ELM Portal Survey Report

Matt Lee We know a bit about traffic and navigation through the ELM portal thanks to website analytics. But analytics can’t tell us much about the context of why people come to the portal and how successful they feel using it. So we drafted a survey to attempt to uncover that context. It was live on the portal between April and early June and promoted heavily during that time. Participation was encouraged with the promise of an iPad Mini to be awarded to a randomly selected respondent. In total, we heard from 245 people. Library staff, students, teachers, faculty members, administrators, and more participated in the survey and provided valuable feedback. Thank you for participating in the survey and for sharing it with your contacts. A happy congratulations is due to Mary DeYoung, a school librarian in Moose Lake, MN, who won the iPad Mini! On the day it arrived in the mail, she reported that she was already putting it to use. In order to digest and share survey findings, we thought we’d experiment with an interactive format. We chose Prezi with the hypothesis that it would help us present content visually and let us quickly zoom in on aspects of the report. While we initially conceived of it as an internal report, having put it together thought we’d share more broadly. To navigate through the ELM Portal Survey Report, use the arrows at the bottom of the report to move page-to-page in a linear fashion. You can also zoom and click/drag (as though you were looking at a Google Map) to move wherever you’d like. Prezi is Flash-based, so if you use a Flash-blocker you may need to allow the report. Highlights from the survey as a whole:

• K-12 students, school library staff, and public library staff were the most frequent participants in the survey.
• 83% of end-users (those who are not library staff) successfully used the ELM portal to find what they were looking for.
• 95% of library staff that use the portal were able to find a known database or discover a relevant new one.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"732","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-31 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"141","alt":"Survey-Teacher"}}]]Some of the report is pretty specific to the ELM portal, but other pieces might prove useful to you and your work. Browse the report to:

• Discover what websites students gravitate toward for research and what they like about those sites.
• Hear from teachers about the impact library databases have in their classrooms.
• Learn about successful and creative campaigns that library staff have used to promote library databases.
• Read stories of how library database content has been used.

In all, we were happy to learn that users were able to successfully navigate the portal to find what they were looking for (despite some reports of the very real challenge of matching researcher expectations to database realities). This reflects well on the redesign of the ELM portal. Reading through free text responses, we were also gratified to hear that respondents appreciate the big picture benefits to using library databases during research projects. This relates directly to the work you do to put library resources into context for your users. Finally, it was wonderful to hear stories of how people use ELM in their lives. It is clear that ELM is valued.  We didn’t need a survey to learn that, but it was nice to hear directly from library users anyway. Note: Thanks to Sarah Anderson in Minitex IT for her innovative work with Google Scripts in porting text responses from a jumbled spreadsheet to organized and segmented documents and in mapping responses by location.    

New Britannica School Interface Coming in July

Edited from Britannica [Note: Look for the interface discussed in this note to automatically appear in July. You shouldn’t need to change any links.] This summer, the next generation of Britannica School Edition called Britannica School will be live for all subscribers.  With this new version, you will find more than just a new look. You’ll discover new and effective ways to differentiate instruction and learning, advanced interactive features for students and educators, and easy access to Britannica content, anytime, anywhere, and on any device! Streamlined Homepage Choose your learning level with one click!  With every search, an easy toggle enables every student to access the same content at their reading level while exploring in an age-appropriate environment.  Students will also find easier access to images, videos, magazine articles, primary sources, and more! New Features Many new features are now available in Britannica School, including My Britannica and the Lesson Plan Builder. Teachers can create, save, and share interactive activities with other teachers and students. Learning games, animated lessons and study guides offer even more opportunities to connect with the content. Responsive Design Enjoy the same viewing experience on a tablet, smartphone, laptop, desktop computer, or any Internet-connected device with a Web browser. Retrieve and explore content anytime and anywhere ... classroom, library, home, or on the go!  

New Points of View Reference Center Interface Coming in August

Edited from EBSCO [Note: This new interface is scheduled to go live in August. You shouldn’t need to change any links to take advantage of it.] This summer, EBSCO will unveil a new user interface for Points of View Reference Center featuring an updated landing page and improved navigation. Key updates include:

• Revised navigation with topic trees
• Topical landing page and detailed record format
• Access to Common Core and State Curriculum Standards benchmarks