MyLibrary Interface

 Introduction
 MyLibrary Sites
 MyLibrary Project
 Other Customizable Interface Sites
 Documentation
 Listserv
 WWW Articles
 Further References

This resource offers annotated links to many significant sites of interest. Sites may include directories, databases, topic resources, organisations, professional and general information.

Comments and contribution to this listing are welcome.

Introduction

The MyLibrary interface is a user-centered, customizable interface to  Library collections of information resources. The interface allows the user to see a customised view of resources from where ever they log in. Some of the services provided include remote authentication, access to circulation information services, document delivery, subject specific groupings of content and updates and much more.

MyLibrary Sites

 California Polytechnic State University, Robert E. Kennedy Library
Added features include a number of automatic alerting services which can be added to the users page to keep them up to date in specific subject areas.
URL: http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/mylib/cgi-bin/index.cgi 

 Cornell University Library
URL: http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/peswg/screens/MyLibraryLogin.html 

 Roger Williams University Library
"The "My Library" service lets you create your own personal web page, with shortcuts to your favorite library research tools and web sites."
URL: http://alpha.rwu.edu/library/mylib3.html 

 Toronto Public Library - Career Bookmarks
"Career Bookmarks is a gateway to job and career related information. Information has been organised according to the career planning and job search process and users are encouraged to develop their own 'filebox' or customized list of resources."
URL: http://careerbookmarks.tpl.toronto.on.ca/ 

 University of Washington Libraries - My Gateway
Established in 1998, this service enables users to add and remove categories, developing their own unique view. Categories can be private  or public (collections of links created by Libraries staff for the users convenience). Categories include frequently used resources (private), news of the day (public), library services (private) and a selection of public categories (subject information, electronic resources, links to the catalogue etc). Users can also access their Patron Record information.
URL: http://www.lib.washington.edu/resource/help/MyGateway.html 

 University of Utah, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library
"Personalized Eccles is a new feature of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library Web Page that allows individuals to display only the library services that suit their individual needs.  You set up your own version of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library Web Page. You get only the information you want, establish links to the limited number of electronic journals of interest to you, stay current with what’s new at the Library and personalize your Internet experience."
URL: http://medstat.med.utah.edu/personalize/welcome.html 

Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
Customizable features include quick search options, database services, subject lists, specific databases, electronic journals, forms and services, and personalized bookmarks. Guest access is provided.
URL: http://www.library.vcu.edu/mylibrary/

MyLibrary Project

 Demonstration, building on the "Basic Idea" for the HeadLine PIE
This demonstration builds upon the "Basic Idea" for the HeadLine Personal Information Environment (PIE). This demonstration scenario is an example of what we think a 'typical' student user session might involve. Pete the student uses the PIE to add a new resource to his page and then to search for information for a forthcoming assignment. 
URL: http://www.headline.ac.uk/publications/pie/  
URL: http://www.headline.ac.uk/publications/pie.html  

 'The HeadLine Personal Information Environment (PIE)' 
Autumn 99 issue of the HeadLine newsletter
URL: http://www.headline.ac.uk/public/diss/nl-pie.pdf 

Other Customizable Interface Sites

A small sample of WWW sites providing customizable interfaces.

 University of California, Los Angles
Since its establishment in October 1997, over 33,000 different students have successfully created unique interfaces to UCLA pages. My UCLA includes access to class schedules, campus information and web based email, a guest page and technical documentation.
URL: http://my.ucla.edu/  

 Crayon - Create Your Own Newspaper
At this site you set up a free personalized "newspaper," with links to updated headlines from on-line news organizations in various categories.
URL: http://www.crayon.net/ 

 My Yahoo!
URL: http://my.yahoo.com/ 

 My Excite
URL: http://www.excite.com/ 

 Headline's Links to Portals
Provides a list of various different sites that provide users with personal portals.
URL: http://www.headline.ac.uk/public/useful/portals.html 

Documentation

About MyLibrary@NCState
"A brain-child of the Digital Library Initiatives Department of the NCSU Libraries, the technical foundation of MyLibrary is a relational database, a Web server, and a set of scripts providing mediation between the two." This page provides a whole set of documents relating to the development of the service at NC State:  issues to be addressed, installation, source code, to do lists etc.
URL: http://my.lib.ncsu.edu/about/ 

Listserv

WWW Articles

MyLibrary in Your Library
Contains a pre-edited version of a paper by Eric Lease Morgan, "MyLibrary in Your Library Could Make for Satisfied Patrons", Computers in Libraries 18(5):40-41, May 1998.
URL: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/morgan/cil/reference/  

MyLibrary: A Model for Implementing a User-centered, Customizable Interface to a Library's Collection of Information Resources
"The paper describes an extensible model for implementing a user-centered, customizable interface to a library's collection of information resources. This model, called MyLibrary, integrates principles of librarianship (collection, organziation, dissemination, and evaluation) with globably networked computing resources creating a dynamic, customer-driven front-end to any library's set of materials."
URL: http://my.lib.ncsu.edu/about/paper/ 

MyLibrary@NCState: The Implementation of a User-centered, Customizable Interface to a Library's Collection of Information Resources
Describes MyLibrary@NCState, an extensible implementation of a user-centered, customizable interface to a library's collection of information resources.
URL: http://my.lib.ncsu.edu/about/sigir-99/index.html 

Taking Portals Personally: A Design Review
Compares the different personalization functions for these portals to determine which had the best features.
URL: http://www.webreview.com/1999/04_30/index.shtml  

Further References

Horst, R. L. and J. Bzostek (1999). Findings from a Heuristic Usability Evaluation of the MyLibrary/Current Awareness Web Interface. Silver Spring, MD, UserWorks, Inc.