Web Presence Tip O’ the Day

MPOW is, sort-of, examining our web presence. I say sort-if because there is a committee that is looking at the web page and you all know what I think about committees in libraries. (Need to order pencils? Form a committee) I wish we could just all agree that we need to scrap the old page, which was good when it came out, but is no longer serving its purpose. Unfortunately, this is not the world in which I am the supreme ruler and we will probably have the old and not easily navigable site FOREVER. (to be pronounced like “forever” in The Sandlot)

On that note, web presence that is, here are three different librarians who are all very smart and who all have very good opinions about what a library’s web presence should entail. Jessamyn, Michael Stephens, and LiB (thanks to Jessamyn for the heads up)

There are two things which keep popping up on these lists that make me want to say “Amen!” The first: Design for your Users – This means as little jargon as possible and easy to find resources. If your electronic resources are buried under three pages of information, some of which mean absolutely nothing to your users, can you really say that your web structure is working? The second – “Blog your stuff” – Some library news sites are so rarely updated that they are worthless even when given prominent space. Is it really “news” if it is three months old? A frequently updated blog is a great way to let users know about anything and everything happening at the library.

–Jane, the revolution starts now