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The IPL Class(es) Of…

Timeline of Student Participation in the Growth of the IPL

Each year, students in IPL workshop courses seek out ways to improve the IPL, whether by maintaining and expanding its subject collections, enhancing usability, proposing new functionality, or building special collections. Below are described the invaluable contributions that students have made, all of which will hold long-term benefits for the IPL and its patrons.

Note: IPL workshop courses are graduate courses at IPL consortium partner or managing partner library and information science programs. Prior to the IPL’s move to Drexel University in December 2007, almost all IPL workshops were held at the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, where the IPL was created.

Navigation (by Semesters)

Winter 2009

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Winter of 2009.

INFO 740: Digital Libraries, Dr. Eileen Abels, Drexel University

Students in this class answered reference questions for the IPL, evaluated IPL user’s new site suggestions, helped with checking broken links in the IPL, and then worked in teams to work on 4 group projects. The teams were the New and Emerging Technologies (NETs) team , the Marketing and Outreach Team (MOT), the Reference Administrators (RAs) team, and Collection Specialists (CSs) team.

The New/Emerging Technologies (NETs) team scanned the professional literature and popular press, existing digital libraries and online reference services, as well as alternate information providers, to identify technologies which could be included in the IPL for use by patrons or librarians. The environmental scan produced a list of 21 new/emerging technologies, of which 10 were described in detail on factors including ease of use, cost, and benefit to IPL user groups, for review and ranking by INFO740 LIS graduate students.

The Marketing and Outreach Team (MOT) created a birthday video, an IPL slideshow and a KidSpace video all showcasing resources of the IPL and posted on the IPL Networks. They also began discussing other marketing ideas that may be acted on by future MOTs.

The Reference Administrators (RAs) team helped with the daily functioning of the Ask an IPL Librarian email reference service. They decided which questions the service could answer, moved questions into appropriate "to be answered" categories for other students and volunteers to answer, adjusted questions’ subject lines to help other students and volunteers more quickly identify what a question was about, answered questions when the service did not have others to do so, and asked patrons for additional information if their questions seemed unclear.

The Collection Specialists (CSs) team worked on evaluating, removing, and adding resources within one or more areas of the IPL’s Subject Collections that they selected. Only resources that met the IPL’s Collection Policy’s selection criteria were added or kept, and the metadata describing these resources was revised in the IPL’s Hypatia database to make it as complete and as accurate as possible.

INFO 653: Digital Libraries, Dr. Jung-ran Park, Drexel University

The 23 students in this workshop each checked links for 5 records in the IPL’s Hypatia database.

Fall 2008

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Fall of 2008.

INFO 740: Special Topics: Digital Reference, Dr. Eileen Abels, Drexel University

All students in this course evaluated 5 IPL users’ site suggestions for inclusion on the IPL and collaborated using the IPL’s Learning Community, hosted at Florida State University. Each of the students in this course also had a choice of jobs related to maintaining and assisting the Ask an IPL Digital Librarian Reference service. These jobs are:

  • assisted the Ask an IPL Digital Librarian Reference service by providing "quick answers" to questions if patrons needed answers the same day or the next
  • answering questions that remained unclaimed by other IPL digital librarians for 5 or more days
  • answering questions that had bad email addresses
  • answering questions after our quota of unclaimed questions had been reached

Some students provided answers to the following types of questions:

  • RJDPs which require "quick answers" – these questions are posed by patrons who need answers within 24 hours
  • sludge – questions that remain unclaimed after 5 or more days
  • bounced questions – questions that had bad e-mail addresses
  • quota overflow – questions that came in when we had reached our quota of unclaimed questions.

Here is what some of the students in the workship did specifically.

  • Calida Barboza answered bounced and quota overflow questions.
  • Christine Gumina answered rjdps, sludge, and bounced questions. She also shared her experiences about what she learned as an IPL volunteer and intern with other graduate students in the IPL Learning Community as these experiences related to the IPL coursework in INFO 740.
  • Debra Johnson responded to Ask an IPL Librarian questions, identified at least 30 bad links on the IPL web site and blogged in the IPL Learning Community.
  • Susan Saridakis answered bounced and quota overflow questions.

This photo collage is of, or just from, the students in this class. Students could send in whatever photo they wished for us to post.

INFO 608: Human-Computer Interaction, Dr. Michael Khoo, Drexel University

The 16 students in this workshop each evaluated the metadata records in the IPL’s Hypatia database, which was part of a larger project, creating a design for a new interface the Hypatia database which better integrated the IPL’s qualitative analysis needs.

The students in this workshop were:

  • Danielle Bernardino
  • Michael Brennan
  • Katherine Chuang
  • Aparna Gundabathula
  • Manisha Joshi
  • Nicole Karam
  • Craig MacDonald
  • David Marino
  • Sumanth Nalluru
  • Kingsley Nyarko
  • Suresh Rajappa
  • Aaron Reisner
  • Lillian Rozaklis
  • Christen Sylvester
  • Nilesh Tailor
  • Rayesh Upadhyay

INFO 653: Digital Libraries, Dr. Xia Lin, Drexel University

The 25 students in this workshop each checked links for 10 records in the IPL’s Hypatia database.

