Academic Web Page Responses
Tami-Jo Eckley
eckleyt at mville.edu
Wed Mar 17 10:03:15 EST 1999
Since I received so many requests for the responses about Academic
Library Web Sites, I have decided to post it to the list, lengthy as it
is. I hope all of you find it as interesting as I do!
I would like to know if any of you are completely in charge of what goes
into your Home Page/Site or if you need to be consistent with the rest of
the college's site. Do you need to answer to the college's Webmaster or
does the library have autonomy.
1. From: Calvin Boyer cboyer at longwood.lwc.edu
Our library home page like other Tier I pages must meet specs set out by
the campus Web committee; library pages below that are our own
choosings.
http://www.lwc.edu/administrative/library/library.htm
Calvin Boyer
Longwood College Library
Farmville, VA 23909
(804) 395-2083
2. From: Sid Dreese sdreese at gettysburg.edu
Here at Gettysburg College Library we are autonomous. We are under no
restrictions by the webmaster, and he is helpful to us as to suggestions.
We think alike on the conceptual framework of our pages.
Sidney G. Dreese
Reference, Instruction, & Electronic Resources Librarian
Musselman Library
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325
sdreese at gettysburg.edu
(717) 337-6994
3. From: Real Rodrigue rodrigue.real at uqam.ca
Here, at the Université du Québec à Montréal Library, we are completely in
charge of our Web Site. Of course, there are some minimum requirements,
especially dealing with ethical norms and also with the visibility of the
University as a whole (e.g. University logo). But apart from that, the
contents of our Web site is our sole responsibility; as a matter of fact,
the same situation applies for all the University's services (Registrar's
office, Telecommunications and Computer services, etc) and academic
departments.
Réal Rodrigue
Bibliothécaire
Services informatisés - Bibliothèque
Université du Québec à Montréal
TEL: (514) 987-3000 #4554 FAX: (514) 987-7787
Courriel / e-mail : Rodrigue.Real at UQAM.CA
WWW : http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/g17176/index.html
4. From: "Joe H. Rose" Rosej at mails.flcoll.edu
I hope some of you Academic folks will respond online to this, as this is a
question that has just come up as I've started to try to update and improve
what is called the "library home page" on our site. I've come up against a
department which controls what is put on and when, through a committee
which doesn't meet, using policies that are not published. I'm trying to
write a short "memo" right now arguing why the library should have
control over its own content, must have timely access to getting it on the
web site, and that the web site must be used for something more than just
a public relations tool. Any help posted to Tami-Jo will be of great use to
me also, so please either forward it to the list, or put my address in the
CC field.
Joe H. Rose
rosej at flcoll.edu
Florida College, Chatlos Library
119 N. Glen Arven Ave.
Temple Terrace, FL 33617
(813) 899-6777
5. From: Janice Adlington jana at InfoNET.st-johns.nf.ca
We theoretically have to answer to the college's Public Relations
department (the college webmaster is a fourth-year computer science
student).
There is a campus standard: but the implicit rule is that, if
your site is good enough, the highers-up will not bother you. Seems
sensible to me. (If pressed, I could defend it based on the educational
mission of the library: providing guidance to students through a maze of
resources is not the same as publishing a brochure.)
Janice Adlington
Trinity College Library
Hartford, CT
6. From: "Walter W. Giesbrecht" walterg at yorku.ca
Our library has complete autonomy. The campus webmaster has never
had any input (beyond answering the odd technical question) into
our website.
Walter Giesbrecht walterg at yorku.ca
Data Librarian (416) 736-2100 ext. 77551
York University Libraries 113Y SSB
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
7. From: Ward Price wprice at panam.edu
I am the Webmaster (for lack of a better term) at the Panam Library. We
have our own server, and do not use the University's servers or equipment
for any of our pages, etc. Hence, we (usually me, but not always) are in
charge of what goes on our site.
Ward Price wprice at panam.edu
Instruction/Reference/Web Librarian
University of Texas-Pan American
Edinburg, Texas 78539
http://www.lib.panam.edu/
8. From: Matt Wilcox matthew.wilcox at yale.edu
I have almost complete control over my library's site--only a few suggested
page elements from the university library (link to university library site,
etc...) and having to answer to the head of my library. No one is policing
any of the suggested policies either, although I am sure I would get a
phone call pretty quick if I started doing anything weird :)
IMHO, we are information professionals and should have every right to
control the format and content of our pages. We work and network to
maintain our autonomy and always try to be a part of any discussions that
could turn into some sort of policy that we would have to abide by.
