library 404 pages

Fri Nov 9 11:53:45 EST 2012

FWIW, Drupal has a Search 404 module
<http://drupal.org/project/search404> that does a search based not eh
URL. It is very popular — in the top 100 modules. We don't use it, but
your mileage may differ.

Cary

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 5:50 AM, Harper, Christopher
<harpercl at longwood.edu> wrote:
> Going off of what Anne said, I’ve realized that you just can’t expect
> visitors to report missing pages.  You have to set up some logging method to
> keep track of 404s.  If you have server HTTP logs, you can generate a list
> of referring pages that led to a 404.  Or you can use something like Google
> Analytics, which is pretty simple to setup on any website and also tells you
> the page the visitor was trying to reach and where they came from
> (http://winkpress.zippykidcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/404_errors.png).
>
>
>
> On our library website, I also took this one step further by creating a 404
> page that uses the visitor’s intended page URL as the query for a Google
> Custom Search so they get instant suggestions about what they might have
> been looking for.  I’ve posted about how to make this work in WordPress at
> http://blogs.longwood.edu/librarywerx/2012/09/14/adding-google-custom-search-to-your-wordpress-blog/
> .
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Chris Harper
> Library Information Systems Specialist
> Longwood University
> 434.395.2438
>
>
>
> From: Anne Slaughter [mailto:aslaughter at OPPL.ORG]
> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 4:09 PM
> Subject: Re: library 404 pages
>
>
>
> We decided to experiment with the form to see if we'd get any feedback from
> it and well... we started using it a couple months ago and no one has
> submitted it yet. We were hoping it might at least prompt someone to say "I
> was trying to find the [booklist that's no longer posted]" or anything that
> might indicate a pattern, but so far no takers.
>
>
>
>
> Anne
>
>
>
> Anne Slaughter, Virtual Services Manager
>
> Oak Park Public Library   |   834 Lake Street   |  Oak Park, IL 60301
> aslaughter at oppl.org   |   p 708.452.3454   |   f 708.697.6917
>
> oppl.org   |   Facebook   |   Twitter   |  App
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM, Nina Mchale <milehighbrarian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Anne,
>
>
>
> Do y'all find that patrons really do report errors? And do they understand
> what causes broken links enough to accurately report what happened?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Nina
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 1:51 PM, Anne Slaughter <aslaughter at oppl.org> wrote:
>
> Here's ours: http://oppl.org/oh-no
>
>
>
>
> Anne
>
>
>
> Anne Slaughter, Virtual Services Manager
>
> Oak Park Public Library   |   834 Lake Street   |  Oak Park, IL 60301
> aslaughter at oppl.org   |   p 708.452.3454   |   f 708.697.6917
>
> oppl.org   |   Facebook   |   Twitter   |  App
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 2:36 PM, Nina Mchale <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>
> 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
>
> http://www.deschuteslibrary.org
>
>
>
> Know More.
>
>
>
> From: Web technologies in libraries [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
> 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> 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>
> 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
> Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
>
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> --
> Nina
>
> Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
> ninermac.net
> Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
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> Nina
>
> Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
> ninermac.net
> Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
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> Nina
>
> Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
> ninermac.net
> Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
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-- 
Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company
http://chillco.com

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2012-11-09