[WEB4LIB] Library home pages

[TMGB]

There is an alternative approach that would allow your users to
basically design the site according to the use it gets.  When I took a
Programming Languages course at ASU, the professor cited a case on a
University campus where a building was constructed and no sidewalks were
laid down.  At the end of the semester sidewalks were laid where the
majority of people had walked a path into the ground.  It may take some
time but you can do the same with a website.  Decide which pages would
most likely be accessed and create a text only homepage  with those
links, this will allow fast load times for more content.  These should
be many more links than you would normally have on the home page.  After
a predetermined period, use a log analyzer like WebTrends which can show
you the most followed paths to as many levels as you define in the
analyzer parameters.  I get the feeling that this has never been tried
in this manner.  The drawback is that for some time you will have the
most boring but maybe the fastest loading web pages.  Once you get an
idea of the paths that are followed then  you may be able to somewhat
base a site design on those paths.  After the test period is over, then
you can "pretty up" the pages, but I think making it useful may be your
first goal.  And, yes you may have some people that come to the site and
are completely lost because of no defined direction and thus give you
bogus data for your purposes.

Thomas

Shane Nackerud wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone--
> 
>         The University of Minnesota Libraries are in the middle of a total web
> site redesign.  One question we have been grappling with is what links
> should be on the home page?  What services and research tools should
> receive the highest priority?  The catalog and indexes/databases are
> obvious choices, but what else?  We have already conducted a series of
> usability tests and focus groups so we have a better understanding of what
> our users want from a library web site.  We will also be conducting more
> tests as we go through future iterations.  However, we are interested in
> what other colleges or universities have found through similar evaluation
> techniques or server log statistics.  What do your students want on your
> library's home page?  What links or pages get hit the most on your
> library's web site?  What do students expect to find quickly on your site's
> home page?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Shane
> 
> *******************************************************
> Shane Nackerud
> Web Services Coordinator
> University of Minnesota Libraries
> 180 Wilson Library
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> (612) 625-7880

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas McMillan Grant Bennett           Appalachian State University
Computer Consultant II                  University Library
bennettt at am.appstate.edu               
http://www.library.appstate.edu/admin/
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