Managing your Web Presence: Lessons from the Library

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Managing your Web PresenceLessons from the
Library

• Gillian Byrne
• Lisa Goddard
• QEII Library

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Pretest Why is an effective website crucial to a
university?

• A university website acts as a the public face of
  the institution
• Provides remote, 24/7 access to information
• Easier to maintain currency
• portability of information
• Cost effective publishing
• Interactive environment
• All very obvious to most of us!

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Pretest Why is effective website administration
crucial?

• Less obvious!
• Very little literature about web administration
• Without effective administration how to can an
  institution
• Ensure accuracy, currency and consistency?
• Adjust to the ever-changing web environment?
• Adapt to users needs and attitudes?
• Even more vital in a university setting where
  page creation is highly decentralised, and skill
  sets vary enormously

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Example 1 The Librarys web administration model

• Memorial University Libraries Web Team
• Characteristics
• Executive body responsible for web presence
• Led by the Chair, who is responsible for
  coordinating the work of the Team
• Representative body includes all stakeholders
• Regulatory body makes and enforces policy

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Web team responsibilities

• Coordinates major web shifts / redesigns
• Maintains system wide pages
• Develops policy
• Provides training
• Coordinates and disseminates user and usability
  feedback
• Develops expertise in new technologies
• Enforces common look and feel and best practices
  - but not content!

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Example 2 Website work flow

• Every page on the Library website has two persons
  responsible for it
• Content provider subject specialist who creates
  and maintains the content and the descriptive
  metadata
• HTML editor staff member who codes the page
• Library system has 35 content providers (ranging
  from maintaining one page to several hundred) and
  approximately 40 HTML editors
• Divides the labour so that no ones primary role
  is web publishing

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Chart 1 Work flow chart
1. Create / Edit Content
5. Enter descriptive metadata
Content Provider
2. Code page into HTML
HTML Editor
3. Upload page to server
4. Enter title metadata
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• Lesson 1 Make it Easy
• Content Management System
• Web editing should not require advanced technical
  skills.
• CMS comprises a suite of applications to help
  content providers develop and upload information.
• Aimed at non-expert users.
• Uploading and downloading of pages images
• Adding metadata
• News postings
• Forms management
• Accountability management
• News postings
• Printer Friendly pages

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• Lesson 1 Make it easy
• Templates
• HTML templates control layout and in-page
  navigation.
• 5 basic templates
• http//staff.library.mun.ca/staff/staffdir/libweb/
  templates.html

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• Lesson 1 Make it Easy
• HTML support
• It is possible to divorce content creation from
  HTML markup.
• Pages are written in raw HTML.
• HTML editors open the templates in Macromedia's
  Home Site Software.

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Home Site checks and verifies all HTML tags.
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• Lesson 1 Make it Easy
• Training, Documentation, and Ongoing Support
• Documentation for Content Providers and HTML
  Editors

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• Lesson 2 Enforce your Look and Feel
  Automatically
• Look and feel must be controlled centrally in
  order to have any real consistency.
• Everything mounted on the library web server must
  have our look and feel applied to it.
• Those who wish to be creative can get an account
  on the staff web server.

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Lesson 2 Enforce your Look and Feel
Automatically - Headers

• The templates do not contain code for headers,
  instead every page starts with an include
  statement.
• require(ROOT . 'includes/master.php')
• The include file contains all header information,
  JavaScript code etc. to generate correct header
  for page

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• Lesson 2 Enforce your Look and Feel
  Automatically
• Cascading Style Sheets
• Cascading Style Sheet Centralized control of
  fonts, colours, anchors, etc.
• No direct access to server, headers, CSS except
  by administrators.
• CSS call included in page template
• ltlink relStyleSheet href"lt?php echo ROOT
  ?gtcss/libraryNN.css" type"text/css"
  mediascreengt

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• /
• Style Sheet for Memorial University Library
• /
• body,p,td,a,div
• / Default text for site elements body, p, td
  and a /
• font-family Arial, Helvetica
• font-size 10pt
• color 000000
• font-weight normal
• text-decoration none
• / Header Styles /
• h1
• font-family Arial, Helvetica
• font-size 18pt
• color 333333

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Lesson 3 Enforce your Policies Automatically

• There must be an executive body who determine
  priorities, policies and the vision for future
  web services.
• Wherever possible, build policy and procedures
  into the management interface, so enforced
  automatically.
• Anything that can be automated, should be
  automated.

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CMS can be configured to disallow browsing to
certain types of files.
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Drop down menus in the CMS can force people to
choose from a designated list of answers.
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JavaScript alerts can ensure that no page is
submitted without at least the minimum amount of
metadata
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• The title of each new page is added to the site
  index dynamically.

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• Automated last updated feature.

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• Notification content owners can be reminded via
  email to update their pages.

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• Lesson 4 Use Back End Databases
• Avoids duplication of work if the same
  information needs to appear in many places.
• Provides centralized updating.
• Ensures consistency of data across the whole
  site.
• Renders data completely keyword searchable,
  portable and reportable.

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• Back End Databases CMS Data

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• Back End Databases Electronic Index Search

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Back End Databases Electronic Journal Search
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• Lesson 5 Provide Structure and Context
• Metadata Entered in CMS

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Lesson 5 Provide Structure and ContextMetadata

• Provides authority information within the code
  for each page including controlled vocabulary for
  subject field.
• lttitlegtBorrowinglt/titlegt
• ltmeta name"description" content"Atlantic
  Scholarly Information Network Borrower's cards
  Circulation Holds Loan periods Recall
  Renewals Fines Document Delivery Intercampus
  loans PINS Request ASIN Distance students"gt
• ltmeta name"keywords" content"request ASIN
  distance students Atlantic Scholarly Information
  Network Borrower's cards Circulation Holds Loan
  periods Recall Renewals Fines Interlibrary loans
  Intercampus loans PINS"gt

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Lesson 5 Provide Structure and Context Navigation

• Persistent navigation
• Context for those not entering through homepage
• Avoids confusion when surfing
• Relevant quick links
• Sidebars customizable for each directory.

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Lesson 5 Provide Structure and Context Internal
Search Engine

• Search engine
• Re-indexed every day
• Library has over 3,000 pages
• Have total control over weighting / searching of
  each metadata element
• Reporting feature

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Lesson 6 Measure, Evaluate, Improve The web is
not like a paper publication it must be
constantly edited, updated and culled to remain
relevant. Web usage must be analysed. Necessary
to determine whats used on a site Where to
direct energies, where problems are. Essential
for non-profit orgs used to justify resource
allocation. Reports are not useful unless you
look at them.
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• Lesson 6 Measure, Evaluate, Improve
• Monthly reports
• Use Web Trends software with some custom reports
• Based on web logs we own
• Requires some effort to set up, but then
  completely automated.

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Monthly Web Reports
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Reports General Stats
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Reports Geographic Profile
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Reports Oldest Pages
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Reports Browsers Platforms
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Reports Broken Links
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Reports Eindex Subject Searches
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Reports Search Strategies
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The Lessons

• Make it Easy.
• Enforce your Look and Feel Automatically.
• Enforce your Policies Automatically.
• Use Back End Databases.
• Provide Structure and Context.
• Measure, Evaluate, Improve.

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The Guiding Principles

• The web is not an add-on, it is the most far
  reaching and critical means of communication at
  our disposal.
• Infrastructure to support web-based initiatives
  must be developed as an ongoing priority within
  the institution.
• Organizational structure and resource allocation
  must reflect this priority.