[WEB4LIB] Re: Library home pages

[Bob Duncan]

At 12:15 PM 5/12/99, Andrew Mutch wrote:
>I know this gets kicked around a lot in library land but I think the first
>question you need to answer is "What is the primary purpose [or mission]
of your
>library home page?"
>
>Is it serving as an information gateway [or portal] to library resources?
>Is it intended to serve as a directory to information about the library?
>Is it intended to establish a "presence" for the library on the WWW?
>
>Will it try to do all 3 and more??
>
>I think once you establish what the primary mission of the page is, the
links will
>become more evident.  You may discover, like a number of libraries have, that
>you'll need to develop multiple "home pages" depending on which audience is
>visiting.
>
> [snippage]
>
>Most importantly, realize that you probably couldn't (and shouldn't, even
if you
>can) do all of these on the same page.

Andrew makes many good points (as usual), but I disagree with the last
statement.  I think separate "home" pages leads to confusion in an academic
setting (perhaps it's appropriate for public libraries?).  Our students
access the library home page from the libraries, from their dorms, and from
off-campus;  sometimes because they need an "information gateway [or
portal] to library resources," sometimes for a "directory to information
about the library," sometimes merely because they've become familiar with
it as a place to begin research.  I think it's a mistake to assume the
locale from which they access us is related to the information need.

Having a common front is an important part of the seamlessness which can
make a site useful -- do we really want a user to have know where to find
library hours or the link to Lexis-Nexis or whatever from three (or more)
separate places?  If we librarians do our job properly and well, we should
be able to point to it all from one entry point.

Bob Duncan

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
  Robert E. Duncan
  Systems Librarian
  David Bishop Skillman Library
  Lafayette College
  Easton, PA 18042
  610-330-5156
  duncanr at lafayette.edu
  http://www.library.lafayette.edu/