Monthly Archives: November 2015

Book Invasion! exhibit opens in Daley 11/18

Microsoft Word - BookInvasion invitation_w Student Names.docxAn exhibit featuring artist’s books made by students in Dianna Frid’s fall 2015 Introduction to Drawing (ART 112) class opens in the Richard J. Daley Library on Wednesday, November 18, 2015.

The description of the Book Invasion! exhibit notes that “each class participant found a second-hand book to explore as a metaphoric field in which to make drawings, collages and textual interventions.  Students were asked to take time to research their chosen book so as to generate related or new content based on what they discovered.”

An opening reception takes place on November 18, at 2:45 p.m.  The exhibit, located on the 2nd floor in the Daley Library, will be available through January 2016.

 

 

Dean’s News Briefs: November 6, 2015

Chancellor Amiridis City Club of Chicago Presentation
Chancellor Amiridis made a presentation at the City Club of Chicago on October 26. The presentation was very well received. Chancellor Amiridis talked about the important contributions UIC makes to the city and state economy, the state of the University in terms of research, quality programs, and student diversity, and plans for the future. I am happy to share a copy of the powerpoint with you, if you are interested.

Chancellor’s Goals – Continued from the Last Issue
In the last issue, I expanded on two of the Chancellor’s four areas of focus. This time I will expand briefly on the other two – alignment with Chicago and new business models. The Chancellor describes UIC as the public research university for Chicago. He wants to be sure that the university is closely aligned with the issues facing the city, its institutions and businesses. The Chancellor is putting together an advisory committee of key leaders in the city including the heads of corporations, foundations, and other institutions of higher education. He wants to be sure that UIC is further engaged in the surrounding communities and addressing local needs. He is also concerned that UIC better reflect the diversity of Chicago, particularly as it relates to the number of African-American students here. The Chancellor has already tasked Dean Tatum from the College of Education with developing an afternoon tutoring program for community schools that would involve UIC students as tutors.

In terms of new business models, the Chancellor wants to be sure that UIC can find a business model that will protect it from the fluctuations of the state budget process. He believes it important to develop new income streams (e.g., recruiting more international students, public/private partnerships) and ensure that the university is operating efficiently. He is eager to root out duplicative services and processes. He has already appointed another task force led by Dean Everett of CADA to review business processes and make recommendations for streamlining.

As I mentioned before, the Chancellor has also appointed a task force to flesh out the strategic goal areas he has identified. This group is chaired by Dean Pagano and Professor Robert Winn. Sandy De Groote is the Library representative on this group which meets for the first time tomorrow.

New Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Appointed
The Chancellor recently announced the appointment of Dr. Robert A. Barish, chancellor of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport, as UIC’s new Vice Chancellor for health affairs, pending Board approval. Dr. Barish will start his new role on January 1. We look forward to welcoming Dr. Barish and his family to Chicago. More about Dr. Barish can be found online.

Campus Awards Event
Just a reminder that the campus awards ceremony and reception is scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 10th, at the UIC Forum. Henry Vo and Linda Naru will be receiving awards, along with several staff who will be acknowledged for their years of service. I hope you will attend this event, if you possibly can to celebrate our colleagues. We will be having an All Staff meeting a bit later this fall to acknowledge these individuals, along with the other service recognition awards.

Website Redesign Kick-Off Meeting
The Web redesign team had its kick-off meeting with Pixo, our development partner on the project, on Wednesday of this week. The team aims to have a beta site ready for testing and review in the summer of 2016, with implementation slated for the fall semester. Tara Wood is leading this effort for the Library with many other staff deeply involved. My sincere thanks to all of you who will be working on this very important project. I know that it will take an enormous amount of effort to be done well and on schedule.

Campus Ethics Test
Thanks to everyone for helping the Library achieve 100% compliance with this state and University requirement. Your attention to this is very much appreciated.

Website Redesign Update #3

Kick Off Meeting with Pixo

The UIC Library Website Redesign officially kicked off today. Mary Case, Bob Sandusky, and the Web Advisory Group met with our project team at Pixo to review the proposed project timeline, brainstorm our major content goals for the new site, and review the project planning tools we’ll be using to keep everything on track.

Web Content Team

The members of the Web Content Team have been selected and approved by the Steering Committee. Each member will be in charge of a service area on the site, coordinating with library faculty and staff to get all of the information we’ll need to complete the new site content. The members of the team are:

  • Alex Castro
  • Amber Hoppenworth
  • Isabel Gonzalez-Smith
  • Rosie Hanneke
  • Dan Harper
  • Sandy DeGroote
  • Linda Naru

Ideation & Card Sort Activities

Cate showing off our library website love lettersWe’re continuing to research activities with students as the other pieces of the redesign are coming together. You can see the ideation activity we conducted at Daley Library. Students wrote love letters and breakup letters to the library website and filled out fill-in-the-blank mad libs that helped us to see what vocabulary students are using, their mental models around the library, what they love about the library, and what really frustrates them.

We’ll have a full report soon, but here’s one exceptional love letter (it rhymes!):

“Sometimes when I’m in a hurry, writing papers all sick and worried, you help me along the way. The ask a librarian chat is one I find works the best, especially when I’ve had no rest. Ordering a book is usually a breeze, only sometimes when I want to cancel the order, it never really works for me. I wish I could keep an ebook out, and stream films from home while I eat my alfalfa sprouts. In the end I have to say, a bug here, a bug there, but all in all I love you. I swear, I’d never make it through school without you.”

Thanks to Isabel Gonzalez-Smith and Rosie Hanneke for working with me and Cate at Pixo to develop these ideation activities! Fill-in-the-blank activitiesAdditional activities are coming up in Urbana, Rockford, Peoria, and at Student Center East and colleges on the west campus in Chicago. In-person card sorting activities will also take place soon in all of our library locations, and we’re looking into options for online participation in the card sorts as well.

Our student research is never done, but once we finish up these activities at the end of November, we’ll have the information we need to start laying out the information architecture and vocabulary for the site.
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