[WEB4LIB] Academic Library Web Pages

[Susan Avery]

At Millikin University I am on a committee that has been charged with reviewing and revising the university's web site.  The committee has consisted of faculty and IT folks.  The need for non-IT people on such a committee is crucial, as the goals and objectives of the two groups can vary greatly!  We have created a new home page for the university and established a set of policies for the pages on our web site.  We just uploaded the new pages over the weekend.  http://www.millikin.edu/ 

The main battles we had to wage during this process were with Media/PR people who don't understand the differences between print and web design.  Persistence and educating them payed off for us in the long run.

The purpose of the policies is not to police the content of anyone's pages, but rather make sure there is a like look and feel to at least the top level pages, and address issues regarding currency and maintenance of the pages.  (Old, outdated pages had become a big problem.)  Our policies are meant to serve as guidelines and recommendations, not cut in stone "you must do this or else" demands.  The purposes of individual departmental pages varies, and a rigid set of guidelines applied to all just doesn't work.

As the library webmaster I have never felt the need to have our pages approved by anyone.  I think we are best able to address the content of our pages what our users need and want.  On going discussion with library staff has helped determined the content of our pages.  (I will, however, be redoing some of the pages now to better tie them into the university's new design!) 

Susan Avery


Susan Avery,
Reference and Instruction Librarian
Staley Library
Millikin University

savery at mail.millikin.edu