Yesterday I spoke at the above named conference. It was a good day with some interesting reports about how public libraries are dealing with the challenges of everything electronic - eBooks, databases, discovery layers and federated search tools.
My presentation was titled, 'Creating Great Content for Library Websites'. It dealt with the fact that most content on library sites is created and maintained by librarians who don't have any professional experience in the web design or development, and that often it shows.
A show of hands in the room confirmed my suspicion - while about 80% of people had responsibility for creating and maintaining web content, not a single person was dedicated solely to web duties. All had other duties and no one had any formal web design or development qualifications.
Despite these stats it was pointed out a number of times by different speakers the importance of having a professional web presence when it comes to increasing usage of our resources.
As I pointed out in my presentation, fortunately it's not that hard to create good content if you focus on what your audience wants and needs from your slides. Anyway, here are my slides.
Hi Martin,
ReplyDeleteI was one of the attendees at the eResources conference at the State Library and found your presentation on creating content for library websites to be one of the most interesting of the day.
I have been working on improving the web presence of Botany Bay Library and thought that your ideas for designing effective online content were very useful.
I agree that it is important for libraries to develop a high quality web presence to promote and provide easier access to library resources. I am still relatively new at this task and have found presentations from people like David Lee King, Bernard de Broglio and yourself to be of great help as it provides me with new ideas on what sort of content I could develop and also encourages me to think differently about what approach I should take when designing a web page.
The point you raised about how so few libraries have a staff member whose sole responsibility was to develop and maintain online content was particularly poignant. It was ironic that the purpose of the conference was to reinforce the importance for libraries to develop online resources yet it seems that so few libraries have been willing to have a dedicated staff member in an online technology focussed role.
Thanks for your entertaining and informative presentation!
Regards
Alvin