[WEB4LIB] Library web site organization

[HTheyer]

Torrance Public Library lays out all its electronic resources by subject
mixing databases, CD-ROM products, and free websites.  I find it very useful
as a librarian, especially when I am not sure what will help a patron, and I
can just look at the list and start checking.  Or if the person's question
is vague, or if they just want "whatever they can find" I can just direct
them to the entire list and they can browse, just like I would direct them
to the proper Dewey number to browse the shelves.  Products restricted to
the library's PCs are labeled "In Library Only"

http://www.library.torrnet.com/

Hillary Theyer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Smith" <tsmith1 at ohiou.edu>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 5:31 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Library web site organization


> 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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