A musical metaphor for putting together your library Web site

Information Outlook, March, 1998 by Denise Watkins

If you're the leader/Webmaster charged with putting together your organization's Web site, think of yourself as the Webmaestro/conductor or producer/arranger and your fellow team members as the musicians. You need to audition and inventory the various skill levels of the prospective team member. A skilled conductor tries to get the finest performance out of each individual. The orchestra members make their contributions through the harmonious blending of their skills. When you think of some of the world class orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, what makes them successful is in the makeup and blending of the different instruments. To develop your site you will need people with various strengths: those skilled in licensing, copyright and negotiation, people with technical skills, marketing and promotion, and those focusing on content. Now some of you may be saying, "I am the Web team, me myself and I". This would be the time to take one of two different approaches in securing additional staff resources for Web development.

Approach A: This would be the "No person is an island, every one is a piece of the continent, a part of the main". In other words, this site will benefit more than the library - it will benefit the entire corporation. You must be prepared to explain how and why it benefits the company. If you are successful, you will not need to use Approach B.

Approach B: Otherwise known as the Motown approach, "Ain't to Proud to Beg". In this case, you are begging for additional resources, whether they are student interns, outside consultants or contractors, or redistributing and re-examining the existing workload to free up additional staff to work on your team.

Too Much, Too Little, Too Late

The composition of a Web site can be compared loosely to a symphony. The term symphony meaning "sounding together" and commonly understood to refer to a lengthy musical composition. A composer may find composing enjoyable, but it is not without its frustrations from time to time. So it goes in the construction of your Web site. You have your team in place, defined the focus and demographics of the site, your idee fixe. Now what's going on to this page? It is at this point you can run into the "Too much, too little, too late" trap. Like the first movement of a symphony, your site should have a clearly presented theme or mission statement presented to your audience. It should be eye-catching and lively, its tempo should be allegro. Catching your audience's attention without being bombastic.

Instead of the Information Superhighway, I sometimes think, the term Information Jungle is more appropriate. In a jungle exploration, you may find rare precious discoveries, other times just a lot of muck and dense weeds. The very nature of the Web and all that is available on it is overwhelming for many users. Who better than librarians to help users navigate through the information? Resist the impulse to build complicated extensive hyperlinking documents, just because you can do it. Ask yourselves, what is the organization's business, and what information does the organization consider important and useful? For example, while more and more full-text electronic journals are appearing on the Web, are they journals that are useful to the areas and disciplines of your company? Do not fill up your page with information that, while it is nice and interesting, does not suit the company's focus and business processes.

Too little information. If you're putting up a Web site or page, hopefully you've thought about the what and why at the beginning of the project. Putting up a Web site, just because you have the ability to do so is not a good reason. We have all seen far too many sites like that.

I have a personal pet peeve with linking to sites and the only thing on the site is "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". Works in progress are not previewed to a full audience. Rather the completed portions and outline are previewed to a select group of sponsors or patrons. Until a composition is completed, they are not listed on a marquee or program as Watkins Symphony in A: First Movement, (other movements under construction). Do yourselves and your users a favor: until your site is ready, keep the URL within the team and a few select people you're getting feedback from.

Too Late. Once your site is completed, it is living and dynamic thing or at least it should be. Who is responsible for the maintenance of the site? Are the links still active? Is there new material you can and should add to the page? Information and technology change rapidly - your job is just beginning after the initial launch of your page. Just as music progressed and evolved from Baroque to Classical to Romantic and on, your page should change, taking into account new technology and information where appropriate. You want users to visit and revisit your page. So keep things fresh and interesting for them. A good Web site is dynamic. Use some sort of flag to alert them to what's new and interesting. Actively encourage your users to suggest sites that should be included on your Web site.