Internet Public Library: About the IPL

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Timeline:
History of the IPL

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The first version of this timeline was created for the IPL’s 10^th Anniversary Celebration in 1995.


1995		The Beginning Jan. 5 The IPL began in a graduate seminar in the School of Information and Library Studies at the University of Michigan in the Winter 1995 semester. 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, led by Prof. Joseph Janes, began the work on the IPL! The Grand Opening Mar. 17th The library opened 70 days later. It was a sunny Friday. Everyone celebrated as the IPL went live at noon. Welcome Kids! Besides the original reference center, a youth division was added to educate and familiarize young children to the IPL. Together with J.J. the librarian, the children could play math games, take a tour around the world, do fun science experiments and even learn some new jokes! There was even an Internet newsletter just for kids. This section later became known as KidSpace QRC & Early Reference Questions Aug. 3th The IPL's Ask-A-Question Online reference service had been handled through a system called HyperNews up to this point, but on this day, QRC became the database management system helping the IPL's reference administrators process and categorize reference questions and the IPL's volunteer librarians answer accepted questions. See examples of some of our early questions Interview with Michael McClennen Michael McClennen was a doctoral student in computer science when the call first went out for participation in the IPL. He ultimately created most of the software that now powers the IPL. Flash Video (large) Flash Video (small) MPEG-4 (large) MPEG-4 (small) NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. Interview with Josie Parker Josie Parker, Director of the Ann Arbor District Library and member of the early IPL Workshop class, talks about the IPL's past and future. Flash Video (large) MPEG-4 (large) NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. Total Reference Questions Answered for 1995 1116
1996		Just for Teens Dec. 18th The Teen Division Originals featured a multitude of resources guides and collections. From how to write 'A+ Research' papers to career pathways, teens were sure to find very valuable information and indispensable tips to get through their teenage years! This section was later renamed TeenSpace A New School The School of Information and Library Studies gave way to a new school: the School of Information. Total Reference Questions Answered for 1996 3772
1997		First Major Redesign Jan. 12th Nearly two years after the IPL's inauguration, a major web site redesign was completed. The logo was also modified. Thanks go to Robert Mann for the redesign! POTUS Oct. 12th Created by Presidential trivia buff Bob Summers, POTUS: Presidents of the United States contains links to biographical and historical information about all 43 presidents. Summers asked the IPL to host his site to give it more publicity. It quickly became one of the most highly used sections of the IPL! Stately Knowledge The Stately Knowledge collection was added. This popular KidSpace collection provides facts about the U.S. States as well as links to other sites students can use to learn about each state. The collection received another major update in 2004. Total Reference Questions Answered for 1997 8068
1998		Literary Criticism The Literary Criticism collection was added. The collection contains links to online literary criticism as well as biographical information on authors and other relevant materials. Originally focusing on major American and British authors, the collection was later expanded to include authors from around the world. Total Reference Questions Answered for 1998 13,464
1999		Interview with David S. Carter David Carter was the second executive director of the IPL. Join him in this interview and get a behind the scenes view of a typical day at the IPL. Flash Video (large) Flash Video (small) MPEG-4 (large) MPEG-4 (small) NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. IPL World Wide Oct. 5th The IPL goes World Wide. With mirror servers across the globe, such as in North America, South America and Europe, the IPL can now serve a greater audience world wide. Total Reference Questions Answered for 1999 20,518
2000		Total Reference Questions Answered for 2000 27,930
2001		Total Reference Questions Answered for 2001 35,168
2002		Second Major Redesign Jun. 12th With the last redesign dating back five years, it was time to freshen up the IPL's look and feel. In addition to a new interface, the web site gained valuable functionalities, including a comprehensive search feature, breadcrumbs to aid navigation and improved information architecture. Computerworld Honors Program The IPL was recognized by this prestigious program for its contributions to the education of library school students, librarians, and users. AIHEC Virtual Library The IPL provided interface design and technical assistance to this project of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). The Virtual Library collected resources related to the curriculum of tribal colleges and their communities. Total Reference Questions Answered for 2002 40,597
2003		Intel Grant Intel provides laboratory workstations and laptops for the IPL, greatly improving speed. The IPL Goes Open Source The IPL makes its software available through SourceForge at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/hypatia/. Total Reference Questions Answered for 2003 44,036
2004		Sun Microsystems Grant Sun Microsystems provides 9 new servers for the IPL; the IPL begins moving from Solaris to Linux. Research on the Economics of Funding Public Goods Profs. Yan Chen and Jeff MacKie-Mason undertake research evaluating several incentive-compatible public goods mechanisms for IPL fundraising. Interactive Middle East Newspaper Map In partnership with the Universal Map Company, the IPL developed an interactive map of the Middle East for use in our Newspapers collection. Users can navigate through the geography of the region to find online newspapers specific to each area. Biblioteca Publica por Internet The IPL has assisted Mexico's Tecnological Institute of Monterrey in creating a Spanish-language virtual library that will provide services to students in Community Learning Centers, as well as the public at large. Blogs Collection April The IPL put up a blogs collection to help users navigate the blogosphere, offering general information about blogs, links to blogs on a variety of subjects, and even including our own blog about blogs! Total Reference Questions Answered for 2004 49,774
