[Web4lib] Link to Library site on College website

[Robert L. Balliot]

It is amazing to me that colleges and Universities and libraries contract
out the design of their web sites. Most of the contracted 'designs' I have
seen are simply slightly modified canned CSS formats from commercial
packages.  It is almost like saying "We lack the confidence, technical
skills and intellectual ability to describe ourselves, but you should come
to our school / library and learn from us". 

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Brian Gray
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 6:11 AM
To: nancy
Cc: web4lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Link to Library site on College website

Most universities also consider the library a "recruitment" tool. There is a
reason is included on in-person tours and come up in converssation with
potential new students and faculty, people want to know what resources are
provided by their potential new education provider or employer.

Brian Gray
mindspiral at gmail.com
bcg8 at case.edu


On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 11:03 PM, <nancy at thesmudge.com> wrote:

> The academic institution where I work is redesigning its website.
> Once again I am making the case for a link to the library site on the
> College home page.
> In part I stated:
> "A link to the library website on the home page will greatly increase
> students' use of scholarly materials in their research. Without a link to
> the library website, many students will rely on materials that are free on
> the Internet, and frequently they will be blocked from accessing scholarly
> materials to which we subscibe."
> I was nicely told that the College website was not for the faculty and
> students. It was recruitment tool (and the library is evidently not part
> of that agenda).
> And yet the company designing the College website states in its Best Web
> Practices document being circulated throughout the College:
> "......we often describe two modes of communication in Web content:
> emotional and transactional. The former is often associated with
> 'marketing,' and by extension traditional 'external' audiences; the latter
> with current students, faculty, etc. It is our belief that too many higher
> ed Web sites keep these two types of content separate; sites contain a
> 'marketing' area (usually the Admission section) and an 'informational'
> area (often the rest of the site). We prefer an approach that integrates
> the two...."
>
> I've pretty much given up on this, but wondered if those on this list
> might have some bits of wisdom on the topic.
>
> Nancy Sosna Bohm
>
>
>
>
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> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>
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