Helga Luedtke, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart/Germany

For the Internet Public Library’s Literary Criticism collection, the following students selected and annotated print and online resources on author Christa Wolf: Claudia Maria Bihlmaier, Markus Birkner, Katja Buchholz, Johanna Gröschel, Leonie Hintz, Monika Huber, Stefanie Kappes, Mareike Koch, Heike Monika Lambrecht, Miriam Lamparter, Judith Probstmeyer, Christina Reul, Rebekka Schmich, Helen Schneider.

Here is a photo of the students: (click image for larger photo

Stt

LIS5916: Virtual Reference Environments, Dr. Lorri Mon, Florida State University

Students in this course had a choice of projects to work on, some of which involved the IPL. Students also collaborated on projects using the IPL’s Learning Community, hosted at Florida State University.

The following students worked with the Ask an IPL Librarian Reference Service, providing answers to a variety of questions, including "quick answers" to questions if patrons needed answers the same day or the next and answering questions after our quota of unclaimed questions had been reached; sludge questions, which can be trickier than the "average" IPL question; and Quota overflow questions:

  • Jenna Daugherty
  • Marian Hickes
  • Laurel Hansen
  • Dena Rebozo
  • Julian Rew-Davis
  • Julie Turner
  • Amelia Anderson
  • Jennifer Hopkins
  • Jennifer Mitts

The following student was a Reference Adminstrator for the IPL, responsible for the daily functioning of the Ask an IPL Librarian email reference service:

  • Jennifer Hopkins

The following students evaluated metadata in records in the IPL’s primary database, a.k.a. Hypatia:

  • Laurel Hansen
  • Julie Turner

The following student reviewed IPL users’ site suggestions for inclusion in the IPL’s collections:

  • Julian Rew-Davis

The following students participated in Slam the Boards:

  • Marian Hickes
  • Amelia Anderson
  • Deanna Cross
  • Alexander Cruz

The following students worked on Facebook:

  • Alexander Cruz
  • Thomas Parker

The following students worked in Second Life:

  • Catherine Anyaso
  • Timothy Bishop
  • Anita Hardy
  • Lisa Zilinski

The following student created a Meebo chat room:

  • Sally Fortin

The following students worked on creating new collections in the IPL, which involved learning how to use and create metadata for the IPL’s Hypatia database.

  • Jenna Daugherty, Jennifer Hopkins, Jennifer Mitts and Deanna Cross worked on creating a new collection for the IPL of podcasts of children’s books held in Florida State University’s Goldstein Library.
  • Joanna Arnold, Erica Baker and Thomas Parker worked on creating a new collection for the IPL of images by Robert Lawson, the only person to ever win both the Newberry and Caldecott awards, in his books. These images are owned by Florida State University’s Goldstein Library.

SI 596: Practical Engagement Workshop: Digital Librarianship, Dr. Soo Young Rieh, University of Michigan — Ann Arbor

All students in this course reviewed 5 IPL users’ site suggestions for inclusion in the IPL and reviewed the metadata for 10 records in the IPL’s primary database, a.k.a. Hypatia. Then the students broke up into smaller groups and worked on the following projects.

  • Creating a collection of open source or open intellectual property resources and tools on the IPL.
  • Creating a collection of podcasts on the IPL.
  • Writing up a proposal suggesting how tagging, using delicious or other free and popular online tagging tools/services, could be used on and integrated into the IPL.
  • Updating and expanding the IPL’s collection of video game resources, including reviews, good stuff on making games, history of games, social aspects, gaming and learning.

Summer 2008

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Summer of 2008.

INFO 653: Digital Libraries, Dr. Xia Lin, Drexel University

The 24 students in this workshop each checked links for 10 records in the IPL’s Hypatia database and evaluated 5 of those records’ metadata for completeness.

Spring 2008

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Spring of 2008.

INFO 780 Special Topics: Digital Reference, Dr. Eileen Abels, Drexel University

The 24 students in this workshop answered questions for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question digital reference service, evaluated IPL site user’s new site suggestions, and updated or created IPL Pathfinders (online research guides).

photo montage
This photo collage is of, or just from, the students in this class.
Students could send in whatever photo they wished for us to post.

Kristin Cancellieri worked on providing "quick" answers to questions submitted to the Ask-a-Question reference service and has updated the "Pet Care" and "Starting a Small Business" IPL Pathfinders.

Nan Brunson Carmack updated and re-organized the IPL Pathfinder for decisions about adopting or buying a dog or puppy, since hers plays such a big part in her own life. Nan also served Monday-morning QWKANS shifts and enjoyed helping weekend students with their questions.

