Photos on Home Pages (was: Library Web Page Use)

[John Kupersmith]

re Daniel Messer's comment:
>My thoughts are that a library web page should offer [a] balance
>between good looks and easy functionality. The images of smiley happy
>patrons, exterior and interior views of the library, and notes on book
>quantities should be offered where they do not interfere with a patron
>checking their account, reserving a book, or accessing a database. A
>library webmaster needs to be careful that their page doesn't suffer the
>same mistakes of the university home page, namely  hiding the useful stuff
>in favour of good looks.

I agree with Daniel that balance is important and functionality comes 
first, but I also think images on a library's home page can be more than 
just PR fluff.  A photo of people interacting with the library in a 
positive way - especially if it's well coordinated with the other content 
of the page - can help to model behavior, reduce anxiety, and encourage 
return visits.  Given the state of signage on some campuses, I suppose even 
a photo of the building could serve a purpose in helping people find it!

For what it's worth, a study of 29 academic library home pages in November 
2000 showed that 19 of them (66%) were using some kind of photo on the 
page.  The photo subjects were: 11 buildings; 2 landscapes; 2 
building/people/computers; 1 people; 1 people/books/computers; 1 
computer/book; and 1 photo related to a news item.

Oddly (IMHO), out of 22 public library home pages, only 8 (36%) had 
photos.  The subject were: 5 buildings; 2 people/building; 1 people/books.

In both groups of libraries, photos were much less common on home pages 
used for in-house public Internet stations (academic 35%, public 6%) and 
for staff computers (academic 40%, public 8%).

The study results are not yet published, but for links to these pages, see:
"The Other Home Page: Special-Purpose Entry Points for Library Web Sites"
< http://www.jkup.net/other.html >


--jk
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   John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
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   Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
   Doe Library Information Center
   University of California, Berkeley
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