2005		Accessibility December Throughout the year, the IPL worked with Mike Elledge, a Usability Consultant then at the University of Michigan and now Assistant Director of the Usability and Accessibility Center at Michigan State University, to make all parts of our site accessible to users with disabilities. By December, almost all of the HTML code was brought up to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS 1.0, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Priority 1 (WCAG P1) (with warnings) standards. Accesskeys were added for navigation, and the site was designed to be enlarged greatly and yet still readable and usable. TeenSpace Redesign and Expansion A project went underway to update the TeenSpace section of our site. The changes, developed in consultation with Ann Arbor teens, included a redesigned interface, additional content in its Directory, and new ways for teens to engage with the IPL. The new look appeared over the spring and summer. In December, TeenSpace expanded further with two new sections, the FAEQs (Frequently Asked Embarassing Questions) and the Procrastinator (which also has the TeenSpace Thing of the Week). 50,000 served by Ask-A-Question Service When the IPL began, online reference was a new concept. Over 50,000 questions later, we had learned a lot! We continued to attract new participants and developed new policies to help serve our users better. Read more about the Ask-A-Question Service Interview with Maurita Holland, Executive Director of the IPL Assoc. Prof. Maurita Holland, IPL Executive Director, describes the many facets of IPL research and development. Flash Video (large) Flash Video (small) MPEG-4 (large) MPEG-4 (small) NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. IPL Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation When 35 University of Michigan School of Information students started the Internet Public Library in 1995, they wondered if anyone would notice. 10 years and hundreds of millions of mouse clicks by users later, the IPL celebrated its success with a real and a virtual public open house on Thursday, March 17. A live web feed let those who couldn't be in Ann Arbor that day see IPL staff and School of Information students eat cake and talk into the camera, describing who they were and what they do for the IPL. There was also a weblog for patrons and past and present IPL staff to talk about how the IPL helped them, and this very timeline was created for it to add to the celebration. Click HERE to see photos from the party. Click HERE to read an announcement from the School of Information advertising the celebration. (Page does not work properly in Mac-IE 5.1!) Click HERE to read the issue of SI@umich.edu that covered the IPL's 10th anniversary. (Issue 26, Spring 2005, of SI@umich.edu, the University of Michigan School of Information's triannual alumni newsletter.) Total Reference Questions Answered for 2005 54,904
2006		TeenSpace Poetry Wiki April The TeenSpace Poetry Wiki, a place where teens can post and respond to other teens' poetry, and the Graphic Novels Guide, a concise, informative guide to comic books and graphic novels, are added to TeenSpace. The Lit Crit Collection is Back! April The Literary Criticism Collection freed from all technical issues, thanks to a lot of student effort. The Fall class work on updating the Literary Criticism collection. Science Reference and Resources Project Guide November 29 In response to the popularity of science resources on our site and the large number of science-related questions asked by IPL users, a group of students and staff investigated how we could improve our resources and reference service in this area. The group examined best practices for science education in libraries and other fields, science questions sent to our reference service, and the availability of science information on the Internet. With special thanks to Cathie Toschach, the Science Fair Project resource guide was completely redone, from layout to content and went up at the end of Novemeber. Grokker Search Added to the IPL June The IPL implements a new way of searching its collections, using grokker's search technology which provides a different way of clustering and visualizing search results. IPL Consortium Begins August The University of Michigan hosts representatives from various "ischools", colleges and universities with departments in library science and/or information science in an attempt to open up ownership of the IPL to a consortium. The IPL's New Home! December The University of Michigan stops hosting the IPL and moves its servers and staff positions over to Drexel University. Rest easy, Wolverines! The University of Michigan does stay on as a major contributing partner, along with Florida State University. Total Reference Questions Answered for 2006 60,009
2007		An IMLS Grant! The IPL has obtained a 3-year grant from IMLS to explore new ways of teaching and providing digital reference and librarianship and to move the IPL into a new era. Improving Our Ask a Question Reference Service Many improvements have been made behind the scenes to improve our reference service. For one, our reference service is truly open all of the time now. We will not be closed at all during the year (unless due to technical problems, which should be very, very rare). We have been also revising our training materials and some of our policies to provide better answers via email to our patrons. We are currently engaged in a massive revision of our training manual for new students and volunteers. We have expanded our volunteer base, and we now have more reference administrators than ever due to a new shift structure allowing for more ref admins to participate. More ref admins means more questions answered and faster response time from us. IPL Growth The IPL continues to grow, not only by increasing the number of participating schools, students, and volunteers, but also by adding to its permanent administrative staff. Spreading the Word The IPL attended several professional librarian conferences this year, including those for the Pennsylvania School Library Association, New Jersey Library Association, Maryland Library Association, Delaware Library Association, Special Libraries Association held in Denver, and American Library Association held in Washington D.C., as well as workshops for the Public Library Management Institute at Austin Peay State University and a statewide workshop for Tennessee library managers at Brentwood Public Library. New Look for Stately Knowledge in Kidspace Stately Knowledge underwent a facelift this year, its data was updated, and some of its content was modified. Aside from an improved look, an interactive map of the U.S. provides navigation from the homepage of the site. Drop-down menus allow you to navigate quickly between each state. Governors were updated, and the Size and Population Rankings were modified to include total, land, and water area for each state and to include population density as well as population. Finally, information particular to a state was set on 1 webpage rather than spread out over 2 webpages. Updating POTUS Content The IPL's Presidents of the United States pages, created by Bob Summers, were with his permission thoroughly link checked and updated, with some user suggestions incorporated. The "On this day in POTUS history" feature was restored. SLIPL! July 27, 2007 The IPL stakes a claim in the online virtual world known as Second Life and gets its own "tree" on Drexel University's "island". Future development projects in Second Life begin to be explored. New and Updated FARQs and Pathfinders December 2007 Our collections of Frequently Asked Reference Questions and Pathfinder research guides received new additions. Total Reference Questions Answered for 2007 69,469