[Web4lib] city swallows library website

[Robert L. Balliot]

Greetings,

Do you think the problem with the government sites might
be intent?  In libraries, we are ultimately focused on
the efficient delivery of information to the end user, or
at least it seems that we should be.  

Within administrative government there seems to 
be a greater focus on regulating the flow of information 
and finding out who wants what and why. When I look at the
Chicago site as an example, the links refer to a user
session rather than the information itself.
 
Libraries are rarely, if ever, are criticized for
not providing information - administrative government
often is and can end up going to litigation over access.
So, if a web developing vendor wants to sell to administrative
government, perhaps what is valued as a service is intrinsically
different than what librarians value.

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-421-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Dan Lester
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 3:33 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Cc: andy at petdance.com; cinda at hcck.us
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] city swallows library website


   ----- Original message ----------------------------------------
   From: "Leo Robert Klein" <leo at leoklein.com>
   To: web4lib at webjunction.org
   Received: 5/3/2007 9:48:56 AM
   
   >For an example of absolute hell in unusable URLs, point your browser to:

   >http://cityofchicago.org

   >Then click on any of the links.

Well, did they take lessons from ALA and take it a step further?  Or did ALA
use Chicago as a model?   After all, we know where ALA lives.....

dan

Show Up, Suit Up, Shut Up, and Follow Directions
dan at riverofdata.com
Dan Lester, Boise, Idaho, USA

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