[WEB4LIB] Re: Libweb and the Seven Year Itch

[Thomas Dowling]

On Mon, 28 May 2001, Thomas M G Bennett wrote:
> I think Thomas has enough to do (and does a great job) without having to
> chase down a website every time it moves.  A responsible webmaster should
> inform people and sites before moving if possible.  After moving use the
> free tools on the web to submit your new URL to the search engines.  If you
> are a webmaster on this list then you should be familiar with Libweb and
> think to send Mr. Dowling a note that your URL has changed and the new URL.
> IMHO any list like this is for mutual support and should be used as such,
> you don't have to be just a listener.
>

I appreciate the sentiment that everyone should be working to make my life
easier, but in fact it shouldn't be necessary to send me every revision if
webmasters are doing their jobs responsibly.

In my opinion, changing a library's URL should not happen more frequently than
changing the phone numbers for the circulation and reference desks--playing
musical homepages sends a very clear message that the library doesn't take the
web seriously as an information channel.  Also IMO, changing a major URL should
take at least two years, starting with several months of "We will be moving..."
followed by several months of "We have moved..." (with a link and possibly a
meta refresh to the new location), followed by at least a year of the old
location providing a 301 status to all browsers and indexers that hit it,
showing a permanent redirect to the new location.  For libweb's purposes--okay,
big deal, for Google's purposes, and Altavista's, and your patrons'
bookmarks--that 301 message is a hook that can automatically update the
indexer, both adding your new location and dropping your old one.

Of course, there's a reverse situation.  If your homepage is
http://lib.foo.edu/ the don't have it fool around with non-200 status codes.  I
see a growing number of site where that URL gets a 302 or 301 redirect status
to, for example, http://lib.foo.edu/flash-up-the-wazoo.html.

-- 
Thomas Dowling
Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu