Staff intranet for small libraries

[David Tristano]

As former webmaster to a small college in a large university, I can
offer this:

It will only work if people *do* buy into it.  They have to go to the
site, read the pages, participate in the discussions.

Most importantly, they have to contribute content to keep your site
current.  Most likely that means you need to find someone in every
department who's responsible for collecting, editing and entering new
info for that department -- which raises the question of what tools to
use, and are they accessible to everyone, any how much HTML do people
need to know.  This may be easier to implement if you've got one or two
dedicated webmasters, but departments still need to be responsible for
the information.

Good luck...

David Tristano
Developer
The Math Forum
www.mathforum.com

"VanderHart, Robert" wrote:
> 
> My library's web technical group is beginning discussions on the feasibility
> and design of a staff intranet.  We have a staff of less than 40 people.
> There is a shared network drive that we use as a repository for library
> meeting minutes, projects, etc.  We also have an email list that is used to
> inform staff on a variety of issues.  And since we're a small staff,
> sometimes word-of-mouth is just fine for some things.
> 
> Given that, I would be interested in hearing from others in similarly sized
> libraries who have set up a staff intranet.  What makes your intranet an
> enhancement over existing methods of information sharing among staff?  Did
> you have to "sell" your staff ("We've already got email, what do we need an
> intranet for?") on the idea of an intranet?
> 
> Any ideas, suggestions, or examples would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Robert J. Vander Hart
> Reference Librarian/Gov Docs Specialist
> The Lamar Soutter Library
> University of Massachusetts Medical School
> 55 Lake Avenue N
> Worcester  MA  01655
> 
> Voice: (508) 856-3290
> Fax: (508) 856-5899
> Email: Robert.VanderHart at umassmed.edu
> Web: http://library.umassmed.edu