ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 768 / C&RL News ■ Novem ber 1998 Creation of a Web list for clinical disciplines A step-by-step account of the “Webliography” process by Jody H. Mathias Wor-Wie Community College’s mission is succinctly stated in our motto: “Train­ ing local p eo p le for local jobs.” To this the college offers a variety o f associate d e­ grees an d certificates, many o f w hich reflect the needs o f the local service an d industrial community. The nursing program a n d the ra­ diologic technologist (rad tech) degree offer the college’s m edia center the greatest chal­ lenge in its n ee d for accurate, technical in­ form ation in electronic format. Some background The m edia center at Wor-Wic is an entirely electronic research collection for use by en ­ rolled students, faculty an d staff, as well as students from colleges an d universities w ith w hich Wor-Wic has cooperative relationships. The center is also available to the commu- nity-at-large and the facility is o p en seven days a w eek. The facility has 20 workstations, w hich access subscription databases an d the Internet (using N etscape Navigator). O ther applications, such as w o rd processing, ac­ counting/spreadsheets, desktop publishing an d tutorials, are available in the college’s O p en Com puter Lab. The m edia center’s role is as an academic research facility an d its database selections reflect that mission. The staff consists o f a director an d tw o part-tim e librarians (all with e MLS degrees), a secretary, an d student assis­ tants. A librarian is o n duty at all times and is nd,s u p p o rted by a very able staff, each o f w hom are trained in the functionality o f th e data­ bases and Netscape Navigator. Virtually all ma­ terial is available for printing at n o charge (at the present time); the printouts are created via netw orked laser printers. The Wor-Wic stu­ dents have reciprocal borrow ing privileges at Salisbury State University’s Blackwell Library an d th e Frederick D ouglass Library at the University o f Maryland, Eastern Shore’s cam ­ pus. Id e n tify in g th e need In consultation with the nursing faculty in par­ ticular, the director o f the m edia center has se arch e d for a su b scrip tio n d atab ase th at w o u ld m eet b o th the research n eed s and the technical level o f the nursing students, along w ith the normal criteria for accessing any sub­ scription (cost, functionality, speed, format). As o f the fall 1997 semester, an appropriate database had not b ee n identified. Though a trial subscription to a nursing database col­ lection w as scheduled for the spring 1998 se­ mester, the staff w as still confronted each day w ith m eeting the short-term n eed s o f the stu­ dents. After a part-time librarian attended a w ork­ sh o p concerning consum er health resources A b o u t th e a u th o r J o d y H. M athias is lib ra ria n a t the W or-W ic C om m unity College M edia Center in Salisbury, M aryland, e-mail:jhm 3@ hotmail.com C&RL N ew s ■ N ovem b er 1998 / 769 on the Internet, the professional staff saw this as a springboard for creating a W eb page for u se primarily by its ow n students, an d beg an to cull through w h at w as available o n the Internet. Since consum er health n eed s are different from those o f clinicians an d tech ­ nologists, a sim ple capturing o f the list that w as created for the w o rk sh o p w as n o t the total solution. Design and production W eb p ag e design an d production beg an in D ecem ber 1997. While the college h ad p u r­ chased Microsoft FrontPage for use in u p d at­ ing the college’s hom epage, the m edia cen­ ter decided to use Netscape Navigator G old’s W eb Page Wizard, available at n o charge on the Internet. It w as easy to use, an d since the Media Center’s brow ser of choice is N etscape Navigator, it seem ed a natural choice. The tem plates provided in their package allow ed for a quick start to the production. Identifying sites for inclusion w as the m ost time-consuming of the tasks involved in the entire p r o c e s s . C e cilia D u rk in , o f HealthLINK In fo rm atio n Sys­ tems, w h o conducted the w o rk ­ sh o p m entioned earlier, created a bookm ark disk for w orkshop attendees. The Media Center li­ brarians visited each o f the 130- plus sites o n this list. A p ap er list o f each of the sites included in the bookm ark file w as cre­ ated for perusal by the nursing an d rad tech faculty. However, those w ith value only to co n ­ sum ers w ere rejected by the li­ brarian for inclusion in the Web page. It was necessary to keep the size of the p ag e to a m anageable level, for obvious reasons. The goal w as to provide quick, accurate access to useful sites, n o t a com prehensive list o f all that is available in th e vast online world. While a formal selec­ tion criteria docum ent for the sites to b e in­ cluded in this w ebliography w as no t created (prim arily d u e to the timely nature o f the need), the following criteria w ere informally used: • currency o f information; • authority o f authoring organization; • availability of full-text docum ents; • applicability to sam ple assignments; and • ease of use o f site. In addition, local resources (b o th for in­ form ation an d jobs) h ad to be identified for inclusion. Graphics an d backgrounds w ere retrieved at n o cost th ro u g h various services o n the Internet. The entire production process took three months, w ith a holiday break of four w