Newsletter: May 2007
Heritage Partner meeting
We had our final Year II Heritage Partners meeting in May. This was just the HPs as we had things to discuss that were more task-related. The group was shown the progress made on two sections of the website: what we’ve called “scene-setting” by George Frizzell and a series on Penland Weaving Institutes by Michelle Francis. Both of these are shaping up nicely. The scene section is accessed from “The Story” showing what someone would see if they followed along Olive Campbell’s path on the train from Asheville to the Folk School. The Weaving Institutes are launched from the Penland story page with individual bios linked to “The People” page. Both of these sections will be “live” shortly.
Teacher workshop
The Craft Revival held an all-day teacher workshop for area teachers. Teachers worked with Norma Bradley of HandMade in America to try their hand at quilting, they took a tour and saw a video on Francis Goodrich at the Mountain Heritage Center, and listened to a talk on the Craft Revival. These are teachers who are sending in lesson plans for the site. The plans are reviewed and formatted by Mary Jean Herzog, Teacher Liaison, and vetted by Learn NC. See the article at http://www.wcu.edu/3414.asp
Mailings
We’ve practically exhausted our supply of posters. The posters—highlighting the project URL—were mailed out this year with a university press release. These went to area cultural organizations, national craft organizations, local libraries, and community colleges, and to WCU teaching alumni. We’ve noted additional use in our automatic website counter whenever one of these mailings went out and I am fielding an increasing number of questions about the site.
Exhibit
The display that was up in the Hunter Library this past fall has been added to and will be on view at the NC Welcome Center on interstate-26. This will be going up in mid June and remain in place through the end of the calendar year.
Staff changes
As most of you know, Brian Sealy is leaving his position as Metadata Librarian at Hunter. An active search is already on for someone to fill this position. In the meantime, Cataloging Unit Head, Tim Carstens is learning Content dm as are other members of the Tim’s staff. In several meetings over the course of the past few weeks, it was apparent that more than three Hunter Library folks should know how to use the database software. Also, assistant Catherine Baker left and that position has been filled by Jason Woolf. As most of you know from the group meetings, Ginny Daley is moving off the Advisory board and onto the project Home Team.
Database
If you are having technical problems, please continue to contact Melissa Young. If you have disks ready, continue to send them in to me. However, since we will be short-handed over the summer, I would advise that you take this time to review your organization’s material that is currently on the database and pull down and correct or improve entries submitted earlier. I think we’ve learned a lot since many of the Year I submissions went up, so now might be the time to make those improvements.
Database review
In June the database will be undergoing an extensive review. Ginny Daley is coming on staff to assist with this. As most of you know Ginny has a lot of experience with digitization projects. She will be moving off the Advisory board and onto the project Home Team. As part of her initial contract, Ginny will review the database, evaluate the images and metadata, prioritize them in terms of remedial work needed, and create strategies for corrections. Some corrections will be done in house; others will be sent back to Heritage Partners.
Internal website review
The website is also undergoing an extensive review. Heritage Partners reviewed the current website at our May meeting. But this was only the first of a number of reviews. The website is currently being read by two people from the Hunter Library, Bob Strauss from the Editorial Committee and Ann Hallyburton from our Reference desk. These reviews will focus on copyediting (grammar, typos) as well as usability. Becky Korngay, head of Reference, will read it from the point of the view of patrons with an eye toward the understandability of language and overall context. Scott Philyaw, History professor, also a member of our Advisory group, will read the historical essays for accuracy. As previously mentioned, the lesson plans are reviewed by the project Teacher Liaison and Learn NC. We welcome many eyes in reviewing the site.
Outside review and assessment
On June 4th, 5th, and 6th the site will undergo a formal usability test by mStoner, the group that has the contract to revamp the university’s website. They will be conducting hour-long, on-site review sessions with three audience groups: students, researchers, and craftsmen. From these results, they will draw up an evaluation and plan for improvement.
Year end budget
Jason Woolf will be contacting all of you to pick up where Catherine left off gathering the paper documentation we need to back up the HL and HP financial match to the grant.
Advisory meeting
Our next Advisory/HP meeting will take place Wednesday, July 25th beginning at 10 a.m. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS.
Anna
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 6/1/07 Melissa Young