ITTS Update

1. ALA Connect (Sheila)

ALA Connect was upgraded from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 version at the end of July. This upgrade paved the way for phase 2, which includes the mentoring network (now available), an opportunities exchange (due end of October), expanding member profiles, and improving member searching capabilities. The opportunities exchange will allow a member to tag their interests in their profile and then Connect will send a notification when new opportunities are posted.

Opportunities include:

a. Assistantships

b. Awards

c. Fellowships

d. Grants

e. Internships

f. Publishing

g. Residencies

h. Scholarships

i. Speaking

j. Volunteer Opportunities

Email subscriptions were streamlined to allow users to select notifications by community or group all from one page. Email frequency options were enhanced, and a ‘temporarily on vacation flag’ was added to suspend communications while you are away.

New Member searching capabilities will be added to allow members to find an ACRL member in IL who likes Gaming.

Sheila then demonstrated the mentoring network showing views of a mentor and a mentee. The mentoring network is an opt-in feature and has a separate MentorConnect profile. There is a feedback area for discussion between the mentor and the mentee. All discussions between the mentor and the mentee are private. Some members have set up a private community in Connect to use other ALA Connect tools to communicate.

2. Quick Tour of Google Statistics (Matt)

The tour was postponed because ITTS ran into problems with the latest upgrade. The upgrade could not be performed without significant down time using our old Google server in its current configuration. A different path is being discussed and further details will be shared once the new plan is worked out.

3. Collage Maintenance Schedule (Sherri)

A proposal went out to all web content developers asking that the last Thursday and Friday of the month be reserved for Collage maintenance. Several web content developers had issues with having lockouts for updating content prior to the beginning of each month. An alternate proposal for the second Thursday and Friday of each month was confirmed. It was also noted that ITTS might not need this time every month and that ITTS will send a notice to all web content developers with details of proposed maintenance when it does occur.

4. Online Handbook (Sheila)

Sheila showed the new display of committee information pages. An example of the new page can be found at Website Advisory Committee information page. The non-member view will show committee name and term, and the member-only version will contain preferred address information. Sheila also gave a quick demonstration of how to create and update this page in Collage.

5. ePetitions Update (Donavan)

Donavan showed the new interface for the new ePetition system. The ePetition application was started as a directive by the ALA Board. Traditionally members used paper to gather signatures manually to petition for leadership positions or to propose a charge. This application presents a method to do so electronically on ALA’s website. The new system will allow members to create new petitions and sign existing petitions online based on their current membership(s). The system is scheduled to launch in a few weeks.

Posted by Sherri under ITTS Update meetings | No Comments »

1. ALA Connect Update (Sherri for Jenny)
The site launched April 6, 2009.   Overall the feedback has been positive.
Here are some statistics for ALA Connect for each of the last two weeks, as well as a combined total.
Week 1
———
880 logins, 759 ALA members + 121 non-ALA members
Non-ALA member accounts created: 159
Posts: 78
Online Docs: 93
Calendar Events: 100
Polls/Votes: 11
Discussions: 19
Images: 21

Week 2
———-
708 logins, 636 ALA members + 72 non-ALA members
Non-ALA member accounts created: 82
Posts: 46
Online Docs: 31
Calendar Events: 25
Polls/Votes: 3
Discussions: 13
Images: 3

Total
——-
1588 (1395 ALA members + 193 non-ALA members)
Non-ALA member accounts created: 241
Posts: 124 total
Online Docs: 124 total
Calendar Events: 125 total
Polls/Votes: 14 total
Discussions: 32 total
Images: 24 total

Division, Round Table, & Office web content management communities have been created in ALA Connect.  Please feel free to join them. The easiest way to find then is to search on the term “web” once you are in ALA Connect. (Louise)

ALA Connect Phase II (Sherri for Jenny)
We need to upgrade to Drupal 6 to improve the search engine and add other enhancements.
Phase II will include an advanced search for members, a Craig’s List-like exchange, a mentoring network, and an online Curriculum Vitae.
5. Web Services Health Check (Sherri)
ITTS has selected a Chicago-based company, Pathfinder Development, to perform the web services health check.  We are in the process of negotiating the master service agreement and the statement of work.  We plan to get this underway as soon as possible.

6. Trackit Update (Irene)

ITTS is a little behind in the implementation of Trackit so we extended the deadline to end use of the helpdesk@ala.org email address for staff.  ITTS will send out an email to notify staff when helpdesk.ala.org is no longer available to staff.  Members will still be able to reach us at helpdesk@ala.org.
Staff can start using http://help.ala.org if they’re not already using it
your login is your FirstInitialLastName (eg, jlevine)
contact Sheila for your password if you’ve never used Trackit before
7. Postini Implementation
Postini will become our new email transfer agent.  The agent will filter out messaging threats, including spam and viruses, before they reach our network. By routing inbound and outbound email through their data centers, we can activate robust security policies that will keep our organization secure and compliant.  This also reduces our inbound bandwidth needs by stopping the unwanted email before it reaches our network.  Staff will be able to log on to the Postini site to look at your Spam.  ITTS has one more piece to implement before we go live.  This piece will synchronize our address books so that email can be properly routed to either our email provider or our Sympa list server.

Microsoft Office 2007 Rollout (Sherri and Sheila)
ITTS has rolled out Office 2007 to Publishing and is about to contact the rest of the units to see if they are ready to move ahead.  Sheila is working on some basic documentation that explains what the differences are between 2003 and 2007.  Sheila demonstrated some of the differences.

PC/Laptop Rollout
ITTS is planning to lease the next batch of PC and laptops and will begin the rollout once the equipment is configured.

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Inbound email was interrupted this morning from 6:15am – 9:45am due to a routing issue at our provider.  Any

email sent to us from outside during this time period was rejected and should be resent.  Internal email was

not affected.