Caroline Dechert dabbled in collection development and moonlighted in "Quick" Reference.

Marguerite Dube worked on revising and updating the IPL Pathfinder on "Fitness and Exercise", and created an IPL Pathfinder on "Money Management for Kids".

Donna Mansfield created the IPL Pathfinders for "Looking for a Mystery" and "Choosing a Cat or Kitten" and answered "Sludge" and "Quota Overflow" reference questions.

Crystal Newell assisted with answering "Sludge" and "Quota Overflow" reference questions and created the "Alternative Energy/Hybrid Vehicles" IPL Pathfinder.

Brigid Novak answered "Sludge" and "Quota Overflow" reference questions each week, filled out metadata forms for "new site" suggestions, participated in the IPL Learning Community on a weekly basis, updated an IPL Pathfinder for antiques and for health-related topics.

Linda Pabian answered some questions on IPL’s Ask-a-Question Reference Service and updated an IPL Pathfinder on "Budget Travel".

Nancy Picchi created an IPL Pathfinder on the expansion of the United States westward and performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Ami Regnier updated the "Say Hello pages" in KidSpace, created a new spotlight and pathfinder covering the Olympics, and answered patron email questions for the digital reference service.

Kari Tucker performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service and updated IPL Pathfinders on planning a wedding and books and book groups.

INFO 653: Digital Libraries, Dr. Xia Lin, Drexel University

The 24 students in this workshop each checked links for 10 records in the IPL’s Hypatia database and evaluated 5 of those records’ metadata for completeness.

Winter 2008

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Winter of 2008.

INFO 653: Digital Libraries, Dr. Xia Lin, Drexel University

The 24 students in this workshop each checked links for 10 records in the IPL’s Hypatia database and evaluated 5 of those records’ metadata for completeness.

SI 596, Practical Engagement Workshop: Digital Librarianship, Dr. Soo Young Rieh, University of Michigan — Ann Arbor

The students in this workshop answered questions for the IPL’s Ask a Question digital library reference service, and checked links and evaluated IPL users’ new site suggestions for the IPL’s collections stored in Hypatia.

Some of the students in this workshop were…

  • Young Joo (Grace) Jeon
  • Maria Stamboulidis

Fall 2007

The following universities hosted workshops in which students worked on the IPL in the Fall of 2007.

LIS5916, Virtual Reference Environments, Dr. Lorri Mon, Florida State University

Florida State University workshop class members’s avatars in Second Life, Fall 2007
Florida State University Workshop Class Members’ Avatars in Second Life, Fall 2007
(click for larger image)

Beth Baldwin worked on creating a new Author Biographies pathfinder and performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Amy Bokser worked on creating a new banned books area in the IPL subject collections. She also worked on creating a new spotlight for Banned Books Week and on updating the IPL’s Say Hello to the World exhibit in KidSpace.

Melissa Elder worked on a resource linking the IPL’s youth-related collections in Rachelville in Second Life Libraries’ Imagination Island.

Leanna Fry worked on creating a new spotlight for Banned Books Week. She also worked on updating the IPL’s Say Hello to the World exhibit in KidSpace.

Kristen Jernigan worked on a copyright guide for students.

Patricia Massard worked on creating a World War I pathfinder and participated in creating a "Slam the Boards" press release.

Rodney McElveen worked on updating the IPL’s style and writing guide subject collection under reference.

Glynis Miller worked on creating social networking pages for the IPL in Facebook, participated in creating a "Slam the Boards" press release, and performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Raishara Nelson performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service and worked on a pathfinder for parents of children with asthma.

Kimberly Reycraft worked on creating a new banned books area in the IPL subject collections. She also worked on creating a new spotlight for Banned Books Week.

Jenna Rinalducci worked on a copyright guide for librarians.

Sheri Scovil worked on a creating an American Revolution pathfinder and performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Suzanne Sherry worked on updating the IPL’s knitting subject collection and performed reference librarianship duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Mitchell Silverman Mitchell Silverman performed reference administration duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service, and also worked on a resource linking the IPL’s law-related information in the Info Island Law Library in Second Life.

Melanie Smith worked on creating a social networking page for the IPL in MySpace.

Dale Thomas created a new pathfinder for African-American musicians’ and composers’ biographies.

Melony Washington worked on creating a new African-American Biography pathfinder.

INFO 780 Special Topics: Digital Reference, Dr. Eileen Abels, Drexel University

Drexel IPL Workshop Class Photo, Fall 2007
Drexel IPL Workshop Class Photo, Fall 2007
(click for larger image)

Karen Emmons worked on creating a soccer pathfinder. She also worked on improving the IPL’s genealogy resources.

Melissa Musick worked on providing "quick" answers to questions submitted to the Ask-a-Question reference service when a full answer could not be provided to a patron by the requested need by date. She also worked on improving the IPL’s resources in regards to music and sexuality.