Matt Wilcox, Reference Librarian, Webmaster
matthew.wilcox at yale.edu | http://info.med.yale.edu/library/
Yale University, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
333 Cedar Street, P.O. Box 208014, New Haven, CT 06520-8014
203 735 2163 - voice | 203 785 4369 - fax
PDC
9. From: Susan Acampora sacampora at cnr.edu
We are also in the midst of the debate over library website control and are
Very interested in responses to Tami-Jo's question. So if you respond
directly to
Tami Jo please
cc: sacampora at cnr.edu as well. At present our library retains a
comprehensive
internal intranet homepage, and the college provides a separate external
homepage on which the library has a link with a much smaller selection of
internet and database resources. Many of us feel the library should
maintain a
website in order to maintain currency and provide a more comprehensive web
resource.
It will be helpful to see how others are set up.
susan acampora
systems librarian
CNR
10. From: Thomas Edelblute thomas at anaheim.lib.ca.us
In my previous job at the United States International University, all changes
had to go through a web page committee that met once per month.
Thomas Edelblute
Anaheim Public Library
11. From: Dan Lester dan at 84.com
Yes, I am, for http://library.boisestate.edu, although I of course listen
to our Publications Committee, the Library Director's suggestions,
colleagues, etc. I imagine that if there were ever a major battle I'd win,
but I'd much rather never have any battles.
Having worked in seven state university libraries in seven states, I'd say
that it all depends on "campus political climate and style". Boise State
is generally a decentralized and loosely coordinated place, occasionally to
a fault. I've worked in other places, however, where you had to raise your
hand to go to the bathroom, had better NEVER take a 16 minute break, and so
forth. So, you adapt to the local style or move on.
If what you're dealing with is the politics of power and control, you're
unlikely to win, and might be better off not fighting. The Boise State
level of web control is shown at
http://www.boisestate.edu/oit/bsustyle/official.html As you can see, it
is minimal, and all things that follow basics of good design and common
sense.
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716-7115 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com http://www.84.com/ http://www.idaholibraries.org/
http://library.boisestate.edu/ http://cyclops.boisestate.edu/
http://www.lili.org/ http://www.postcard.org/ http://www.homesight.org/
12. From: "Walter W. Giesbrecht" walterg at yorku.ca
Our campus webmaster only has input into those sites that are
hosted on the campus server (in terms of space, scripts, etc.,
but not content). Those units within the university that are
running their own servers (i.e., most of us) have complete
autonomy.
Walter Giesbrecht walterg at yorku.ca
Data Librarian (416) 736-2100 ext. 77551
York University Libraries 113Y SSB
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
13. From: Dan Lester dan at 84.com
As one more comment on all of this, I'll say that besides things here being
done in the loose "Boise State Way" (similar to the HP Way, for those
familiar with it), the library had the first web server on campus, and
after starting the library website started the university website, managing
it for ten months until the IT folks could get their stuff together to do
so themselves. Note that I'm not knocking our IT folks, with whom we work
VERY closely....they've greatly improved since 1994 when all of the above
happened. We still run two physical servers, and about thirty virtual
servers, and manage everything in the building from where the fiber
terminates in our switch to all the desktops, public PCs, etc. You can
run your own server on almost any Win9x/NT box with no problems at all. Of
course they may not allow you to do so, but technically it is very simple,
with very inexpensive software. Again, it all depends on your local
politics and personalities.
cheers, and pick your battles wisely
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716-7115 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com http://www.84.com/ http://www.idaholibraries.org/
http://library.boisestate.edu/ http://cyclops.boisestate.edu/
http://www.lili.org/ http://www.postcard.org/ http://www.homesight.org/
14. From: Keawe Vredenburg kevreden at ksbe.edu
I fail to see what the Webmaster has to say about it. Our concern (as the
Web page makers) is more along the lines of technical (ie. intellectual)
content, not underlying technical format. As long as the Web page doesn't
bring down your site somehow, the Webmaster should be happy. Now your
academic dean - that's another matter. Consistency is not much of a player
because we're not trying to unite the archives with the library and the
sports page. Maybe an approach would be to pull the relevant people together
and agree on the objectives of the various Web pages with respect to the
college's outreach program. I suggest consistency comes from there (academic
policy), not from the Webmaster (technical excellence).
