Minutes - InC-Library Collaboration - December 4, 2009
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Attending
Steven Carmody, Brown University (chair)
Lynn Garrison, Penn State University
Paul Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thomas Howell, Northwestern University
Andy Ingham, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Ranti Junus Michigan State University
Dave Kennedy, Duke University
Kent Percival, University of Guelph
Mark Scheible, North Carolina State University
Ann West, Internet2
Foster Zhang, Johns Hopkins University
Dean Woodbeck, Internet2 (scribe)
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Vendor Subgroup
Dave Kennedy reported on the vendor subgroup's efforts to identify library resource providers that are already Shib-enabled and are members of other federations. The concept is for a group of universities to approach those providers and ask them to join InCommon.
Toward that end, the subgroup has developed a survey that is available on Survey Monkey until December 15. The survey lists the top resource providers that are members of the UK federation and are of interest to U.S. libraries. It asks respondents whether they do business with these vendors and whether they would participate and/or lead an effort to have these companies join InCommon. The survey is available here:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8VVC7T5
The subgroup also publicized its best practices document, which is the result of meetings with vendors. Dave will send a last note to the community asking for comments on the document.
Next steps for the subgroup include:
- Revising the best practices document, based on feedback received.
- Starting on "how to" documentation, specifically with the EZProxy use case. This may not proceed if it is duplicating work from the use case subgroup.
- Scheduling a webinar to disseminate the subgroup's work and survey results to the community. This will probably happen in mid-January and Dean will work with Dave on setting a date.
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Use Case Subgroup
Thomas Howell reported on the recent progress of the use case subgroup. The group is pursuing a multi-step approach:
1) develop a "bedtime story" that states, in simple and clear language, what a user wants to do and the expected experience.
2) from that bedtime story, extract use cases to develop, again stated as simply as possible.
3) diagram the process flow demonstrated by the use cases.
4) develop case studies that describe implementation of the use case
The subgroup has completed steps 1, 2 and 3 for the Shibbolized EZ Proxy use case and will now identify case studies to complete the process. All of this is documented in the wiki and the subgroup is seeking comment: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/O4Og
General comments from those on the call was that this is a very good way to organize and provides information that can be used with librarians and other non-technical audiences. The diagrams provide more-details information that will be of valuable to technical people.
Next steps:
- the subgroup will finish the process with the EZProxy/Shibboleth scenario
- the subgroup will come back next time with a larger set of use cases
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Other Projects
Steve Carmody provided an update on several other projects of interest:
NISO has a subgroup working on a new charge that will also develop deliverables that can be approached in a more flexible way; one more likely to ensure that the deliverables can be implemented.
The Cardiff study - funded by the UK Federation operator, JISC, assessed the usability of various discovery mechanisms and used focus groups to identify a number of issues., JISC has since hired a consulting group that specializes in UI design to look at specific recommendations. That consultant's report is completed but not yet public.
The Shibboleth core team has reviewed and acted on a number of the JISC study recommendations and is working toward a consensus on a new approach to discovery. This is not yet public but likely will be in the next month or so. The approach will include making it easier for SPs to implement a discovery process on their sites and will likely support multiple federations.
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Next Meeting
The next full InC-Library meeting will be on Friday, January 29, at 1 p.m. EST. The subgroups will schedule 2-3 meeting each before that.