Bronwen Densmore weeded the Dance and Science Fiction collections, and worked as a collection developer in Science Fiction

Prather Egan worked as a Collection Developer, evaluating and contributing resources on the topics of Immigration and Quotations.

Sandra Keirsey was a Ref Admin for the term.

Jill Keller worked on creating a whistle blower protection pathfinder.

Eamon Tewell performed reference administration duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Beth Zug performed reference administration duties for the IPL’s Ask-a-Question reference service.

Winter 2007

University of Michigan Workshop:

SI 596/696, Digital Librarianship, Dr. Maurita Holland, University of Michigan

Each class member had to evaluate new user suggestions for the IPL’s main Subject Collections, Kidspace, Teenspace, and Serials. A portion of these suggestions came from the University of Michigan School of Information’s 647 class who answerd questions for the IPL’s Ask a Question reference service, and the rest of the suggestions came from user submissions to the IPL’s Contact Us online form. Class members also evaluated and added user suggstions for the IPL’s POTUS (Presidents of the United States) Special Collection, which required editing HTML code for the pages. In addition to this, each class member worked on individual projects described below.

Kathryn Bergeron worked on updating the Parents and Teacher’s corner links in the IPL’s Kidspace Subject Collections.

Patrick Fuller worked on an Emerging New Technologies Special Collection for the IPL.

Joy Kim worked on revising and updating the Education subheading of the IPL’s main Subject Collections.

Katherine MacDougall worked on revising and updating the Medical and Health subheadings of the IPL’s Subject Collections.

Elizabeth Pickard worked on revising and updating the Archive subheadings of the IPL’s main Subject Collections.

Paul Jordan worked on evaluating and acting on user suggestions for the IPL’s Native American Authors collection.

Michaela Willi Hooper, Sara Wedell, Ann Claflin, Theresa Bates, Jennifer Burke, and Andrea Japzon all performed reference administration for the IPL’s Ask a Question reference service.

Andrew McLetchie worked on moving the blog collection, originally a static HTML page, into the main IPL database, reevaluating the links found there and generating missing metadata for them, and he evaluated user suggestions for the IPL’s blog collections submitted to the IPL’s Contact Us form.

Fall 2006

All members of this class worked on 3 very large projects for the IPL: link-checking thousands of links in the IPL’s subject collections, evaluating suggestions for the IPL’s subject collections submitted to the IPL’s Contact Us online form by users, and link-checking the IPL’s Literary Criticism database. As described below, 2-5 class members led the class in each project, and a couple class members worked on individual projects described below.

Alex Watson and Lizzie Ehrenhalt led the class in checking the links in the Literary Criticism Collection. They also worked on creating updates for the Literary Criticism guide, and they evaluated and added suggestions from users for this collection.

Amy Barrit, Julia Lovett, Andrew MacLaren, and Jason Young led the class in an extensive link-checking project for the IPL’s Subject Collections and then reviewed the work done by their peers.

Dawn King, Lauren Plews, and Calla Smith-Dowling led the class in evaluating suggestions for the IPL’s subject collections submitted to the IPL’s Contact Us online form by users. They also evaluated newspaper suggestions (foreign and in English) submitted by users.

Ruthie Freeman and Jennifer Simon both worked on putting up a special Election page for the 2006 U.S. elections. Ruthie Freeman worked on a new Automobile Maintenance and Repair subheading in the IPL’s main Subject Collections. Jennifer Simon worked on updating and expanding the Language and Literature subheadings in the IPL’s main Subject Collections.

Theresa Betts, Ann Claflin, Jenel Cotton, Thea Morton, Michaela Willi Hooper, and Sara Wedell all performed reference administration for the IPL’s Ask a Question reference service.

Spring/Summer 2006

Students at Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart/Germany, selected resources and added metadata in English and German.

Click this link to see their work and some class photos.

Winter 2006

Yu-Chieh Chang and Jiyeon Yang greatly expanded our links on many Asian countries in our Regional subject collection. They also reorganized the narrower term subject headings in that collection and evaluated existing links therein.

Yung-Hui Chien created a new subject collection listing homepages for United States state libraries and state e-libraries.

Kristy Cooper, Kimberly Fletcher, and Jody Harnish all served as reference administrators for the Ask A Question reference service, accepting and rejecting incoming reference questions.

Sarah Cwiek developed a new category in our Regional subject collection, Latin America, evaluated relevant existing links for inclusion in that collection, and found new links to include in it.

Saradina Doan evaluated user suggestions, requests for additions or inclusions, and bad links reports regarding the Native American Authors collection.

Alejandro C. De Baca, Tracey Hughes, and Kiwon Yoon collaborated on a pilot project for using Google Maps to create a graphical interface that would organize our newspaper links collection geographically.

Renata Ewing evaluated the entire KidSpace subject collection, adding or evaluating 120 links, and suggested many new changes to searching, layout, and collection development policy.