* * * D I S C L A I M E R * * *
The views described herein are the views of the author, and do not represent
the
views or opinions of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, nor is there any
approval
or authorization of this material, express or implied, by the Kamehameha
Schools
Bishop Estate. If you suspect that any of the material in this message or
attachments thereto is in violation of a copyright, please notify the
Webmaster
immediately by e-mail at "webmaster at ksbe.edu".
15. From: "Heinrich C. Kuhn" ua212ac at mail.lrz-muenchen.de
Up to now we have complete autonomy. In my former insti-
tution there was some discussion about this. My view is,
that the more autonomy you give to the basic levels, the
better and faster they can react, adapt, innovate.
I advocated and advocate however some basic rules for
institutional pages: usability even on older browsers,
not relying on purely visiual information where text
equivalents are possible, indicating the person responsible
for every page, etc ... .
Dr. Heinrich C. Kuhn
| Institut fuer Geistesgeschichte der Renaissance
| Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen
| D-80539 Muenchen / Ludwigstr. 31/IV
| T.: +49-89-2180 2018, F.: +49-89-2180 2907
16. From: "Margaret F. Dikel" mfriley at erols.com
When I was webmaster at wpi (and I was "webmaster" along with someone
in the academic computing dept), the university created a policy for page
design which was dependent upon (1) who controlled the information and
(2) how deep in the server the information was found. Anything that was
university controlled info (like college catalogs, etc.) had to conform
to a
strict set of design guidelines. Front pages of individual departments
(including
library, administration, and academic depts) had to conform to a set of
guidelines, but below that we only asked that certain things be present along
with certain links back to the dept and college front pages. Clubs and
student groups merely needed a link back to the university homepage.
Individual pages were not regulated.
As the person who started the library webpage and then got promoted to
the university position by being in the right place at the right time (I
guess),
There is something to be said for uniformity of design and having some
standard information available at all depts. However, not everyone is alike
and the departments wanted a certain amount of autonomy. I think this
provided the best of both worlds, at least for a while.
Margaret Dikel, MSLIS
11218 Ashley Dr. The Riley Guide
Rockville, MD 20852 www.rileyguide.com
301-984-4229 www.dbm.com/jobguide
301-984-6390 FAX mfriley at erols.com
I wrote to Tami-Jo privately, but since Joe asked...
When I worked at Worcester Polytech (www.wpi.edu), the web committee
for the university came up with a set of guidelines which governed content,
look, and control of information based on who controlled the initial info and
how deep in the web the pages were found. So course catalogs and other
official university documents had a high-level of control placed on them,
including who approved any online changes to the content. Department pages
had guidelines for look of the front page along with notes of content we
wanted
to see within the pages (lists of faculty and staff among other things),
but beyond
this they were under the control of the individual departments and their
appointed
"webmaster." Student associations and clubs just needed to have a link
back up
to the university front page.
I think these guidelines allowed for a standard "look and feel" along
withbasic
standard content but allowed departments to express their individuality.
However,
I left the university 3 years ago, so a check of their webserver or an
email to
the webmaster or director of the library might reveal something different in
place.
Margaret
17. From: Laura Cohen lcohen at cnsvax.albany.edu
At the University at Albany, the only requirement we have is to provide a
link from the library's site to the University's site. This is a
requirement for all official pages that are linked to the University's
site. Other than that, we can do what we want. Of course, we're also
supposed to follow certain standardized guidelines such as complying with
copyright, etc.
Laura B. Cohen
Network Services Librarian
University at Albany Libraries
Albany, NY 12222
518-442-3492
518-442-3567 (FAX)
LCOHEN at cnsvax.albany.edu
18. From: Sam Kalb kalbs at post.queensu.ca
Ours is a decentralized university campus with a great deal of local
autonomy among departments, etc. In keeping with this organizational
culture, there is no central control over content or format. Individual
departments may have their own webmasters to coordinate their sites. There
are many web pages in the library system with a variety of styles, formats,
and content. We do have centralized coordination of pages linked to the
various public web pages. The general philosophy in our library is to
encourage and support people in publishing to the web - not to place
obstacles in their path.