eeks. All w ork w as d o n e by a part-tim e li­ brarian, w orking 18 hours p er w eek, m ain­ taining reference responsibilities throughout the process. Choosing a Web host Wor-Wic does no t maintain its o w n server, so a W eb host had to b e chosen. The initial desire w as to u se a local provider, ostensibly for ease o f com m unication. How ever, after doing research on how to choose a W eb host, an d num erous failed attem pts to reach a rep ­ resentative from our major local Internet Ser­ vice Provider, a nonlocal host w as chosen an d the page w as u p lo ad ed at the en d of February 1998. A very valuable tool for choos­ ing a W ebhost is published by Sumo, Inc. It is The Ultimate Web Host List, w hich included bo th a list o f th e to p 25 hosts (with im pres­ sive criteria), and a series of articles called “Finding an Internet Presence Provider.” Some of the providers offer nonprofit rates, and oth­ ers have reasonably priced com mercial rates. Be aw are of the total cost an d take the time to read the entire set of articles before m ak­ ing a decision. 7 7 0 /C& RL News ■ N ovem ber 1998 Locating and making information available . . . has alw ays been our mission, and the staff sees this as sim ply another medium in which to function. Having a u n iq u e dom ain n am e w as not im portant to the m edia center. This saved the obligatory $100 InterNic fee, assessed by the governm ent w h en a n ew dom ain nam e is registered. My m ain concern w as that the server h ad a g ood track record of little d o w n ­ time, ease and speed of publishing, and, need­ less to say, cost. It w as also im portant to have the capability o f u pdating the page as the n e e d arose (as it did w ithin th e first tw o w eeks!) w ith o u t incurring great obstacles. Since the page is for use as an academ ic tool, not as a public relations tool, it w as not added as an adjunct to th e co lleg e’s h om epage, though a link from the ho m ep ag e to the site could easily b e accom plished if the college so desires. However, the m edia center m ain­ tains editorial control over the page. Publishing After consultation with the m edia director, the associate d ea n o f general education, an d a m em ber o f the nursing staff, the page was published from the w orkroom com puter in a m atter of 15 minutes. N etscape’s process for uploading a com pleted Web page is simple, requiring only an ftp location, supplied by the Internet Presence Provider, an d a user nam e an d passw ord, w hich are specified by the author w h en signing o n w ith a Web host. D esktop shortcuts w ere created th e same evening o n each o f th e 20 w orkstations, and students im m ediately h ad access to the infor­ mation. Since the initial publication, additional sites have b ee n identified for the rad tech students, w hich have b e e n ad d ed w ith ease. The Web's potential The pu rp o se of the site w as to provide the students w ith inform ation necessary to com ­ plete their assignm ents w ith accurate infor­ mation. It is no t seen as a replacem ent for a commercially p ro d u ced academ ic database, b u t as a resource that fills a particular n ee d at a particular time. Its value is n o less because o f this. Casting a w ide net, as m any com m er­ cial databases m ust do, can present its ow n set o f problem s. This effort h ad a narrow fo­ cus, b u t a crucial o n e w ithin the institution. The m edia center librarians an d the faculty will regularly m onitor the n e e d for this re­ source, am end it as necessary, an d replace it w ith oth er tools if they m ore appropriately m eet the n eed s of the students. Librarians have always com piled topical lists o f r e s o u r c e s . T h e te c h n o lo g y h a s changed, but the spirit has not. Locating and m aking inform ation available, w hich is ap ­ propriate to the task, has always b ee n our mission, an d the staff sees this as simply an ­ o th e r m edium in w h ich to function. The W ebliography w as very well received and plans are being discussed for an o th er page for the electronic engineering technology stu­ dents. Useful links • Wor-Wic C om m u nity C ollege Internet R esou rces fo r N ursing an d R adiologic T e c h n o lo g y : h ttp ://w w w .s e rv e .c o m / w w ccm edia/ medsearch.html • W or-W ic C o m m u n ity C ollege: http :// w w w . i n t e r c o m . n e t / l o c a l / s c h o o l / w orw ic • N etsca p e Page W izard fo r N etscap e C o m p o se r a n d N e tsc a p e N avigator G old: h ttp ://s e a rc h .n e ts c a p e .c o m /u k / ho m e/g o ld 3 .0_wizard. html • T h e U ltim ate W eb H o st List: http:// w w w .w eb h o stlist.co m /screen s/to p lists/ main.asp • M ic r o s o ft F ro n tp a g e: http:/A vw w . m icrosoft.com /frontpage/ • F in d in g a n In te rn et P r e s e n c e P ro ­ v id e r : h ttp ://w w w .w e b h o s tlis t.c o m / screens/new sstand/findhost 1 .asp • CyberNet D esign: http:/Àvww.cybernet- clesign.com/ • C o o l G ra p h ics o n th e Web: h ttp :// little.fishnet.net/~ gini/cool/ • Creating W eb Pages: http://pw 2.netcom. co m /~ ald a/ create, html • Y ahoo! Use categories: Com puters and Internet, Internet, World Wide Web, Page D esign a n d Layout, G raphics— h ttp :// w w w .y ah o o .co m / ■ http://www.serve.com/ http://www.intercom.net/local/school/ http://search.netscape.com/uk/ http://www.webhostlist.com/screens/toplists/ http://www.webhostlist.com/ http://pw2.netcom http://www.yahoo.com/ C&RL N ew s ■ N ovem b er 1 9 9 8 1 771