Scott Hanley worked on improving the Science Fair Resource Guide, evaluating and adding links and providing a new look and layout for the site.

Madelyn Hawk answered “Sludge” questions (accepted but unclaimed by IPL librarians after 3 days) for the Ask A Question reference service.

Mark Joseph worked on finishing the Book Recommender system based on Nancy Perl’s books on reader’s advisory.

Chessa Hickox evaluated and expanded two parts of the IPL subject collection: the Pregnancy, Birth, and Breastfeeding part of the Women’s Health section and the Girls’ Zines collection in the IPL’s TeenSpace.

Ashley Koebel organized, evaluated, and added to the links to the Myths and Fables subject collection page in KidSpace.

Jillean McCommons added a new Book Lists subject collection to Kidspace. These are links to sites providing lists of recommend books by grade, subject, etc.

Kerri Pepperman redesigned the overall look of KidSpace.

Maddalena Rumor created an Italian Ready Reference collection similar to the German Ready Reference collection.

Andy Schuck came up with the idea for the IPLTeenSpace Poetry Wiki. He also provided much of the content, helped design the initial layout for the wiki pages, added new users to the wiki, and monitored the wiki’s content.

Brad Sietz evaluated and expanded two parts of the IPL subject collection: the K-12 education links and the blogs collection, particularly the political subsection of that collection.

Allison Zaleski did a research project on our Ask A Question reference service, investigating how the IPL is used as a training tool for future librarians and what coursework best supports training IPL librarians to provide quality reference responses.

Fall 2005

IPL student working on PC

Edith Burney worked on the Fun Stuff Collection in the Kidspace, updating and adding new collection material.

Linda Choo added scope notes to the IPL Collections Manual and updated the item counts in the subject headings list.

Morgan Daniels updated the State Archives collection of the IPL, creating and revising records that describe the web sites of state archival agencies within the United States. She also revised the Library Issues collection by evaluating, describing, and adding resources to this subject area.

Jennifer Faber worked on the Social Issues and Social Welfare collection for the IPL. She checked the quality of the content and developed some sub-headings for the collection. She also culled resources from a few different internet databases and indexes and added them to the IPL.

Madelyn Hawk, Paul Jordan, Mike Rice, and Mike Schlief worked on making instructional video tours on how to use the IPL, KidSpace, TeenSpace, and Science Fair Project Resource Guide, as well as a Parents and Teachers tour.

Lanell James updated the african-american history collection to reflect a broader and deeper historical perspective by adding appropriate sub-headings and removing old links. She selected, described, and evaluated new resources for each of the sub-headings and, when possible, integrated African-American history resources into other relevant collections.

Eric Jojola updated the Native American Authors database, fixing links, correcting information, researching historical contexts, and creating new entries for authors.

IPL students discussing/working on projects

Mike Rice and Mike Schleif added sub-headings, removed old links, and added new resources to the Collecting section of the Hobbies collection.

Kasia Solon worked on the law section of the IPL, adding new subject headings and adding new sites.

Sarah Stone worked on new, interactive ventures in Teenspace including the Procrastinator, the Frequently Asked Embarassing Questions page, and the "Thing of the Week." She also designed an exhibit on graphic novels and their growing importance to library collection.

Alison Zaleski performed reference administration two days a week. She also developed a twenty question worksheet for new reference administrators that will allow them to answer, and get feedback on, frequently encountered questions before actually working on QRC.

IPL students discussing/working on projects

Spring/Summer 2005

Students at Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart/Germany, selected resources and added metadata in English and German.

Fall 2004

Richard Kong worked as a reference administrator, receiving and processing patrons' questions. He also re-evaluated the FARQs and Pathfinders, assessing whether they are in the appropriate categories.

Stephen Tisch worked as a reference administrator, taking incoming reference questions and organizing them to be answered by our volunteer staff.

S. C. Smith worked on updating and adding to the "Consumer Health" page in the IPL "Health" section.

Amanda Raklovits worked on the Reading Zone and the Resources for Teachers and Parents in the Kidspace Collection. In addition to replacing the broken links and removing sites that are duplicated or no longer exist, she added new sites on authors, book series, and helpful aids for parents and teachers.

Sarah Stone updated the Regional collection to include timely travel information as well as expanded cultural and historical sections.

Kate Zoellner updated and reorganized the Education Subject Collections. Within the Collections, Kate expanded the Education News and History of Education sections.

Kristen Motz acted as Assistant to Managing Director Sue Davidsen by answering student questions about using the new version of the Hypatia software, reviewing new links added to the collections, and continuing to refine and expand the Stately Knowledge collection in Kidspace.

Michel Nguessan worked on creating a French IPL by helping to develop a collaboration framework with Lyon and Montreal . He also updated the African Newspapers Section of the IPL, researched francophone newspapers (country-specif and Pan-African) in print that are available online, and selected Newspapers for addition to the IPL.

