From an Autonomous to a Collaborative Website Redesign Process: The University of Denver Libraries Experience

Librarians traditionally have insisted on designing and developing the library’s website in-house. An inhouse developed website allows librarians full control of its design, content, and delivery. The library website is also distinguished by its research orientation compared to the university’s marketing-driven purposes. However, in the age of gaining competitive advantage by promoting campus branding, shared services, and collaborative initiatives by various administrative units, libraries could be a stronger partner with other campus departments. This article describes the University of Denver Libraries’ transformation from an autonomous information silo to an integrated Web portal within the University’s Marketing & Communication division. In the course of this change, unlike turning a switch on or off, the librarians experienced stages of uncertainty, denial, negotiation, and acceptance. The project was successfully completed and became an exemplar for many other campus-wide initiatives. By sharing this experience, the authors hope to encourage other libraries to consider the tangible and intangible benefits that university-wide collaborations can elicit

Portals and university libraries

Section 2: Chapter 8Postprin

'Any Portal in a Storm?' Online Engagement Patterns of First Year QUT Students

Engaging new students in tertiary study, amidst the storm of their adjustment to university life, should harness conventional physical as well as new virtual spaces to ensure (as urged by McInnis 2003, p.9) learning opportunities are maximised inside and outside of the classroom. When ubiquitous information, merged technologies, blurred social-study-work boundaries, multitasking and hyperlinked online interactions epitomise generational routines (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005); positive, rewarding interactions through virtual space "portals" may establish the mode and intensity of on- and off-campus student experience. Conventional modes of curriculum delivery and learning support that hinge on presentation of material according to (for example) scheduled topic sessions, contact times and administrative office hours, do not necessarily fully accommodate these new social realities (James, 2002, p.81), contemporary learning practices or transition-informed curriculum design (Kift, 2005). In this paper, quantitative data and rich qualitative information from internal and external surveys are triangulated to examine the patterns of online engagement for students at QUT. These patterns inform our ongoing project that seeks to tailor the delivery of curriculum mediated resources within a virtual space

'First Portal in a Storm': A Virtual Space for Transition Students

The lives of millennial students are epitomised by ubiquitous information, merged technologies, blurred social-study-work boundaries, multitasking and hyperlinked online interactions (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). These characteristics have implications for the design of online spaces that aim to provide virtual access to course materials, administrative processes and support information, all of which is required by students to steer a course through the storm of their transition university experience. Previously we summarised the challenges facing first year students (Kift & Nelson, 2005) and investigated their current online engagement patterns, which revealed three issues for consideration when designing virtual spaces (Nelson, Kift & Harper, 2005). In this paper we continue our examination of students’ interactions with online spaces by considering the perceptions and use of technology by millennial students as well as projections for managing the virtual learning environments of the future. The findings from this analysis are informed by our previous work to conceptualise and describe the architecture of a transition portal