ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 4 8 8 /C & RL News M aintaining your library's Web page By W alter M orton Staffing strategies: The more help y o u get, the better Y ou have now finished designing and set­ting up your library’s Web page and it looks great. You have all the links, forms, t and lists just the way you want them. You have worked hard on the graphics, background, layout, and even the little buttons that most p eo p le will probably never notice. Y ou’ve checked everything a dozen times and every­ thing works. You’ve gone from com puter to com puter to see how it looks o n different browsers and monitors. You’ll receive many sincere compliments and you can feel justly proud of a job well done. But now the ques­ tion arises: Where do you go from here? If your institution is like most, its Web page was designed and created by a small number of people, frequently just one person. That person may be you, but it is lonely at the top and it is also very busy. Now that the page has been unveiled you start remembering all those jobs you put off so you could finish your page. Other things begin to take priority and you spend less and less time actually looking at your page. Parts of it begin to get dated— very quickly. While it is usually difficult to get something to work in the first place, it is even harder to k eep it working. Links begin to change and timed notices, bulletins, and infor­ mation begin to go stale. How can the library keep its page fresh and current without remain­ ing one person’s sole responsibility? Enlist more help The obvious simple solution is to enlist more people to work on the Web page, but to para­ a phrase Clauswitz from another context: it’s the simple things that can be the most difficult. How can such a group be organized to provide for the most effective distribution of the mainte­ nance activities? The Rowland Medical Library at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson has been developing such a strategy bles, that we hope will keep our page current with­ out putting an undue burden on anyone. We first decided it was important that the page be checked on a regular basis, and that this checking could be done by the entire staff. A staff member does not need to know any­ thing about html or CGI scripts to recognize that a piece of information is dated and needs to be made current or corrected. This job could therefore be distributed on a much wider basis than that of the actual editing process. The administrative staff first went through the Web page section by section and decided on w ho would be the most logical person to be responsible for each. Most designations were fairly obvious: the circulation librarian would check “Hours and Calendar” and “Circulation Policies”; acquisitions would be responsible for “New Books” and “Purchase Recommenda­ tions”; reference would look at “Orientation/ Instructional Services” and “Reference Services,” etc. Other assignments had to do with who was in charge of the underlying documents that provided the source for each page. For example, our associate director for public services has responsibility for the printed library handbook, so that section and all sections related to it were delegated to her. Likewise, the administrative secretary keeps the staff supplied with updated lists of employees and phone numbers, so that person was assigned to review the “Depart­ ments and Staff’ section. Everyone was asked (Web cont. on page 494) Walter Morton is associate director o f technical services a n d systems, University o f Mississippi M edical Center; e- mail: w w m @ fiona.um sm ed.edu mailto:wwm@fiona.umsmed.edu J u ly /A u g u s t 1 9 9 7 / 4 8 9 KEEP HISTORY ALIVE W ITH THESE FOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDES FROM R.R, BOWKER Guide to Microforms Microform M arket Place in Print 1997 (Author-Title) (An International Directory If you know the title o r author o f the w ork on Micropublishing) you 're researching, it's easy to locate A comprehensive, international directory every com mercially published microform of microform companies, individuals, w ith the Guide to Microforms in support services and equipment suppliers, Print 1997. Coverage includes m icro­ Microform Market Place is the only film reels, m icro-opaque cards, text-fiche, resource you need to make thousands o f key and microfiche, both domestic and inter­ contacts. This completely updated edition national, allow ing you to quickly locate helps you find microform publishers by microform versions o f orig inal works, name, country, and subject areas, as well out-of-print titles, rare materials, obscure as publishers that recently discontinued publications, and more. Alphabetical micropublishing programs, were acquired, entries include author, title, volume, date, o r changed names. price, publisher, type of m icroform , and complete ordering information. December 1996 • 3-598-11311-0 • softbound • 228 pp. • $85.00 June 1 9 9 7 • 3 -598-11325-0 • First-Time Standing Order Price: 2-vol. set • c. 1,850 pp. • $76.50 $430.00 • First-Time Standing Order Price: $387.00 Guide to Microforms in Print Supplement 1997 Subject Guide to Microforms in Print Issued six months after the Guide and Subject Guide, this supplemental This completely revised and updated update provides timely inform ation on directory offers convenient subject access new titles issued since the publication of to all the microform publications listed in the two main volumes. the Guide to Microforms in Print, w ith all titles categorized under subject November 1997 • 3-598-11338-2 • c. 130 pp. • $185.00 heading, based on the Dewey Decimal System. A helpful Person-as-Subject Index First-Time Standing Order lets you locate microforms dealing with Price: $166.50 specific individuals. July 1997• 3 -598-11326-9 • 2-vol. set • c. 1,650 pp. • $430.00 • First-Time Standing Order Price: $387.00 Order any or all of these indispensable volumes today by calling 1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372). Or fax your order to 1 -908-508-7696. 