Sam Kalb
Coordinator, Technical Services, Queen's University Libraries
Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 5C4
Phone: (613) 533-2830; Fax: (613) 533-6819
Email: kalbs at post.queensu.ca
URL (QTECH Web): stauffer.queensu.ca/techserv/qtechweb.html
19. From: Kerry Bouchard BOUCHARD at LIB.IS.TCU.EDU
We have complete autonomy over what goes onto the library's web site.
(Probably helps that we own our own web server, rather than having our
pages on
a campus-wide server).
Kerry Bouchard, K.BOUCHARD at TCU.EDU
Assistant University Librarian for Systems
Mary Couts Burnett Library, TCU
20. From: Jim Harold jharold at dec.cdie.org
For those of you in a more restrictive web environment, you might be
interested
in viewing the US Dept of Education standards, first reported to this
list by
Elisabeth Roche ("Fwd: Dept of Educ WWW Server Standards & Guidelines",
Tue, 23
Jul 1996 15:47:34 -0700).
Although the guidelines are written for a government setting, they might
provide a framework for you to work within in when dealing with other
administrative units within your institution's bureaucracy.
The current revised edition, "World Wide Web Policy and Procedures" is
available online at:
http://www.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html
in PDF, MS Word 6.0, and ASCII text versions.
I hope this has been of help.
Jim Harold
USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse
(operated by LTS Corporation)
1611 N Kent St Ste 200
Arlington VA 22209-2111 USA
jharold at dec.cdie.org
+1 703-351-4006 x109
+1 703-351-4039 fax
http://www.dec.org
21. From: Lynn Eades beades at med.unc.edu
This has been a very interesting discussion! I was just named WebManager
last
year. Previously a support staff member put together the site and maintained
it. Shortly before he left a web committee was formed to oversee the web
site.
It is made up of
representatives from different departments who are in charge of updating
their
pages. The chair of the committee is in charge of publicity for the library.
There are times when this works well and times when it doesn't. We do
have our
own server, but we do respect
the guidelines put out by the University.
I also serve on the Library Web Committee for the main campus libraries.
Here
at UNC-CH, there are three separately administered libraries. I am at Health
Sciences, which reports to the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. The Law
Library reports to the Dean of the
Law School. The other 15 libraries, which are called collectively the
Academic
Affairs Libraries, report to the Dean of Libraries. This committee is in the
process of putting up new pages for the libraries web site (Academic
Affairs).
This has been a real
challenge, since you really have to watch the political battles that may
arise.
Even putting together an alphabetical list of libraries was a
challenge! The
Academic Affairs Libraries do have guidelines for the web sites that are
hosted
on their server. The
committee is also working to revise these guidelines, which I may revise more
for our use.
I am keeping all these messages from this discussion. I hope they can be a
backup to any further discussions of what should happen with our web site.
B. Lynn Eades
Distributed Learning Librarian/WebManager
Health Sciences Library
CB# 7585
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7585
Phone: (919) 966-8012
Email: beades at med.unc.edu
22. From: TMGB bennettt at am.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University Library's website began on a unix server
which originally stored the campus web pages also. We have had complete
control over our pages from the beginning. Since November 1997 we have
had an Alpha NT server completely under library control. This server we
received was part of a UNC System wide program to put independent web
servers in every UNC System Library and each library was given a choice
for intel or alpha servers and web server software. So the server
actually belongs to UNC General Administration but we have complete
autonomy over the computer. At the present I am seriously considering
moving from NT to LINUX this is the type of depth of control we have on
our server. Recently the ASU campus website had a "facelift" and the
link to the library from that page brought up a menu in a frame beside
the menu choice which had only a partial selection from our home page.
