Searchpath @ Rutgers
Roberta Tipton, Rutgers University Libraries
Digital Resources and Librarians: Invention and
Implementation
June 6, 2005
Thanks to Jeanne Boyle and Sam
McDonald for their contributions to
this presentation.
What We Did
 Adapted a tutorial created by Western
Michigan University for use by students,
faculty, and librarians at Rutgers University
 Rewrote content for our catalog, index, approaches
 Created backend for handling quizzes and
gathering statistics
Rutgers Context
 2,500 faculty
 50,000 students
 Located across New
Jersey at three main
campuses
 Growing number of offcampus and distance
education students
 87 librarians
 17,000 students taught
in nearly
 1,000 library instruction
sessions
Previous Experience with Systemwide
Tutorials
 eCollege tutorial
 Single person
 eCollege technical support
 KnowledgeMaze
 Committee effort
 Never became interactive
Our Goals
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Address information literacy competencies
Serve students at all appropriate levels
Increase effectiveness of librarian-led sessions
Expand reach to students we currently do not
serve
The Players
Jeanne Boyle
Associate University Librarian

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Administration liaison/Champion
Administrative support
License
Image permissions
Instructional Services Committee
 Instruction coordinators from every unit of
Rutgers
 Content
 Assessment plan
 Implementation
Sam McDonald, Webmaster

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Feasibility studies
Workspace
Scheduling
Coding
Programming
Harry Glazer, Communications
 Marketing plan
 Low-cost alternatives
Marilyn Wilt, Training
 Will implement training for library staff
Administrative Planning Process
 Strategic Plan for RUL
 Cabinet Strategy for Information Literacy
 A Learning Framework for Information
Literacy and Library Instruction Programs at
Rutgers University Libraries
 Information Literacy Initiative Planning
Spring Semester, 2004
 Faculty Advisory Group
 Symposium
The “Make or Buy” Decision
 Time
 Cost
 Chose TILT as adapted by Western Michigan
University
 Ended up “making” AND “buying”
Searchpath @ Western Michigan
 Developed 2000-2001
 Based on TILT
 Open publication
license
 Adopted by a growing
number of libraries
 Zip file downloaded by
Rutgers dated March
2003
 800 files, 8 megabytes
 Old HTML
 No backend
Technical Changes

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Pages re-coded to use style sheets
Some tables retained
Extraneous HTML discarded
Flash to rebuild "Information Overload" and
"Thinkfast game"
Technical Changes
 Backend created with PHP and MySQL to
enable

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Page counting
Records of quizzes
JavaScript for quiz validation
Server-side includes for easy management,
updating
 Future extendibility
 Email quiz results
Technical Issues and Challenges
 Requirements

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Apache, PHP, MySQL installation, with mail host
PHP programmer
Database designer
Flash editor and software
XHTML, CSS, JavaScript skills
 Converting quizzes from JavaScript to PHP
Marketing
 Signature file
 Better Research, Better Papers, Better Grades! Try
Searchpath, our new online information literacy tutorial.

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Website news and placement
Email to library personnel
Ads in student newspapers
Pens
Notepads for department chairs
Articles in Targum and Focus
Word of mouth
What We Have Learned
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Support from the top is essential
Project management is key
Open source is barely and rarely good enough
Need to sell the product
It’s a never ending story
Next Steps
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iLink—New catalog version
Assessment
Market for fall
Reports
 Generate graphs for visually displaying usage
 Export for analysis with SPSS
 NetID login vs.guests
Searchpath @ Rutgers
Better Research, Better Papers, Better
Grades!
Questions?
 Roberta Tipton
 tipton@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Resources
 Searchpath
 http://searchpath.libraries.rutgers.edu/
 A Bridge to the Future
 http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/about/long_ran
ge_plan.shtml
 Strategy for Information Literacy
 http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/staff/groups/in
structional_services/reports/info_lit_strategy.shtml
Resources
 A Learning Framework for Information Literacy and
Library Instruction Programs at Rutgers University
Libraries
 http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/staff/groups/instruction
al_services/reports/learning_frameworks.shtml
 Information Literacy Initiative Planning
Spring Semester, 2004
 http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/staff/groups/instruction
al_services/reports/infolit-init-planning-sp04.shtml
Resources
 Fowler, C.S. and Dupuis, E.A. What have we
done? TILT’s impact on our instruction
program. Reference Services Review,
November 2000, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 343-349