ALA Announces Changes and Improvements in Online Services

Sherri Vanyek, Director, ALA - ITTS

We are pleased to report that several improvements to ALA's online services are occurring. The ALA is making important additions and upgrades that will benefit its members in the following areas: continuing education, dues renewals/new member applications, member to member communication, finding and accessing information located in ALA's Web site, and publishing content on the site.

CE Clearinghouse

ALA's continuing education clearinghouse launched in September 2004. This clearinghouse allows for the entering of information for continuing education opportunities. That information is then presented in a calendar format on the ALA Web site, with links to additional information about each educational opportunity. The CE Clearinghouse can be found at http://www.ala.org/ceclearinghouse.

Dues Manager

This month (December 2004) we will launch the dues manager module. This module will allow members to join or renew through secured transaction with real time credit card validation over the Internet. These real time transactions will automatically be recorded in each member's record in our association management system (iMIS). Finally, an automated confirmation will be sent via e-mail to the member.

Online Communities

To further enhance continuing education and e-communities, in the spring of 2005, the ALA will launch an online communities application that will allow members to work online in virtual space, combining some of the many features common to widely-used Web sites like My Yahoo!, Web Junction, LiveJournal, and others.

An online community is essentially a controlled area of Web space in which a group of members can collaborate. The controlled area will have restricted access based on an ALA ID and password. The necessary features include: threaded discussion, shared links, shared files, event calendar, chat, archives, polling, member profile/business card, white board, online status of members/who's online, help, and the ability to integrate RSS. Seamless integration of online community discussion threads and shared workspaces, discussion list output, Web site access, and instantly-available information regarding the member's "place" in the mix of ALA communications and membership opportunities is the end goal of this large undertaking.

New Search Engine

ITTS, along with the member Web site Advisory Committee, has been at work identifying six candidates to replace the existing search engine on our Web site. The candidates included: HT://DIG, ASPSeek, DataParkSearch, Verity UltraSeek, Google Search Appliance, and Thunderstone Search Appliance. An evaluation tool was created and made public to collect feedback on all six potential candidates. Based on the feedback and after many conversations with the staff at Google and Ultraseek, we decided to go with Google. Both could accomplish what we were looking for, but Google made more economic sense and seemed to offer a solution that would integrate more easily to another CMS, as opposed to Ultraseek, where we might end up having to reinvent the wheel with a new CMS. Besides those issues, Google was the clear frontrunner in the survey. The Google search engine should be in place by Midwinter 2005.

Online Career Center

The Career Center is an electronic means of connecting job seekers with job providers. One unique feature of the career center is the ability to allow job providers to purchase print ads in American Libraries and C&RL News. This new software will be launched in 2005.

Content Management System

It is our intention to begin the process of re-evaluating our current CMS system. ALA will start with an expanded RFP that takes our experience into account. Our primary goal with a new system is to improve performance and stability of the Web site and to make it easier for content developers to publish their information. We plan to have the RFP ready in March 2005 with implementation beginning in fiscal 2006. This new system will cost at least $250,000.

WAI Accessibility Guidelines

We have found that most software written for not-for-profits do not meet the W3C's (World Wide Web Consortium) Web Accessibility Guidelines for priority I and priority II. We are now requesting that all vendors test their applications for compliance with these standards. We are also recommending that vendors test their applications with the JAWS screen reader and the IBM homepage reader, which is software that reads content on a Web site for the visually impaired.

These guidelines have been incorporated into a new style guide for Web content on the ALA Web site. A staff task force and the ALA Web site Advisory committee are working on drafting the style guide. For more information on the WAI guidelines, please go to http://www.w3.org/WAI.

Other ALA homepage improvements

ALA's site map has been replaced with a new A to Z listing of the Web site and provides a more comprehensive site map with improved navigation. You can access the site map from ALA's homepage and click on "Site Map" located at the very top. The "Contact Us" page has been simplified to provide easy communication with ALA services. Finally, the frequently asked questions "FAQ" has been updated and can now be easily accessed from the ALA homepage.