Posted by Sherri under Email Issues | No Comments »

An anti-virus service failed on one of our email servers last night causing a backlog of incoming email and

some duplicate messages.  The backlog should clear up over the weekend and email should be back to normal on

Monday.  We’re in the process of replacing this email server entirely so that this doesn’t happen again.

Posted by Sherri under Email Issues | No Comments »

Investigation into system response time lead us to the discovery of a malformed query that really slowed the delivery of committee rosters on the ALA website.  The query has been repaired and when we tested, the general system performance was improved.  The original query was causing unnecessary delays in page loading. 

We are continuing our investigation of factors causing occassional delays for some site users.  

Posted by Sherri under ALA Website | No Comments »

On Monday we will be upgrading the firmware in all the network switches in both buildings.  This will cause

brief outages to the ALA hosted websites but not any externally hosted sites such as ALA Connect or the new

ALA store.  We will begin with a core outage affecting all services followed by rolling outages by floor

through the day.  The schedule is as follows:

6:00am-7:00am All services will be intermittently inaccessible
8:00am  Printers and workstations located on the 5th and 6th floors of the 40 E. building
9:00am  Printers and workstations located on the 3rd and 4th floors of the 40 E. building
10:00am Printers and workstations located on the 1st and 2nd floors of the 40 E. building
11:00am Printers and workstations located on the basement and 1st floors of the 50 E. building
1:00pm Printers and workstations located on the 2nd and 3rd  floors of the 50 E. building
2:00pm Printers and workstations located on the 4th and 5th floors of the 50 E. building

After 7:00am, no global outages or website outages are expected.  All work should be complete by 3:00pm.

Posted by Sherri under Internet Service & Network Upgrade | No Comments »

We have been receiving reports of problems with some of our web-based services.  In order to troubleshoot these issues, ALA is issuing an RFP for ALA Web Services Health Check (PDF).   Please contact us to request a Network Diagram.

Questions and inquiries for further information should be submitted by March 23rd, 2009 (extended deadline), and should be directed to:

Sherri Vanyek
Director of Information Technology and Telecommunications Services
American Library Association
50 East Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 280-2437
svanyek@ala.org

Posted by Sherri under ALA Website & Internet Service | No Comments »

The two load balanced web servers for www.ala.org were down from 8:20am-9:57am today.  These servers are redundant and should not be down at the same time.  We are looking into the cause of the outage.

Posted by Sherri under ALA Website | No Comments »

As you may be aware, we unveiled our newly redesigned website with a brand new information architecture on Monday, September 22nd, 2008. As with many projects of this scale, some glitches have arisen as a result of the transition. A few items tested before go-live surprised us by breaking after go-live, causing a great deal of grief for everyone involved.

ITTS has been addressing the following items since the launch:

E-Commerce & Login Issues

• Some people who were joining, renewing, donating or registering received error messages at the very end of the process.
• Double log-ins were required when renewing.

Members-only content

• Log in for members-only content looped some people around.

Google Search

• The Google search appliance had to be cleared of its indexing of the staging site, and re-set to crawl the new site before it could give useful results.

Redirects & Content Services Switch

• Some of our sites with their own domain names made changes to their home page that required updating the content services switch.
• In an effort to reduce the number of redirects in use on site, we are reviewing, pruning, and renewing redirects as appropriate.

Shadow Assets (fixing broken links)

• This is an ongoing process. The content management system identifies broken internal links for maintenance by the appropriate unit staff.

We’re experiencing some stability issues with one of our web servers and are devoting as many resources as possible to this problem. While working to solve the problem, we’re monitoring the server closely to minimize service interruptions.

We have successfully addressed the e-commerce, log in, and search engine issues. We continue to refine redirects and resolve broken links. We’re still researching the members-only issue, which no longer loops people around.

Posted by Sherri under IA Implementation on Website | No Comments »

I am pleased to announce the promotion of Louise Gruenberg to the position of Senior Usability Officer.  Louise brings to this position formal training and experience in information architecture (wire frames, interaction design, card sorts); iterative design (scenario-based, rapid prototyping); discount engineering methods (task analysis, functional analysis, heuristic evaluations); and an essential understanding of the usability lifecycle.  She has been working on the implementation of the ALA’s new website design and information architecture with UserWorks (ALA’s Usability Consultants) and the Web Editorial Board.  She also has extensive understanding about how to work in the Serena Collage web content management system to create site structures, left hand navigation, contribution documents and metadata forms.  Her experience as an educator and trainer is another plus, as our Web developers work to convert their existing site sections and provide ongoing maintenance of them in compliance with the new Web Style Guide and Accessibility requirements.

Louise’s achievements with other organizations include analysis of an online university’s research tutorial for appropriate interaction and instructional design strategies, and management of a publications program for communications and training that included communications and print, intranet and interactive online employee awareness materials.

Louise has spoken on information architecture and usability topics at national conferences, including the Information Architecture Summit.

Louise has a M.S., Library and Information Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Master of Adult Education from National-Louis University, and B.A., Design & Experimental Educations & K-12 Teacher Certification in Art Instruction from Goddard College.  Louise’s expertise will be focused on the implementation of ALA’s new website design and information architecture.  She will be working with ALA’s content managers to target specific areas for immediate improvement.  She will also perform ongoing usability studies for the website as required.

_____________________________________________________

Sherri Vanyek
Director, Information Technology & Telecommunication Services
American Library Association
50 East Huron
Chicago, IL. 60611

Phone: (800) 545-2433 x2437
Direct:  (312) 280-2437
Email: svanyek@ala.org
www.ala.org

____________________________________________________

Posted by Sherri under ITTS Staff | No Comments »