database driven library sites

[Mary Beth Faccioli]

Hi all,
We are in an interesting squeeze here in our library. 
We use a subject liaison model, with about 20 subject
specialists, all creating web content for our site. 
When we switched to the liaison model four years ago,
the direction given to these librarians was "go forth
and create web pages" and nothing more.  We use
Frontpage and IIS so no one needs to understand much
about anything in order to provide heaps of content,
with no boundaries, guidelines or anything.  

As a result, not only do we now suffer from problems
related to lack of uniformity in look, lack of
accessability, and completely confusing architecture,
we've also got a variety of content types to deal with
- class guides, created for a specific BI session or
sometimes as the only web component to the course;
subject guides, which may include lists of resources
in various formats, or research tips and strategies,
or use of specific resources; tutorials about specific
things like "Using Uniform Titles to Find a Musical
Score" etc.  We're talking over a thousand pages.  

We are trying to move toward a database driven model,
something like UW
(http://www.library.wisc.edu/subject/) or Illinois
(http://door.library.uiuc.edu/ersearch/default.php) or
UGA
(http://www.libs.uga.edu/researchcentral/index.html). 
Since I am charged with working with our liaison
librarians as we move in this direction, I am having
quite a time trying to figure out how to accomodate
liaison needs in terms of what their departments would
like of them, now that expectations have been created
over the past 4 years.  

With all that said, does anyone know of any testing
that's been done with users on the above types of
guides - are these things useable, helpful for
students?  Also, if anyone has anecdotes about their
own experiences in reigning in content developers that
might be helpful for me, I'd be love to hear them.

Thanks in advance,

Mary Beth Faccioli
Web Specialist
Georgia State University Pullen Library
100 Decatur Street SE
Atlanta, GA  30303
404-463-9947
mbfaccioli at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com