Branding
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Ebsco branding
Current Ebsco branding text:
[Pascal logo] electronic resources are coordinated by PASCAL, in cooperation with its members, the South Carolina State Library, and other partners. PASCAL's electronic resources are funded by the South Carolina General Assembly through an appropriation to the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
New Draft (rhm 10/27):
[Pascal logo]
Your access to this electronic resource is in danger! Funding
cuts by the South Carolina General Assembly will require PASCAL and
member libraries to greatly reduce the number of resources made
available to South Carolina's students and faculty. To learn more, including what you can do,
please visit Help save PASCAL!
Revised Branding Draft A:
[Pascal logo] This electronic resource is in danger! Until recently, PASCAL was funded by member-libraries with support from the South Carolina General Assembly through the SC Commission on Higher Education. In 2008/09, PASCAL's budget was cut by 90%. This resource and others like it may be lost unless you act now to Help Save Pascal.
Revised Branding Draft B:
[Pascal logo] This electronic resource may be in danger! Until 2008/09, PASCAL received a generous $1.8 million from the South Carolina General Assembly. Part of the SC Commission on Higher Education budget, this money was pooled with PASCAL [member-dues and used to license database access at deep discount. In 2008/09, PASCAL's budget was cut by 90%. This resource and others like it may be lost unless you act now to Help Save Pascal.
Capabilities and limitations of Ebsco branding
- Upper-right-hand corner institution name: Typically the upper-right corner is for an institution's name. If a gif is used, it must be no larger than 204 x 31 pixels.
- Ebsco has offered to create animated gifs that will replace current upper-right-corner branding with a rotating gif that might offer a link to the Pascal Funding Crisis page alternating with the school name.
- Pascal site administrator can impose changes on consortial-level branding for all members (technically feasible, that is).
- Several institutions do not have a site administrator and have not manipulated branding at all. No administrator listed for Aiken Tech, Allen U, Converse, Denmark Tech, Newberry, North Greenville, Technical College of the Lowcountry, USC Union, Voorhees, and Williamsburg Tech.
- Pascal can identify the site administrator at approximately 40 institutions. Some of these are out-of-date. Some institutions list multiple site administrators, so there is some complexity even when an individual name is given.
Electronic Resource Branding at member web pages
Below are several screen shots from members, with the school name omitted. Note that it is much easier to find examples of "what not to do." Very few libraries have updated Pascal branding. Pascal has not pushed branding, with the exception of an occasional email reminder. Library webmasters or other pertinent staff may not receive branding emails. Note that where libraries use firewalls, logins, or sub-pages, this survey wasn't able to burrow down to deeper levels of a library's web page. So this is a broad overview and not necessarily indicative of how things may look from on-campus.
Membership Branding of PASCAL, Glenn Dickson's Survey
The data below represents a survey of Pascal mentions and branding at member-library web sites. Analysis follows the data. Glenn Dickson is PASCAL's Graduate Assistant and the author this material.
PASCAL Simple Occurrence:
1. ATC = 0
2. Allen = 0
3. Anderson = 0
4. Benedict = 0
5. Bob Jones = 0
6. Central Carolina = 0
7. Charleston Southern = 0 (see, “state budget cuts threaten lib. service link”)
8. Citadel = 1
9. Claflin = 0
10.Clemson = 1
11. Clinton = 0
12. Costal Carolina = 1
13. Coker = 1
14. C of C = 1
15. Columbia = 2
16. CIU = 0
17. Converse = 0
18. DTC = 0
19. Erskine = 0
20. FDTC = 0
21. Francis Marion = 0
22. Furman = 0
23. GTC = 2
24. HGTC = 1
25. Lander = 0
26. Limestone = 0
27. MUSC = 0
28. MTC = 0
29. Morris = 0
30. Newberry = 0
31. North Greenville = 0
32. NETC = 0
33. OCTC = 1
34. Piedmont = 1
35. Presbyterian = 1
36. SC State = 1
37. Southern Wesleyan = 1
38. Spartenburg Methodist = 0
39. SCC = 1
40. TCL = 0
41. Tri-County = 0
42. Trident = 0
43. USC = 0
44. USC-Med = 0
45. USC-Law = 0
46. USC-Aiken = 0
47. USC-Beaufort = 0
48. USC-Lancaster = 1
49. USC-Salkehatchie = 1
50. USC-Sumter = 0
51. USC-Union = 0
52. USC-Upstate = 1
53. Voorhees = 0
54. WTC = 1
55. Winthrop = 0
56. Wofford = 1
57. YTC = 5 (banner: Save PASCAL)
Google Site Search Results:
1. ATC = 0
2. Allen = 3
3. Anderson = 0
4. Benedict = 0
5. Bob Jones = 0
6. Central Carolina = 0
7. Charleston Southern = 33
8. Citadel = 0
9. Claflin = 0
10. Clemson = 180
11. Clinton = 0
12. Costal Carolina = 8
13. Coker = 11
14. C of C = 43
15. Columbia = 0
16. CIU = 1
17. Converse = 0
18. DTC = 0
19. Erskine = 13
20. FDTC = 0
21. Francis Marion = 0
22. Furman = 31
23. GTC = 3
24. HGTC = 2
25. Lander = 7
26. Limestone = 0
27. MUSC = 8
28. MTC = 6
29. Morris = 0
30. Newberry = 0
31. North Greenville = 1
32. NETC = 0
33. OCTC = 1
34. Piedmont = 7
35. Presbyterian = 1
36. SC State = 25
37. Southern Wesleyan = 29
38. Spartenburg Methodist = 0
39. SCC = 19
40. TCL = 0
41. Tri-County = 0
42. Trident = 0
43. USC = 34
44. USC-Med = 12
45. USC-Law = 0
46. USC-Aiken = 0
47. USC-Beaufort = 0
48. USC-Lancaster = 3
49. USC-Salkehatchie = 0
50. USC-Sumter = 0
51. USC-Union = 0
52. USC-Upstate = 0
53. Voorhees = 0
54. WTC = 0
55. Winthrop = 25
56. Wofford = 0
57. YTC = 9
Pascal Catalog images
PASCAL Catalog Appearance:
Standards observed in data collection are as follows.
