We Are All The Webmasters: New Models for Building a Library Website Christopher Stewart Sohair W. Elbaz Illinois Institute of Technology June 2002

Old Model of Website Development: A single Webmaster/librarian position who reports to Head of Public Services and Library Chief Technologist Webmaster responsible for graphic design and posting content. Content usually developed by librarians in non HTML formats Troubleshooting and servers management is the responsibility of the Library Tech Group

Advantages & Disadvantages of Old Model: Advantages: Single Point of Contact Uniformity - “look & feel” Disadvantages: Overwhelming for one individual Monopoly on design Lack of Staff buy-in Difficultly recruiting a person with web, library, tech, and graphic design skills

New Distributed Web Development Model Outsource the graphic design component for a consistent and professional look of the Libraries' Home Page. All librarians and administrators author, manage, and develop content for the Libraries' home pages. Content and design of pages is considered as work done in the scope of one's library responsibilities The head of each unit is ultimately responsible for the content of the unit site and should be aware of and approve original and substantially revised pages.

Library Management Team Role: In coordination with staff, develops and maintains Library-wide Web Standards, templates and official graphics and Guidelines. Serves as a Web resource to the Library community by providing forums, discussions, and other staff development opportunities. Coordinates development of a Library staff "toolbox" that centralizes access to web resources useful in conducting library business Oversees organization of content

Advantages & Disadvantages of New Model: Advantages: Distribution of workload Staff buy-in/ownership Professional Development Shared Experience Timely Updates Consistent Look through Templates Disadvantages: Content Quality Control

“While the site contains a great deal of useful information to students, teachers, and staff, it lacks unity in both design and navigation for the end user” - chemistri

Final Design

“You have captured so many of the elements I have imagined for our own site -- from the navigational categories to the color choices. You have a really fine design. Having your site to pattern after makes my job a little easier. Thank you and congratulations for providing such a fine example of a well- constructed and pleasing library website.” - National Imagery and Mapping Agency Webmaster “I have had problems with the library website in the past, but the new website works really well. Keep up the good work!” “Nice simplification of the home website interface, while preserving the access to a large quantity of information.” - IIT Students

"Your work does reflect the time and effort put into creating a good site." "With its simple design and nice navigation system, it is a nice asset to the Web." "Congratulations on a job well done." "Your layout looked nice and was easy to navigate around. Sites like yours give 110% to the Web." - Web Developers

Thank You Galvin Library (IIT) Website: