library 404 pages

Thu Nov 8 19:41:28 EST 2012

I do not think we are asking them to make up for our mistakes,  Instead we are giving them an option to get help with their search.  Many 404's are either old bookmarks,  url typing errors, or the resource is gone/moved.  So the purpose of the form is to allow us to direct them to the resource.  The allows for feedback as part of self evaluation that is necessary to providing quality service.

Roy Degler
roy.degler at okstate.edu<mailto:roy.degler at okstate.edu>
Digital Library Services

On Nov 8, 2012, at 5:40 PM, Anne Slaughter <aslaughter at OPPL.ORG<mailto:aslaughter at OPPL.ORG>> wrote:

Right, and I'm not in love with the idea of giving the users a task to make up for our mistake, but we find across service points that our community is tech-savvy and likes opportunities for feedback, so we figured it was worth a try here. Fortunately we're not counting on it as our only method of finding urls in need of redirection.

Anne

Anne Slaughter, Virtual Services Manager
Oak Park Public Library   |   834 Lake Street   |  Oak Park, IL 60301
aslaughter at oppl.org<mailto:aslaughter at oppl.org>   |   p 708.452.3454   |   f 708.697.6917
oppl.org<http://oppl.org/>   |   Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/oakparkpubliclibrary>   |   Twitter<http://twitter.com/oakparklibrary>   |  App<http://oppl.boopsie.com/>

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 5:07 PM, Nina Mchale <milehighbrarian at gmail.com<mailto:milehighbrarian at gmail.com>> wrote:
Thanks, everyone, for these great responses!

Claire, +1 Tumbeasts! Love it.

Bob, totally agree that it's not up to our users to understand what's going on. Often, library staff don't even understand what happens well enough to report it other than, "There's a broken link..." And--your point, I think--we shouldn't be relying on user input for what's a simple maintenance task. I was just wondering if the Oak Park folks found that the method (feedback form) they post for reporting on their 404 was successful.

Nina

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Cary Gordon <listuser at chillco.com<mailto:listuser at chillco.com>> wrote:
Techie humor is a direct descendent / ancestor of Vogon poetry.

Cary

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 12:36 PM, Nina Mchale <milehighbrarian at gmail.com<mailto:milehighbrarian at gmail.com>> wrote:
LOL, I put, "You broke it!" on our intranet site's 404 page at my last job, and the techie humor was NOT appreciated. :D No one seemed to get past that line to see the following one, which read, "Just kidding! This is what really happened..."

Nina

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 1:31 PM, wylie ackerman <wyliea at dpls.lib.or.us<mailto:wyliea at dpls.lib.or.us>> wrote:
Not specific to libraries, but last year Slashdot had a story on creative 404 pages:  http://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/06/28/1558220/30-creative-404-error-pages.  I kind of like Blizzard’s -http://us.blizzard.com/foo

Wylie Ackerman
eServices Manager
Deschutes Public Library
(541) 312-1042<tel:%28541%29%20312-1042>
http://www.deschuteslibrary.org<http://www.deschuteslibrary.org/>

Know More.

From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>] On Behalf Of Nina Mchale
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 11:36 AM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] library 404 pages

Here's a funny one from UVA:

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/libraries/

Nina
On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 12:22 PM, Roy Tennant <roytennant at gmail.com<mailto:roytennant at gmail.com>> wrote:
I'm still rather proud of this 404 page I created for the Digital Library SunSITE at UC Berkeley back in the 1990s:

<http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/404>

Roy

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Nina Mchale <milehighbrarian at gmail.com<mailto:milehighbrarian at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hey, all,

What's on your 404 page for your library's site?

I'm shooting for lighthearted, even funny, but most importantly helpful--i.e., including options to get help from librarians and staff.

TIA,

Nina

Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
ninermac.net<http://ninermac.net/>
Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
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