Richard Adler studied reader-recommender systems as an option for the IPL, and the possibility of having users submit reviews of links. He also explored ways in which famed librarian Nancy Pearl could collaborate with and promote the IPL.

Winter 2004

Julie Arendt and Dawn Hobbs updated and reorganized the Kidspace: Sports and Recreation collection.

Emily Barton and Jennifer Campbell piloted a real-time chat reference service for the IPL, using OCLC's QuestionPoint software.

Melissa Collino, Karen Engle, and Erica Pflaum worked as reference administrators, receiving and processing patrons' reference questions.

Eboni Curry created a Library and Information Sciences special collection.

Kristen Demlow expanded the Regional > Europe > Germany category to include a robust collection of historical and cultural resources.

Michael Galloway upgraded outdated HTML code in the IPL's Special Collections to modern XHTML standards.

Colleen Hilton expanded the IPL's collections in French literature and film.

Il-Hwan Kim, Wendy Pflug and Eunkyung Yoo worked with a focus group of area teens to redesign the IPL TeenSpace area.

Scott Martin expanded the Religion and Theology > Faiths and Denominations collection to represent a more diverse array of theologies.

Glen Modell updated two pathfinder topics: one on Whistleblower Protection in Michigan; the other on Obituaries.

Kristen Motz and Jessica Walker added new resources throughout the IPL that had been recommended by previous IPL students, based on their usefulness in answering patron questions.

Helga Rom expanded the Regional > Europe > Germany heading to include several useful resources on literature and travel.

Sarah Casey Smith updated the Arts and Crafts and Health sections to include a broader variety of resources.

Holly South adapted three pathfinders to be more relevant to the interests and needs of children.

Emily Tennant worked with IPL IT staff to create a new interface for the Online Texts collection.

Everett Wiggins expanded the Entertainment > Sports > Baseball and Softball section.

Sunny Yang developed a collection of academic and professional resources within the field of Computer-Human Interaction.

Fall 2003

Cara D'Amato and Lana Krolikowski conducted a competitive analysis of the IPL TeenSpace area, evaluating it against other Teen-targeted sites on the web. Lana and Cara's conclusions included a number of recommendations for ways to keep IPL TeenSpace current and relevant to its intended audience—a fast-moving target.

Rachel Oram built up the TeenSpace collections, especially in the Homework Help section. Rachel especially concentrated on adding value to the math, languages, references, and english collections.

Jennifer Rothschild and Lei Wang added a collection of classic Chinese texts to the IPL. Traditional commentaries on the texts and English translations were included wherever possible.

Mellanye Lackey was a reference administrator, helping to manage the myriad reference questions that patrons submit to the IPL each week.

Everett Wiggins developed an IPL challenge policy. A challenge policy defines the way in which a library responds to patrons' concerns about its holdings. The patron may feel offended by an item in the library, or the patron may wish to see something added to the library's collections that the library has decided against including. A challenge policy lays out a consistent method for handling these situations.

Regina Joyce reviewed websites that patrons had nominated for inclusion in the IPL's subject collections. After determining the validity of the URLs, the authority of the information on the websites, and the "fit" of the suggested website to the IPL's overall mission, Regina added the websites to the IPL where appropriate.

Paula Figura worked with Universal Map, Inc. to create an interactive map of news media websites in the Middle East and the United States. The finished product lets IPL visitors click a geographic location to see the websites of news outlets from the chosen area.

Teri Oaks expanded the IPL's world music collection to include a more robust collection of resources.

Winter 2003

IPL students, 2003
IPL Students, 2003

Emily Barton updated the Science Fair Collection—one of the IPL's most popular resources—based on questions and feedback contributed by current and past patrons of the collection. Emily added new resources, fixed outdated links, and ensured that the resources were organized in a way relevant to patrons' needs and expectations.

Dan Brown proposed a resource ratings standard whereby a relevance value would be associated with each linked resource in the IPL. Dan looked at other websites having this feature, compared and contrasted them with the IPL, examined the degree to which such a scheme would fit the culture and capabilities of the IPL, and presented his findings and recommendations.

Patricia Memmott cuts the cake celebrating IPL’s eighth anniversary.
Patricia Memmott cuts the cake
celebrating the IPL's eighth
anniversary

Sadanori Horiguchi converted the Literary Criticism Collection from line-by-line HTML coding with results from Perl/CGI scripts, to Mason components. In the new version, the direct Perl program is dynamically generating the appropriate page contents. In order to ensure a seamless transition, Sadanori took care to preserve the original information while maintaining consistency with IPL's overall style specifications.

Leigh Jasmer organized and further developed the Health and Medical Sciences: Diseases, Disorders, and Syndromes heading. Many of the previous sites were unavailable, outdated, or not clearly authoritative. The subsites were not consistently descriptive: some thoroughly covered a topic while others missed many key issues. Leigh has upgraded this category to represent a comprehensive, authoritative collection of health resources.

