[WEB4LIB] Library web site organization

[Chris Le Beau]

This has been in the back of my mind for at least two years. We in
Libraryland tend to want to transfer the physical layout and
classification structure of our traditional libraries to our Web sites.
In doing this we librarians assume that our users know and understand
our ways of classifying and separating our pathfinders, reference
materials, indexes, databases, Web sites, etc. Our assumption is
probably not a strong one and grows weaker every day as students come of
age on the Web. We really should check to see what high schools are
doing too so we are not completely out of sync with the students'
information experience prior to reaching college.

We have taken a baby-step on one part of our Web site by integrating
some good free Web sites with some of our subscription reference
databases (like A&E Biography Web site with Gale's Biography and
Genealogy Master Index). A sample of this is at:
http://reinert.creighton.edu/vrrefdsk/biog.htm . We place a star next to
our subscription databases so users and librarians know what is
proprietary and what is not. We have not taken the flying leap by
completely "flattening" our Web or by totally integrating free Web sites
with all our subscription resources and databases which would allow us
to use an Open Directory Project model or Yahoo model, but the day is
probably not far away. I have seen a few universities that have done
this. Perhaps they will post their sites for us.

I am also a proponent of adopting more of the language commonly found on
search engine sites, like "Advanced Search," for our OPAC and other
places. But there is an incredible independent streak among librarians
to want to use unique language. I say go for language that users
commonly encounter and that has become meaningful for them. I love our
independent natures, but there is a time for common sense. What's that
new ad? dot.commonsense

----
Chris Le Beau
Reference Librarian & Coord. of Electronic Services                   
Reinert/Alumni Library , Creighton University
2500 California Plaza,  Omaha,  NE  68178

clbeau at creighton.edu   ~   402-280-1757 ~  Fax: 402-280-2435





Tim Smith wrote:
> 
> I don't know if this is a silly idea or not, but it's something I've been
> thinking about and mulling over with some of my colleagues for awhile now,
> and I'd like to hear other folks' reactions. From looking at the various web
> pages of colleges and universities, it seems that most of us--my library
> included--use a pretty traditional "libraryish" model to organize our home
> pages: online catalog(s), databases, reference sources, electronic journals,
> information about our libraries, pathfinders/subject guides, etc.
> 
> This is an arrangement that we are very comfortable with, but which is often
> baffling to our users. They are likely to be more familiar with a mostly
> subject-based organization such as Yahoo's, for example. And most of us are
> doubtless pretty comfortable browsing in an directory like Yahoo or the
> Librarians' Index to the Internet, burrowing down to what we want to find,
> even if it doesn't follow normal library-like organization.
> 
> My question--you surely saw it coming--then is whether it would work to
> arrange a library's web site like Yahoo or LII. Rather than splitting
> databases, reference sites, etc. into separate categories on the home page,
> use a top-level subject hierarchy, with functional or format categories
> underneath. I doubt that most of our users think in terms of format first.
> It's pretty abstract, and is not entirely satisfactory anyway: where do you
> categorize a multi-format database?
> 
> Are there any library web sites already doing this? If so, which ones? If
> not, why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of
> arrangement as opposed to what we're doing now? I seem to recall a bit of
> Yahoo-bashing on this list a little while back, but I'd really like to see
> some further discussion on this subject.
> 
> Tim Smith
> 
> *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
>     Tim Smith                    Phone: (740) 593-2634
>     Reference Dept.              E-Mail: tsmith1 at ohiou.edu
>     Alden Library, Ohio Univ.    Fax: (740) 593-2959
>     Athens, OH 45701
> 
>     "Technology has replaced reflection" -- Utah Phillips
> *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

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