UC-eLinks Assessment Report Available

By Steve Toub, UC-eLinks Project Manager

CDL recently conducted an assessment concerning existing and potential service options for the UC-eLinks service menu. This assessment was conducted at UCSC and UCLA in November 2007. The scope of the assessment was broader than last February’s assessment and the modest redesign that was completed last summer: it covered such issues as how users enter the service menu, whether want to go directly to full text items (bypassing the service menu entirely), and the “UC-eLinks” name.

The report is available for your review at: http://www.cdlib.org/inside/assess/evaluation_activities/docs/2007/UC-eLinks_report_nov2007.pdf

The most significant recommendation is to “explore the potential for changing the service menu window to feature direct linking in a frame”. Another significant recommendation is to retain the existing UC-eLinks name and orange button.

Pending the blessing of our campus partners, CDL will begin a design and development effort to implement direct linking in a frame. If users validate that they prefer this implementation over the existing service menu, we plan to implement the change in production.