[Web4lib] Academic library website design v. campus design

[Leo Robert Klein]

On 6/16/2010 9:07 AM, nancy wrote:
> Is there a trend toward or away from academic library websites including the
> parent institution's navigation links and menus?

I would say this is something University Administrators would love and 
Library Web Administrators would not.

The University Administrator would point to the 'consistency' across all 
departments doing it this way.  Library Web people would look at it as 
so much cruft in an already crowded interface whose primary goal -- teh 
Biblio -- is quite specialized.

When you're looking for a couple of "scholarly sources" for your 10-page 
research paper, do you really need a top navigation that prominently 
displays links to Campus Admissions and Housing plus a search box that 
gives you results from the rest of the university's site?

The better route, IMHO, is to focus more on faithfully following 
university identity and brand standards.

LEO

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