Sarah Kolk organized and further developed the Entertainment and Leisure: Home and Garden heading. At the beginning of the term, the section contained nearly fifty alphabetically-organized sites without any subcategories. Some sites were out of date or no longer appropriate. Sarah organized and further developed the collection by investigating and finding sources and creating a list of subcategories.

Jenny Lau and Beth Blankley processed incoming reference questions and posted them out for the IPL's army of volunteer reference librarians to answer. Beth and Jenny themselves answered questions as necessary to ensure timely service to patrons. At the conclusion of the term, they presented the IPL staff with a number of insightful suggestions for optimizing reference administration.

Jeffrey Lee applied usability theory to the IPL search interface and presented a number of recommendations to create a more user-centric search experience.

Charlene Pete developed a collection on Argentine literature for the Biblioteca Publica por Internet (BPI), the Spanish-language version of the IPL then in development. When complete, it will include websites on literature from Argentina with focus on authors, styles, genres, and also how these three tie in the politics of the time. It will also include a list of historical authors, a list of titles published by those authors, a list of works under each author, a style page and a genre page.

Students in the IPL class, Winter 2003
Students in the IPL class, Winter 2003

Winter 2002

Zach Wright went through the IPL Press clippings database checking old links, updating changed links and adding new articles. He also participated in a data "munging" project, fixing data that had been transferred from an older copy of the IPL database.

Fall 2001

Katy Kramp and Kara Lock worked on the Kate Crackernuts story. Katy recorded the story and did the coding while Kara created the artwork.

Christopher M. Monroe, who recalls his IPL experience as "an enjoyable, rewarding class," updated the newspaper database and worked on a French-English interface.

Winter 2001

Larry Neal created the Digitization Pathfinder which "provides a number of resources to help make decisions about digitizing a collection. There are both print-based and Internet-based resources that provide information about scanning, preservation, copyright, metadata and file formats."

Laura Tatum, in addition to working as the Reference Administrator for over a year, kept busy with maintenance projects, updating the Fine Arts links.

Fall 2000

Amy Johnson and Matt Martin contributed to interface design iterations. Amy recalls that the "goal was to create a simple, consistent framework for the site without having it seem dull or boring. I remember frequent discussions of how many links should be available from the main page and how prominent the search option should be—questions I suspect are still being addressed."

Carrie Preston created a pathfinder entitled Organizing the Web. She also answered numerous reference questions and located and cataloged web sites.

Fall 1999

In addition to answering reference questions and adding resources to the collections, Amal Beck created a pathfinder about U.S. Tax Preparation and one that she prepared just for fun on roller coasters.

Deborah Bracken (Dunk) created Learning HTML and What to Read? as well as contributing content to the Science Fair Project and Culture Quest. She also updated POTUS, Say Hello, and Story Hour. From May 2000 - May 2001, she served as the Youth and Teen Divisions Coordinator, where she oversaw collection development, supervised graduate student work in collections and contributed to interface design iterations.

Jeffery Bradley assembled the How Things Work pathfinder and provided detailed reference assistance.

Hilary Leon served as a reference administrator and helped develop the International Literary Criticism Collection. She also assisted Kathryn Zybeck (Stottlemyer) with planning and collection development.

Laura K. T. Stokes created a pathfinder for Writing Business Letters and provided virtual reference service and collection development in the Kidspace section.

Winter 1999

Jennifer Lee (Engleson) created a pathfinder on Women's Studies, embracing "many topics from the historical representation of women to the sociology of women today."

Fall 1998

Dan Kipnis wrote a pathfinder on Sustainable Development in addition to his additions of online resources to the IPL collection.

Matthew Martin prepared the Live@IO project, which focused on "a meeting place of culture in Detroit that is now no longer functioning."

Gretchen McNeely (Almy) compiledThe Improvisational Comedy Pathfinder.

Lucy Schiller created a project called Orca Search, (which has since been redesigned), made updates to Stately Knowledge and Culture Quest, and contributed to the Health and Nutrition section.

Kathryn Zybeck (Stottlemyer) and Hilary Leonexpanded the Literary Criticism collection to include authors from around the world.

Winter 1998

Kendra Stampor (Spiegel) organized a database of IPL staff members, created several pathfinders, participated in collection development, and continues to answer reference questions as a volunteer.

Kathryn Zybeck (Stottlemyer) and Ken Irwin developed the initial Literary Criticism collection, which initially included only British and American authors.

Fall 1997

Lija Bentley-Phillips created a World War II pathfinder. But she adds that she "had the most fun answering reference questions, because I learned a lot in the process and almost all of the people for whom I answered questions sent back thank you notes which were highly appreciative…You can derive a great deal of satisfaction making a personal connection while helping people to find information and accomplish their goals."

