[WEB4LIB] Re: Library Web Page Use

[Karen Harker]

I think the answer lies in real estate....space in a single screen view is limited.

We recently conducted a small usability study and found that for initial home-page type views, users do not think to or want to scroll down to find information. Our current home page is quite long, primarily because of a large graphic imposed on us by the public relations office.  This graphic not only takes up a large amount of space, but takes forever to load.  

When we released the beta version of our home page to our clients, the primary feedback we have been getting is positive response to keeping all links w/in a single screen.  Admittedly, this does vary depending on the user's environment, but it is a single view on the predominant environment for the campus.

Given that at least our users want only a single-screen view for our home page, and given that our primary clients are current faculty, staff and students of the campus, we chose to forgo most of the standard marketing aspects (pictures of satisfied clients or the library's nice new computer commons, facts about our collection, etc.).  However, we did reserve a corner (the upper-right) for "Highlights" which provide links to timely and highly relevant resources (i.e. "clinical alerts" or CDC Webcasts for physicians, etc.), as well as our newsletter, which does provide pictures and info about our services & collections.

Ironically, there is a strong campus administration philosophy that advocates not showing to the public what the public cannot get.  Paradoxically, an intranet for the campus was rejected for security reasons.  The Library has argued that showing our resources to potential faculty & students could be a marketing tool.  So far, we have not been forced to develop a two-site system (one for the public & one for the campus), and we are hoping we won't have to, but we do not know what the future holds.



Karen R. Harker, MLS
UT Southwestern Medical Library
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX  75390-9049
214-648-1698
http://www.swmed.edu/library/

>>> Hugh Jarvis <hjarvis at buffalo.edu> 12/10/01 9:53:56 AM >>>
Hmm, may I ask why a clean, lean, and very functional site cannot also
be a marketing tool..?  How about a nice tight tool set with a small
amount of space reserved for a pretty picture of happy patrons and a
short snippet of text ("...in 2000, the library collection reached XXXX
books and journals.").  Pictures and text could randomly rotate from a
simple database.  There are many facets to "marketing"...

This is a great thread.

(I am a librarian who works in a marketing/publications office that is
also responsible for our main university pages.)

    Hugh

Hugh Jarvis  (PhD, MLS)
Cybrarian/Web Information Coordinator
Creative Services - University at Buffalo
330 Crofts Hall, Buffalo, New York, USA 14260-7015
Tel: 716 645-5000 x1428
Fax: 716 646-3765
Email: hjarvis at buffalo.edu (preferred)


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Dan Lester
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 8:41 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Library Web Page Use



Friday, December 07, 2001, 8:11:37 AM, you wrote:

KH> Your attempts to use Website usage stats may work if the campus
administration
KH> takes such information into their considerations.  However, it
sounds like simple
KH> usage stats may not affect their decisions.  The campus
administration must make a
KH> decision on the purpose of the site.

    The library must make the same decision regarding the purpose of
    the library site.  There are a few in our organization who think
    our library page should be a work of art, to suck in potential
    students, or maybe even donors.  The majority, and those who make
    final decisions, said that the library site isn't a marketing
    tool, but a useful tool for library patrons.  It isn't fancy or
    beautiful or flashy.  It doesn't have pretty pictures beautiful
    fonts.  It does, however, seem to lead patrons pretty quickly to
    what they need to do their research or homework.  Comments always
    appreciated off list should you have any.

    http://library.boisestate.edu

    dan

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!



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