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Library Website Development and Maintenance: 

Library Website Development and Maintenance T.B. Rajashekar National Centre for Science Information (NCSI) Indian Institute of Science Bangalore - 560 012 (E-Mail: raja@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in)

Library Website Development and Maintenance: 

Library Website Development and Maintenance Introduction Objectives of library websites Strategies for website development Development steps General web page design considerations Case studies Related sources

Introduction: 

Introduction Library websites Web server(s)/pages administered by the library Institutional web server/ web server managed by the library Usually operate via the institutional intranet May be limited to the library LAN (private intranet), with dial-up Internet connectivity for information access

Objectives of Library Websites: 

Objectives of Library Websites Promote library use Provide information about the library and its activities Provide online access to local information sources Act as a gateway to networked information resources (CD-ROM, intranet/Internet) Integrate Push-based services

Slide6: 

Internet-based Library Services

Strategies for Website Development: 

Strategies for Website Development From simple to interactive Start simple (HTML, graphics, text, links) Information about the library and its activities Links to remote information sources (gateway) Add interactivity Site search, Database access, CD-ROM access Push-based services Develop internal capabilities

Development Steps: 

Development Steps Design Authoring and testing Launch Maintenance

I. Design: 

I. Design Content to be served Audience Content formats and processing Structuring and navigation Layout of home page and branch pages Site Search support Feedback and help

Design: 1. Content to Be Served: 

Design: 1. Content to Be Served Information about the library: Aims & objectives, opening hours, rules and regulations, departments, collection, budget, staff, map/ directions, contact, FAQs, etc L&I sources/services to be made accessible via the web site Plan for an evolutionary approach (simple to interactive website) Keep a long term vision during design

Design: 2. Audience: 

Design: 2. Audience Who are the users of the website? Type and quantity Internal users, visitors, general public, external users Any sources/services to be restricted to internal users? Network access points and their availability Resources available at the user end (e.g. laser printers, plugins & helper applications)

Design: 3. Content Formats: 

Design: 3. Content Formats How is the content stored (formats), How it is delivered/ accessed? What processing options are available? We discussed several issues related to content hosting in an earlier session (‘Content Creation and Processing’)

Design: 4. Structuring and Navigation: 

Design: 4. Structuring and Navigation What information will appear where? Organisation of information in terms of the Home page and branch pages - can be visualised as a tree diagram Linking mechanism between home page and branch pages Users should be able to understand quickly what information the web site offers, select the desired source and navigate to it easily Several possibilities: Image maps, frames, drop down lists, table-driven content pages, button bars, html link list, site search, site map/index, etc

Design: 5. Layout of Home Page and Branch Pages: 

Design: 5. Layout of Home Page and Branch Pages Information organisation within home page and other pages Each page can be visualised in terms of sections: top, left, right, middle and bottom Helps in optimal use of the screen space on a web page Chosen alternatives can be converted to templates Helps in giving a uniform look to the pages

Design: 5. Layout of Home Page and Branch Pages: 

Design: 5. Layout of Home Page and Branch Pages An example: Home page: Top - Site logo, welcome text, site search window, form-based drop down list for selecting branch pages; left - links to other content (help, feedback, site map, etc.); middle - what’s new; right - source/site/service of the day; bottom - address, contact e-mail, copyright, disclaimer, date, etc Branch page: Top - Site logo (small), page heading, site search window, form-based drop down list for selecting branch pages; left - links to home page, help, etc.; middle - Page description, links to documents/sources covered in this page

Design: 6. Site Search Support: 

Design: 6. Site Search Support Site searching for keywords/text in HTML and text pages Public domain tools exist for this (SWISH, htDig, Excite) Commercial web servers support this (e.g. MS IIS, Netscape Enterprise Server) Site map and site index provide alternate way of reaching desired pages

Design: 7. Feedback and Help: 

Design: 7. Feedback and Help Separate help/FAQ page is desirable Access from home page or all pages Feedback collection: e-mail only and/or HTML form-based

II. Authoring and Testing: 

II. Authoring and Testing HTML editors simplify and speed up page designing Free: Netscape Navigator & Composer, Arachnophilia (www.arachnoid.com), Site Aid (www.siteaid.com) Commercial: Microsoft Front Page, Hot Metal, Dreamweaver, etc Learning HTML will be useful to achieve custom designing and in selecting editors Template-based design is recommended for large sites Test for different browsers

III. Launch: 

III. Launch Quality testing Usability, consistency, accuracy, compatibility Validators and HTML style checkers weblint (www.weblint.org), W3C HTML validation service (validator.w3.org) Publicity Site registration, links from other sites Promotion/registration sites: www.submit-it.com, seflpromotion.com, www.centralregistry.com, etc User training/ orientation

IV. Maintenance: 

IV. Maintenance Managing new content or features Analysis of server logs Link verification Clearly defined information flow and responsibilities Webmaster: website integrity, backups, trouble shooting, etc. Periodic testing

General Web Page Design Considerations: 

General Web Page Design Considerations Visual appeal: pleasing, uncluttered layout Functionality: how quickly the page loads Home page: 1-2 screens Page size: ~30 KB (including images) Parameters affecting layout: screen resolution, browser, use of non-standard HTML/advanced HTML features Use ‘width’, ‘height’ and ‘alt’ attributes for images Small and meaningful file names (URL length!) Check all links and images in all pages

General Web Page Design Considerations: 

General Web Page Design Considerations Text version of the home page Be careful while using advanced features: Java, Java script, frames, large image maps - may be OK for intranet-only sites Use animations if absolutely necessary Use small, meaningful icons for identifying premium, new, ‘internal use only’ sources/services Standardised buttons and banners Use ‘Meta’ tag on all pages to indicate the content in terms of subject, source type, etc Spelling, syntax, capitalisation, punctuation

Library Web Sites: Case studies: 

Library Web Sites: Case studies Let us take a look at a few library web sites (what features do we see in these sites?) Library of the University of California at Berkeley (www.lib.berkeley.edu) Nanyang Technological University Library, Singapore (www.ntu.edu.sg/library) Los Alamos National Laboratory Library (lib-www.lanl.gov) Library of the University of California at Santa Barbara (www.library.ucsb.edu) National Institute of Standards and Technology Virtual Library (NVL) (nvl.nist.edu)

Related Sources: 

Related Sources World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) Developments related to Web technology, standards, tools, guidelines, etc Web authoring guidelines: Information architecture for the world wide web (1998) (Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville, O’Reilly) Web design for librarians (scc01.rutgers.edu/SCCHome/policies/web.htm) Usable information technology (useit.com) (Jacob Neilsen) Resources for Librarians on the WWW (library.scsu.ctstateu.edu/libbib.html) Digitisation tools and resources: Digital library Sun Site (sunsite.berkeley.edu)