1. 2012 SLA-SD Fall Seminar October 5, 2012
Spotlight on the User: Enhancing Value
through User-Centric Design and Innovation
leveraging student data to create
website personalization
Ian Chan
Web Development Librarian, California State University San Marcos
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2. why did we do it?
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3. make life easier for our users
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4. get to know our users & vice versa
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5. we have (big) data
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6. low cost
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7. first, a look back…
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8. customized start pages 1998 ~ ?
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9. customization & library websites
MyLibrary – Notre Dame/NCSU, 1998
developed at NCSU & Notre Dame and imlemented by VCU, LeHigh, others
MyLibrary – Cornell, 1998
More Examples
MyLibrary – Univ. of Minn. Libraries, leverages campus CMS
National University of Singapore – Nexus (CMS)
Karolinska Institutet University Library – Drupal
PennPortal – Libraries – campus CMS
Galter Health Sciences Library – self-developed
derived from Aaron Tay’s 2010-06 blog post titled “Customizable library portal pages”
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12. a growing trend?
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21. similar goals, different approaches
customization personalization
User drives content selection & System drives content selection
layout
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22. personalization
Personalization is a process that „„changes the
functionality, interface, information content, or distinctiveness of a
system to increase its personal relevance to an individual‟‟
(Blom, 2000, p. 313)
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23. assessment of a library portal
Galter Health Sciences Library studied the use of their portal from
2003-2008
“The automated application of specialty-based, personalized
HSLs was more frequently adopted than manual
customization by users” (Shedlock et al., 2010).
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24. students want smart systems
“Student and faculty groups both expressed a desire for
systems that know the individual better and that behave “more
like Amazon” in remembering who they are, what they like, and
where they left off in their work” (Jafari et. al. 2006).
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26. what we‟d like our site to do
 Expedite access to our resources
 Connect students with individual librarians
 Personalize the research experience
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27. idea 
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28. how we did it
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29. project requirements (highlights)
Technical
 Leverage existing user data transfer
 Integrate login with EZproxy/campus authentication
 Secure
UX
 Don‟t bother the user
 … but add value
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30. we use…
Drupal
Small, custom PHP scripts
 Match subjects to user course selections
 Generate XML data to sync guide info into Drupal
 Generate personalized course reserve listings
Data export (for now)
from campus enrollment management system and viable library ILS
[Integrated Library System]
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31. connecting users with resources
CCK [D6] / Fields [D7]
Taxonomy Content
Profile
Views
Similar by
Terms
Personalized
Web
Panels
Pages
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32. essential, non-core modules
Content Profile
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/13jv?size=o
EZproxy
LDAP Integration
Similar by Terms
Views
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/rgq4
CCK
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33. (really) nice to have
Panels
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/i50r?size=o
http://www.diigo.com/item/image/qxh8/v6np?size=o
Context
Flag
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34. user data prep
Simple PHP scripting to analyze course data and cross-
reference with subjects
Data prep - about 15 minutes of staff time for each load
But the above is all going away!
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35. user data load
User Import Module
 Batch import for account
Node Import Module
 Batch import for user profile
Data load
 occurs once a week – more often at semester start
But the above is all going away!
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36. user data interactions
User Data
Source
LDAP
User Import Node Import
Integration
Campus
LDAP
EZproxy User Accounts User Profile
Integration
Recommendations
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41. After login, users can flag
databases as favorites
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43. Assessment
Click tracking – CrazyEgg
Web Analytics – Google Analytics, Piwik
Talk to users… in person!
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45. Upcoming developments
Query user data in library catalog directly and instantly update
course data
Integrate saved articles from Summon Discovery Service
Provide dynamic, course-specific library widgets to learning
management system
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46. Discussion / Q&A
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47. References
Blom, Jan. 2000. “Personalization: a Taxonomy.” In , 313. ACM Press. doi:10.1145/633292.633483.
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=633483.
Jafari, A., McGee, P., Carmean, C., 2006. Managing Courses Defining Learning: What Faculty, Students, and
Administrators Want. EDUCAUSE Review 41, 50–52,54,56–58,60,62,64,66,68,70.
Shedlock, James, Michelle Frisque, Steve Hunt, Linda Walton, Jonathan Handler, and Michael Gillam. 2010.
“Case Study: The Health SmartLibrary Experiences in Web Personalization and Customization at the
Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University.” Journal of the Medical Library Association :
JMLA 98 (April): 98–104. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.98.2.003.
Sundar, S. Shyam, and Sampada S. Marathe. 2010. “Personalization Versus Customization: The Importance
of Agency, Privacy, and Power Usage.” Human Communication Research 36 (3) (July): 298–322.
doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01377.x.
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