Time Spent Building/Maintaining Web Sites

[John Kupersmith]

re:
>     For those of you in charge of building and maintaining content for 
>     library web sites, I would like to ask how much time per week you 
>     devote to that task?  

We're a public library serving about 289,000 people, with 635,000
volumes and 13 branches (one of which is the web site).  I think
the size and complexity of the site are more important than population
numbers, volume count, etc. in determining how much work is required.
Our site < http://www.washoe.lib.nv.us/ > has 11 main sections, 
somewhere between 15 and 20 pages of library-related information, 
and about 300 links to other resources.

I spend about 4 hours per week just keeping the news info on the front
page current, updating the library information, prospecting on the web,
adding and annotating new links (about 3-5/week), and generally keeping 
things up.  

About once a month I run a "broken links" report, using "CyberSpyder Link 
Test" < http://www.cyberspyder.com/ >.  This usually results in another 
5-8 hours of follow-up: correcting links, finding substitutes for defunct 
sources, etc.  

Though our Reference Department gets the e-mail sent from the reference page, 
I do get one or two questions a week sent from the main page; probably another
hour for that.  Another hour/week is spent promoting the site, swapping e-mail
with other web-folk, etc.  All things considered, probably 8 hours/week 
for all the routine tasks.

Special projects, such as redesigning pages, building pages for special
events, or learning some new technique, take longer ... depending, 
of course, on the amount of obsessive-compulsive behavior involved.

--jk
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  John Kupersmith                          jkup at washoe.lib.nv.us
  Internet Services Librarian        http://www.washoe.lib.nv.us
  Washoe County Library                     voice:  702-785-4137
  301 South Center St., Reno, NV 89501        fax:  702-785-4609
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