[WEB4LIB] Photos on Home Pages

[N. Lynn Schlatter]

Wait, wait, I know the answer to this one!  Having felt a little left out of
the conversation because I'm not at an academic library (I know you didn't
mean it, and my pillow will dry out eventually), I'll chime in with the
answer to why public libraries don't have photographs on their home pages:

1) Digital cameras, and even scanners, are still considered pretty fluffy on
a public library budget.

2) Public libraries have to be extremely conscious of download time.  We
don't want a patron's slow modem to interfere with their library web page
access.  We do have what I consider to be an very attractive pen and ink
drawing of the building, though.

That being said, Shreve Memorial does have photographs embedded more deeply
in the site.  These are mostly pictures of staff and board members, to lend
a human face to our work.  We have both a digital camera *and* a scanner.
Spiffy!

Sincerely,
Lynn Schlatter
Instructional Coordinator
Shreve Memorial Library
Shreveport, Louisiana
http://www.shreve-lib.org


> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of John Kupersmith
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 1:12 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Photos on Home Pages (was: Library Web Page Use)
>
> 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%).
>
> --jk
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>    John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>    Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
>    Doe Library Information Center
>    University of California, Berkeley
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Not speaking for UCB in this message~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>