[WEB4LIB] Library website content benchmarks, best practices?

[Rachel Shuttlesworth]

In a somewhat similar attempt to determine what level of resources 
should be focused on our library web site, I'm trying to find 
information regarding how many people at various academic libraries (1) 
work full time on the site (content, design, and maintenance), (2) serve 
on some sort of web site committee, and (3)supply occasional content to 
the site.

Our situation is that we have one librarian who is the full time web 
site person. We have a web site committee of seven persons who have 
minimal time they can allocate to the site itself (full time reference 
librarians, computer lab managers, systems managers, etc.). We also have 
a few (less than five, probably) librarians who contribute content to 
the site, often as Word documents that have to be reformatted, etc. for 
the web. What happens is that the web site manager spends all of her 
time doing maintenance with no time for anything else related to the 
site. What I need to know (and would love input on from all of you) is 
how "normal" this situation is. I think if I can demonstrate to others 
in the library that more time and energy need to be focused on the web 
site by showing what others are doing, it may help our case. I've tried 
to find articles and other info on library web staffing and have not 
been successful. Any ideas, information, and input would be so appreciated.

Thanks,
Rachel Shuttlesworth

Randy Norwood wrote:

> Does anyone know of any reasonably authoritative studies or standards for
> *content* best practices for academic research library websites (especially
> those serving many undergraduates)?
> 
> I'm not referring to usability, design or information architecture, although
> those are certainly important. Rather, are there generally accepted
> guidelines or heuristic/expert checklists for the types of content, features
> and services that should be present on the library's website, its web OPAC,
> and its web "gateways" to online databases, journals, etc.
> 
> For example, many libraries provide guides to help students quickly find the
> appropriate databases to use, or provide descriptions of each database to
> help the student decide whether to use this one or that one. These features
> are very helpful, especially to undergrads, but they require a fair amount
> of human effort as well.
> 
> Some other examples would be OPAC support for bibliographic software, online
> reference services, ability to manage online one's loans, hold/recall
> requests, ILL requests, etc.
> 
> I'm trying to identify, as objectively as possible, where the
> content/coverage of my library's website can be improved, in order to make a
> case to library admin for devoting more resources to areas that need more
> attention.
>