[WEB4LIB] Library web site organization

[glen.davies at cce.ac.nz]

Hi

We have just done something similar to what you are talking about. 
All our electronic resources are browsable by subject but also 
type, so users can browse all the electronic resources relating to 
say Education, whether they be databases, websites, ejournals, 
etc. or if they want they can just look at all of our full text 
databases, or index only databases. All the info is in a mysql 
database with php frontend, and items can be listed under as many 
subject headings as are relevant. There is also a very basic search 
function. 
Another advantage in setting it up with this database backend is 
that we can now keep click through statistics for each resource so 
we can automatically weed our lists of websites, etc. based on 
use,lastuse.

http://www.cce.ac.nz/library/

regards
Glen

On 1 Nov 00, at 5:33, 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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