be an effective strategy to heighten awareness of OA publishing, and advance self-archiving of research. This issue brief provides a snapshot of OA mandates established by universities and funding agencies in Western Canada and across the country. It also provides recommendations and considerations for institutions interested in implementing or updating an OA mandate, and points to additional resources and readings to inform these activities.
Seeking sustainability in the widening world of undergraduate journals
(2017) Hall, Robyn; Betz, Sonya
The rise of open access, locally-hosted undergraduate journals over the past few years has been significant, providing students with valuable opportunities to disseminate knowledge, and gain experience in academic publishing and peer review. These journals often tend to publish erratically, however, due in part to student-run editorial boards that experience frequent turnover given the nature of undergraduate commitments and time constraints. Drawing on recent initiatives at two Alberta universities, this session will highlight ways that library services in partnership with other campus partners can provide technical support, editorial guidance, and the infrastructure necessary to form communities of practice among and within student-led editorial boards to help create and maintain high-quality, sustainable open access student journals. Participants will also be asked to consider ways that the PKP community might come together to enhance support for such journals in line with publishing best practices and content discoverability.
Self-archiving with ease in an institutional repository: microinteractions and the user experience
(2015) Betz, Sonya; Hall, Robyn
Details matter, especially when they can influence whether users engage with a new digital initiative that relies heavily on their support. During the recent development of MacEwan University’s institutional repository, the librarians leading the project wanted to ensure the site would offer users an easy and effective way to deposit their works, in turn helping to ensure the repository’s long-term viability. The following paper discusses their approach to user-testing, applying Dan Saffer’s framework of microinteractions to how faculty members experienced the repository’s self-archiving functionality. It outlines the steps taken to test and refine the self-archiving process, shedding light on how others may apply the concept of microinteractions to better understand a website’s utility and the overall user experience that it delivers.
Strangers in a strange land no longer: using APIs to create a seamless user experience
(2014) Betz, Sonya
Betz discusses how her library embarked on a dramatic re-visioning of their online space. Instead of sending students out into the scary (and not so user-friendly) world of disparate vendor user interfaces, they began using commercial and home-grown APIs to keep students wthe library in a fully integrated and customized web environment. They developed a fully-featured iOS app that integrates APIs and web services from Ebsco Discovery Service, Sirsi Symphony, and the Atlas Ares eReserves software. She talks about the big benefits of keeping Library users "in-house."
Supporting student journals
(2020) Betz, Sonya; Crema, Leonora; Hall, Robyn
Student journals provide undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to publish and establish an academic footprint, while also learning about and participating in peer-review processes and the production of online publications. Librarians and library staff are supporting student journals in a variety of ways. The following brief details current activities of libraries in Western Canada and more broadly supporting such efforts, while suggesting recommendations and considerations for those looking to start or build upon existing initiatives in this area.
Taking control of discovery: in-house development to improve student experience and break down silos
(2014) Popowich, Sam; Betz, Sonya
When it comes to software, libraries have many more options today than they did ten years ago. While still reliant on vendors for some aspects of library software, more and more libraries are turning to in-house development and open-source software to take back a measure of control over their data and their users’ experience. MacEwan University and University of Alberta Libraries are both taking advantage of these new options in software development to create discovery and access systems that are more flexible and more intuitive. While these libraries differ greatly in their focus, and in the needs and requirements of their users, their approach to discovery has evolved along a similar path, with similar outcomes. Do projects like those at MacEwan and U of A represent a fundamental shift in how libraries understand discovery, or more broadly, a shift in how they understand their relationship with software vendors? This presentation examines the discovery projects at U of A and MacEwan, and probe some of the big-picture questions such projects raise.

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