4 9 4 /C & R L N ew s prints mailing labels, so the cards did not have to be addressed by hand; but the task could be accomplished by a work study student. Results The efforts outlined above resulted in full at­ tendance at every class. The few people w ho w ere kept from attending at the last minute always called to apologize, and those calls of­ ten resulted in appointm ents to pick up an information packet or receive a quick dem on­ stration at another time. In addition, people w ho w ere unable to attend the sessions on the scheduled dates often called for informa­ tion or a personal appointment. Some saved my letter and called months later to ask about attending a session or to talk to me w hen they had special research needs. While this might seem like a lot of work, it is important to remember that once the system is set up, only minor changes need to be made each semester. Return on investment has been excellent in terms of establishing contact with students, good public relations, and quality ser­ vice to students. The system can be used to increase attendance at any kind o f training or instructional sessions for graduate students and professional programs held on campus. (Simi­ lar sessions w ere offered to new graduate arts and sciences students during the fall 1996 se­ mester with equally good results.) Most impor­ tant, the success of the classes helped convince administration that library instruction should be required for all new business majors. Such in­ struction was instituted at both undergraduate and graduate levels in fall 1996. ■ (Web cont. fro m page 488) to review the section entitled “Bulletins” which consists of very current information related to the library: system related messages (“OVID will be dow n . . .”), blurbs for new or featured library activities or events (“The library will host a reception in the History o f Medicine . . .”), and the like. It was felt that every department might have notices to contribute or suggestions to make in this vein. Everyone was requested to check their des­ ignated section at least every two w eeks with some exceptions. Some areas such as the in­ troductory text and the library’s mission state­ ment do not change often and do not need to be constantly monitored. Everyone is, of course, welcome to look and comment on all sections of the page, but they will only be held account­ able for their assigned areas. Keeping it current But som eone still has to make the changes to the documents after the reviewers find prob­ lems or needed updates. For this purpose, we organized a committee o f staff members who expressed an interest in working directly on the Web page. The chair of this committee func­ tions as Webmaster, arbiter hypertextum, and is the coordinator for all editing changes to the page. For the time being, the associate director for technical services and systems acts as chair but this position will eventually be assumed by another staff member. Each person is trained in html if needed, given an html editor, and assigned certain sections of the page as their normal editing responsibility. Some basic UNIX command instruction is also usually necessary. Each committee member has an individual account on the library UNIX server with his or her ow n subdirectory for library html pages as well as access to the administrative account. As the Web page reviewers find pages that need updating or as new material is added, this in­ formation is passed on to the committee which distributes it to the appropriate member. The files are then edited or created on the m ember’s PC and then uploaded via ftp to the mem ber’s individual library directory. For security rea­ sons, no one can log on as administrator. In order to get the files to the library’s Web direc­ tory, members must first log on in a telnet ses­ sion using their individual logins, change to administrator, and then copy the files from their home directories. The process looks cumber­ some on paper but actually flows smoothly in practice, especially with a Windows ftp pro­ gram. All committee members try to keep an updated set of all library pages in their own UNIX directories and on their PCs. Files can be ftped directly from the library directory to their personal computers without having to have ad­ ministrative rights. These procedures allow the library to per­ form the necessary m aintenance to keep its homepage fresh and current without becoming an undue burden on any one person. They also provide the added bonus of having the staff feel more involved in the Web page on a personal level, since most are participating in some way in its development and maintenance. ■