[Web4lib] Re: Web4lib Digest, Vol 51, Issue 5

[Cecily Walker]

On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM, <web4lib-request at webjunction.org> wrote:
> Flip it around.  Put the subjects on the homepage, and then from there have the databases and maybe some "guides" linked off on the right.  People worry about that taking up too much space on the homepage, but that's based on incorrect assumptions, I think.
>
> Subject terms, I'm certain, give off the best scent.

Dave, generally speaking I would agree with you. However, I think the
ability to put subject terms on the top level of a library website is
easier to do when you are based in academia and your university may
have separate websites for each type of library. This becomes
increasingly difficult to do when you're in a public library --
especially in a system as large as ours -- and your subject divisions
are already quite broad.

But on the other hand...maybe it just might work after all.

Maybe a website organized by subject divisions is actually possible on
a public library website! For example, our library has the following
divisions:

Popular Reading
Children & Teens
Science, Technology & Business
Newspapers and Magazines (renamed to the onerous "Online Information and News")
History & Fine Arts
Special Collections

We have "microsites" for Children & Teens as well as for our Special
Collections divisions. Perhaps that's what we need to think about for
our next redesign (five years down the road) - having one unified
landing page that points to each of the different divisions, but
treating each different division as a separate library unto
themselves. That seems to be the university model, but I don't see
evidence of very many public libraries following this model (or maybe
I just don't know where to look...).

I'll say this, it certainly gives me food for thought for when our
next redesign rolls around.

Thanks for the discussion, everyone.