After taking the IPL class in the Fall of 1997 Candace (Anne) Goss went on to serve as the Youth Division Coordinator from Winter 1998 through Spring 1999. She was involved in a a complete overhaul of the Kidspace section, including supervising the Mother Goose on the Web project, and much more.

Kenneth Irwin and Lorri Mon took over the job of coordinating the reference service when Nettie Legace left. (The job acquired a name: "Mucking out the Inbox", or just "Mucking".) Irwin also contributed to a major overhaul of the IPL's internal question and answer policy and refined the job description for the senior reference administrator.

Summer 1997 (IPL Toolkit)

Kenneth Irwin worked on a Pathfinder project for Finding Art Images (he notes that they much more difficult to find back then) and composed a formal job description for the senior reference administrator position first held by Lorri Mon, then himself, and followed by Patricia Memmott.

IPL Group in 1997
IPL Group in 1997

Winter 1997

Nicole Campbell initially took Joe Janes' Reference class and then continued to take any credits she could related to IPL throughout her time at the School of Information. Along with a group of five other class members, she created and designed the Native American Authors project, which allowed them "to take concepts (cataloging, design, indexing/vocabulary, etc.) from the classroom and apply them to a valuable, useful and usable resource."

Johnna Childs created a Multiracial Americans pathfinder and answered reference questions as a IPL student. Later, during a directed field experience (DFE), she reorganized various collections in the Social Sciences and Entertainment subject areas. Following her DFE, she was a paid student overseeing the collections.

John Allan Cicala wrote a pathfinder on American Folklife Resources which he continues to revise annually. He notes that "it is used by public sector folklorists working for state and arts agencies and students in folklore programs around the country."

Sonja Daniels worked primarily on the Stately Knowledge project researching facts and web sites as well as as proofreading.

Lorri Mon contributed a great deal of time and talent to the Internet Public Library. Some of the projects in which she was involved include:

  • Creating the Say Hello project in the Youth division
  • Becoming head of IPL reference when Nettie Lagace and other original staff left.
  • Putting IPL for Librarians links into a FileMaker database for the first time
  • Heading up publicity for IPL, writing press releases on the Swinging Through Time exhibit
  • Contributing to WebInk (since discontinued)
  • Recruiting and training reference administrators, including Ken Irwin, who would become the next senior reference administrator
  • Writing the original IPL reference administration manual (since revised by Patricia Memmott)
  • Participating as a speaker in two IPL summer Toolkit sessions
  • From 1997-2001, one of the seven reference administrators running the service every week

Lorri "retired" in April 2001 to pursue her Ph.D, but has been called back on more than one occasion to help with reference administration.

Melinda (Mindy) Schafer was involved with the Culture Quest project, where visitors can join Ophelia Owl and Parsifal Penguin on their worldwide tour.

Kay Schwartz participated in IPL because she believes "that an exploration of how public libraries may evolve in an online environment is one of the most important things happening at the School of Information." Beyond answering reference questions, her main project was the A+ Research and Writing Guide for High School and College Students. This project "was an attempt to take the results of academic research that showed how students approach process of researching and writing a term paper and distill that information into a usable step-by-step guide." Her IPL experience provided a strong background for her current position: "Cybrarian" for the Flint Public Library.

Winter 1995

The IPL began in a graduate seminar in the School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) at the University of Michigan in the Winter 1995 semester on January 5. The idea was twofold: (1) to ask some interesting and important questions about the interconnections of libraries, librarians, and librarianship with a distributed networked environment, and (2) to learn a lot about these issues by actually designing and building something called the Internet Public Library. A group of 35 students (listed below), led by Prof. Joseph Janes, began the work on the IPL!

Louise Alcorn
Maria Bonn
David Carter
Erica Christianson
Deborah Diesen
Christopher Farnum
Barbara Fowler
Kendra Frost
Katrina Hagedorn
Pauline Harris
Randall Horton
Bernard Hsiung
Lydia Ievins

Margaret Jones
Edward Kerr
Annette Lagace
Stephen Markel
Michael McClennan
Patrick Misterovich
Antoinette Murphy
Josie Parker
Martha Pinto
Sara Ryan
Paul Schaffner
Susan Schweitzer
Schelle Simcox

Marjorie Styf
Bradley Taylor
Jessica Tropman
Richard Truxall
Thomas Turner
Nancy Vlahakis
Pamela Wilkins
Marie Williams

What is the IPL?

The Internet Public Library is a public library for the world wide web.
Students from a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science develop and maintain the IPL!
Here are some of the partners in the IPL Consortium. A complete list is found on the IPL Consortium page.

The iSchool at Drexel Florida State University College of Information
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science Rutgers School of Communication and Information Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences
Syracuse University School of Information The University of Texas at Austin - School of Information The Information School - University of Washington

The Internet Public Library is hosted by The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology,
with major support from the College of Information at Florida State University.

Sponsored by Intel and Sun Microsystems
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