[WEB4LIB] Thoughts on Web Site Subject Headings

[Dan Lester]

Boise State has gone through this discussion, ad nauseam.

If you check out www.boisestate.edu you'll find that the organization
is, at least at the top level, along "type of patron" lines.  There
are links to pages that give the hierarchical/organizational lines, of
course.

This has been VERY unpopular among faculty, who think all should be
done according to their college, department, etc.  Of course each
department has its own web page.

The library homepage http://library.boisestate.edu also follows
functional or "type of request" guidelines, though ultimately many of
the pages are for library departments.  In both the library and the
rest of the university that is to be expected, since most pages are
created by people in one department.  You'd need not only an overall
webmaster, but some staff with him/her to create all the pages
otherwise.  And, of course, however those were created you'd still
have lots of unhappy folks, mainly because the pages weren't created
the way.

To me, much of this illustrates that we're used to thinking
hierarchically, and even in an environment that doesn't require such
thinking, we can't break our mental habits and organizational habits.

cheers

dan



Friday, April 12, 2002, 12:01:32 PM, you wrote:

BC> I've always read that your web site structure should not reflect your 
BC> companies organizational chart.
BC> This makes sense, since people outside of your company do not know, or 
BC> care, how your company is organized, nor do they understand the terms you use.

BC> BUT, has anyone given any thought to this as it applies (or does not apply) 
BC> to the organization of a university, and the "topics" this creates for a 
BC> library web site. This will require a bit of explanation on my end.

BC> For example, here at OSU we have the college organized like this:

BC> Colleges and Schools
BC>      School of Allied Medical
BC>        Medical Technology
BC>        Occupational Therapy
BC>      College of the Arts
BC>         Department of Art
BC>         School of Art
BC>      College of Social And Behavioral Colleges
BC>          Psychology
BC>          Sociology

BC> And the list goes on and on....

BC> The Subject headings and topics we use on our library web site in no way 
BC> reflects the over all college structure or terms that are used everyday by 
BC> everyone on campus, nor do we follow DDC or LC.

BC> Would it make any sense to use the terms the college uses for organizing 
BC> pages that use topics or subject heading for organization?

BC> Here's one thought:
BC> Since people on campus are already aware that as a Psychology major they 
BC> are part of the College of Social & Behavioral Colleges,  it seems our 
BC> on-campus audience would be aware of these categories, and we would be 
BC> fitting into their model of how things are organized. People outside the 
BC> college would not have this built in knowledge.

BC> This would apply to the way we organize resources on our site by topic, and 
BC> not the overall site.



BC> ------------------------------------------
BC> Blake Carver
BC> Web Librarian
BC> The Ohio State University Libraries
BC> carver.50 at osu.edu
BC>   see also: www.lisnews.com





-- 
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!