The Papyrus Archive was put online in 1995/1996 and has not has a major update
since that time. The goal of this project was to redesign the pages of the
Archive to give them an updated look and feel. In the course of reviewing
the current pages and their content it was realized that much of the content
would need to be updated as well.
The second phase of the project was to add the papyri records into the new
imaging software packages – Luna Insight. Records stored within Luna are
considered “dark” so the HTML records would then be linked to Luna.
This would allow users to continue to use the search capabilities within the
Web site and search engines to spider the records for discover.
At this time the project is not complete. Luna Insight released a new version
of their software which has delayed the conversion of the records to Luna. Also
Duke University Libraries are implementing a new content management system,
Zope, to govern the library pages. How much of the libraries’ content
will be served from Zope has yet to be determined especially when examining
Special Collections like the Duke Papyrus Archive.
When the Archive was first placed on-line the Papyrologists were the only users
considered in the design, surprisingly the Archive has developed a large group
of non-expert users who have discovered the site serendipitously. For the
redesign, a balance between these user groups is sought so that information
is provided to assist the non-expert and easy access to the records is provided
for the Papyrologists.
The template selected to guide the redesign is from the
Duke
Image Database which is the front end for the collections in Luna Insight.
The
left nav is expected to appear
on all the wrapper/content pages of the archive but not on the pages containing
the papyri records.
This
area of navigation is a compromise
between the library's template and the user groups. It is expected that the
footer would appear on all pages including record pages so the users would
be directed to areas of interest to them. The top level pertains to the Archive
whereas the bottom level is about the library in general.
So far the pages that have been focused on have been the pages within the About
section of the archive. These are heavy text pages. Much of the text needs editing
to reflect the information is not current but historical in nature. Also to
improve the readability of the text, which do not follow many of the rules for
electronic text. I have done some of the editing but it will need review by
the Stakeholders.