[WEB4LIB] Re: Communication between Librarian & Webmaster?

[Thomas Dowling]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Roy Tennant
> Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 1998 3:32 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Communication between Librarian & Webmaster?
>
>
> To follow up a bit on Brian's identification of different roles, we have
> compartmentalized the following roles:
>
> * Overall site management: server policies, procedures, content
> management, etc.
> * Technical support: server software configuration, installation,
> troubleshooting, etc.
> * Administrative support: moving files around, helping "data owners" put
> their files up, etc.
> * Data Owners: those with the "stuff" that needs to go online
> and who also
> have the responsibility to mark it up or see that it is done
>
> Each role is performed by (at least one) separate person. The only
> librarian involved (except for the data owners) is the Web Manager, who
> performs the overall site management role. But what we have
> found is that
> this individual must also have a fairly thorough technical knowledge as
> well. This is because the person performing the technical support is not
> going to go out looking for work. Therefore, they do not volunteer
> information about unused server capabilities or the like. That
> means it is
> up to the librarian Web Manager to know all the possibilities (including
> knowing when the server must be reconfigured by the technical support
> person) so they know whe to hold the tech support person's feet to the
> fire.
>
> I teach a lot of HTML workshops, and if I hear anything
> repeated time and
> again it is the lament that they can't get what they want out
> of whomever
> is managing their Web server. Most often this is an overworked technical
> support person who finds it much easier just to say no than to even look
> into how difficult it would be to fulfill the request. I doubt that a
> public service librarian would have the same knee-jerk response.

Roy, you say that as someone with at least one foot in the sea of public
service librarianship.  Doesn't every library have a handful of patrons
grumbling to themselves, "I can never get what I want out of those jerks
at the reference desk..."?

At least part of the problem is the notion of "getting something out of"
systems.  A non-dysfunctional (I suppose that would be "functional") web
site simply won't come about through that kind of predatorial attempt to
coerce another party into serving one's own perceived higher priority
needs.

While it never hurts to have some grasp of the other person's realm of
expertise--as a last resort, if nothing else--why not make one trip to the
systems office with a batch of chocolate chip cookies before you haul out
the red-hot pokers?  In sufficient quantity, cookies have an amazing
ability to get the other guy to see what you're trying to do, understand
why you're doing it, and how it fits into the overall scheme of things.
That's when you'll get the "Oh, sure, I can do that" or "Here's an even
better way to do that" reaction.

'Course, if your sysadmin or webmaster really is a mutant troll who
doesn't respond to cookies, you've still got those red-hot pokers in
reserve.  But in general, you catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar.


Thomas ("Actually, you catch more with manure") Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu