Ball State UniversityDigital Media Repository…a project of the University Libraries

Scholarly Resources for Teaching, Learning, and Research

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

Growth of the Digital Media Repository• February 10, 2005: 5,000 photographs in 3

collections in the Middletown Digital Archives

• February, 2010: Nearly 200,000 digital objects in 89 collections in the DMR, including

• Architectural Drawings and Slides• Artwork • Audio and Video• Maps and Atlases• Photographs• Publications (Newspapers; Scholarly Journals)• Sheet Music

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

New Public Interface - January 2010

• Working Group charged with improving the user experience, enhancing navigation, utilizing Web 2.0 technologies, and adding new search options

• New interface increases visibility, search engine rankings, usability, and use

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

Some Google Analytics and Survey Results

• 95% of DMR users are able to view wider pages without having to scroll horizontally

• 95% use browsers that support Java and all users had some version of flash installed

• 85% prefer to browse using an alphabetical arranged list of collection titles

• Narrative responses indicated a preference for more information than just titles and images on the Browse pages

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

Enhancements to DMR Public Interface

Web 2.0 Enhancements include:

• Cooliris media viewer to allow users to browse collections from home page in an interactive environment

• AddThis social bookmarking tool to allow users to easily share DMR content on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Delicious.

• Flickr photostream to encourage user interaction with digital assets

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

Enhancements to DMR Public Interface

Navigation and Browsing Enhancements include:

• Left side navigation bar on all pages with options to browse by subject, location, format, and contributors

• Browse pages that arrange content by subject, location, format, contributor, and individual collections

• Added brief descriptions of collections to the Browse pages

• “Spotlight on New Collections” with user controlled revolving images

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

Enhancements to DMR Public Interface

Searching Enhancements include:

• Search boxes added to splash pages

• Predefined advanced searches by subject, location, format, and contributors

• Faceted searching

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends

New DMR Public Interface

Let’s see the new DMR interface in action

http://libx.bsu.edu

Ball State University LibrariesA destination for research, learning, and friends