1. ATC = REG
2. Allen = NONE
3. Anderson = NONE
4. Benedict = NONE
5. Bob Jones = BETTER
6. Central Carolina = BEST PRACTICE
7. Charleston Southern = BETTER
8. Citadel = REG
9. Claflin = NONE
10. Clemson = BEST PRACTICE
11. Clinton = NONE (NO CATALOG)
12. Costal Carolina = BETTER
13. Coker = NONE
14. C of C = BEST PRECTICE
15. Columbia = REG
16. CIU = NONE
17. Converse = NONE
18. DTC = NONE
19. Erskine = NONE
20. FDTC = NONE (NO CATALOG)
21. Francis Marion = BEST PRACTICE
22. Furman = BEST PRACTICE
23. GTC = BEST PRACTICE
24. HGTC = BEST PRACTICE
25. Lander = BEST/REG (SEARCH PG = BEST; RESULTS PG = REG)
26. Limestone = NONE
27. MUSC = BEST/REG (SEARCH PG = BEST; RESULTS PG = REG)
28. MTC = BEST PRACTICE
29. Morris = NONE
30. Newberry = (CATALOG DOWN)
31. North Greenville = NONE
32. NETC = BEST PRACTICE
33. OCTC = BEST PRACTICE
34. Piedmont = BEST PRACTICE
35. Presbyterian = BETTER
36. SC State = NONE
37. Southern Wesleyan = NONE
38. Spartenburg Methodist = BETTER
39. SCC = BEST PRACTICE
40. TCL = NONE
41. Tri-County = BEST PRACTICE
42. Trident = NONE
43. USC = REG
44. USC-Med = BEST/REG (SEARCH PG = BEST; RESULTS PG = REG)
45. USC-Law = NORM
46. USC-Aiken = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
47. USC-Beaufort = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
48. USC-Lancaster = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
49. USC-Salkehatchie = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
50. USC-Sumter = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
51. USC-Union = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
52. USC-Upstate = REG/BETTER (SEARCH PG = REG; RESULTS PG = BETTER)
53. Voorhees = (CATALOG DOWN)
54. WTC = BEST PRACTICE
55. Winthrop = BETTER
56. Wofford = BETTER
YTC = BEST PRACTICE
Branding Survey Analysis, by G. Dickson
The three search methods used show varying results. PASCAL Simple Occurrences tallies the occurrence of the word on the member library page – in other words, the number of times a casual user would encounter “PASCAL” while browsing the home page. This number can be somewhat misleading (eg. Furman: there are no simple occurrences on their home page yet a more in depth Google Site Search reveals 31 occurrences of “PASCAL”.) In addition, this method does not tally occurrences below the home library page.
Google Site Search delves deeper into member pages in search of “PASCAL”; however, it’s less than perfect (eg. USC-Salkehatchie: 1 Simple Occurrence, yet 0 results
Catalog Appearance is perhaps the most revealing – this is the way PASCAL is presented while browsing member library catalogs. The REG is a small rectangle with the PASCAL logo (see above). Yet, this tells prospective users absolutely nothing about the service, and those unfamiliar with PASCAL are unlikely to follow the link. Without a wide-spread user education campaign, the REG link is highly inefficient and virtually useless. The BETTER link is also small but reveals more information about PASCAL (eg. “search other SC libraries”.) Yet, users may wonder why they should search other catalogs since the delivery service is implied and not stated. The BEST PRACTICE links are the largest and most informative, often employing statements such as “search and request books from other SC libraries” or “get books from other SC libraries in 3 days”. These links are large and well placed and, in Clemson’s case, contain useful hyperlinks such as “What’s this?” and a “Test Button,” which allows new users to experiment with the service before they make an actual request. If we, as purveyors of this service can make recommendations, then Clemson and most of the satellite USC campuses employ BEST PRACTICE links which other schools should adopt in order to fully benefit from PASCAL’s services.
Complete branding survey of membership (64 K Word Document)