Since their "facelift" we have redesigned our home page, by choice, to
have a similar look. Since our redesign the ASU campus link now links
directly to our home page, how about a little honey, eh? :) We
created our own web policy,
http://www.library.appstate.edu/Admin/Policy/LibraryWebDevelopmentPolicy.html
,and included in our policy is to abide by the campus policy which is a
basic "be nice" policy. It looks like the UNC system libraries might be
unique in the support and funding that was given us by General
Administration. I'm curious to know if any other institutions have
received their web servers from a similar source. Thomas McMillan Grant
Bennett Appalachian State University
Computer Consultant II University Library
bennettt at am.appstate.edu
http://www.library.appstate.edu/admin/
Voice: 828 262 6587 FAX: 828 262 3001
22. From: Elizabeth Felt felt at mail.wsu.edu
At Washington State University, we have a good bit of control over what
goes on our pages. The university requires that we have a link to the
university's copyright statement and to its disclaimer. It encourages
departments to use the WSU logo and to use the format of a left column
(made with tables) that indicate the structure of the department's pages.
To make this more clear, please visit our pages at
http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/
The main university page is at http://www.wsu.edu (you'll note they don't
follow their own recommendations.)
We have decided to follow the university's recommendations; however, many
departments have not followed the recommendations (or even requirements)
and as far as I know, the university hasn't and perhaps can't do anything
about it. Historically, departments on this campus have tended to have a
lot of autonomy. Please let me know if you have any questions. Elizabeth
Caulfield Felt
Reference Librarian
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-5610
509-335-8957
felt at wsu.edu
http://www.wsu.edu/~felt/
23. From: Susan Avery savery at mail.millikin.edu
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 setof 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,
Reference and Instruction Librarian
Staley Library
Millikin University
savery at mail.millikin.edu
24. From: Marsha Keenan Marsha_Keenan at tamu-commerce.edu
I don't have to conform to a university "style" website. I'm the webmaster
for our library and the site is different from others on campus.
I have every effort to have the Library site look uniform. Looking at some
of the other websites on campus--I can see the need for some uniformity,
but like having the freedom to have the Library site be unique.
Marsha James Keenan
Reference Librarian/Webmaster
Gee Library
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429
903-886-5721
http://multimedia.tamu-commerce.edu/library
25. From: Jill Brophy jbrophy at lorainccc.edu
Our college has changed web masters three times in the past year. We
also recruited a new head of the computing services department within
in the past year. The campus has a committee that is currently trying
to define web page standards. (The campus web master is not on this
committee, nor is anyone from the library.)
As a consequence, things are pretty loose. At present, the library
maintains its own web page which is linked to the college's web page.
We just recently formed a web page development committee and we are in
the process of defining our web page's purpose and goals.
I hope this helps. We are interested in receiving a summary or
compilation of the responses you receive on this issue.
From: MaryRose Amidjaya marya at ednet.rvc.cc.il.us
We are also restructuring. We will have to be responsible to our IT
department for our "home page", but any pages below this level are
completely our responsibility.
Mary Rose Amidjaya
Rock Valley College
Educational Resources Center
26. From: Katherine Furlong kfurlong at maine.maine.edu
At the University of Maine at Farmington, the library's Head of Technical
Services has control of the library page *content* but the form is decided
by the campus webmaster for "UMF Online" :
library page: http://www.umf.maine.edu/~library
guidelines for "official" UMF homepages are at
http://www.umf.maine.edu/Templates/authors.html
Actually, the guidelines are probably going to become more rigid, and we've
been told that we may loose control of content, too. I'm campaigning to
change this system, and advocating for more, not less, control, so if you
have any ideas, please share! Thanks!
Katherine Furlong
User Education and Electronic Resources Librarian
University of Maine at Farmington
Mantor Library, 41 High Street, Farmington, ME 04938
kfurlong at maine.maine.edu | 207-778-7224
http://violet.umfacad.maine.edu/~furlong
27. From: Pam King pking at credit.erin.utoronto.ca
Yes, our Library is in charge of its Web site. I coordinate the
development of that site and receive input from all Librarians.
As well, I am the Chair of the College Web Subcommittee which reports to
our Computer and Data Communications Committee and I coordinate the
activity of the central Web service.
Hope this is useful,
Pam King, MLS
Erindale College Library, University of Toronto at Mississauga
http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/library
__________________________________________________________________________________
CHEERS!
Tami-Jo Eckley
Electronic Services & Media Librarian
Manhattanville College Library
Purchase, New York 10577
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