Making the most of your library website

• BEYOND THE BASICS: MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR LIBRARY WEBSITE
• "a presentation by Marylaine Block for the Arizona Library Association, November 14, 2007"
  
  
• Library Terms That Users Understand
• "This site is intended to help library web developers decide how to label key resources and services in such a way that most users can understand them well enough to make productive choices. It serves as a clearinghouse of usability test data evaluating terminology on library websites, and suggests test methods and best practices for reducing cognitive barriers caused by terminology."

Navigation vs. Hierarchy

Navigation vs. Hierarchy from NYPL Labs.

"So how do I, as a designer, provide my user with a guide to the site without suggesting a weighted classification?"

See the comments too.

A couple of web design links

Cool Tools for Webmasters from the Internet Librarian Conference - covered by Library Web Chic and Librarian In Black.

Web Design on a Dime (pdf) by Librarian In Black.

The Designing Librarian

The people behind Web Site Design with the Patron in Mind have a blog that they seem to have just started taking a greater interest in. The Designing Librarian has been up since November 2006, but the posting just got regular this past month. Has anyone taken a look at the book? Is it any good?

Designing a better library experience

From the Blended Librarian webcast on 27 Sep 2007. Some thoughts:

• Design for outcomes not features.
• User-centered not technology driven.

These ideas among others stood out for me because I think that they are particularly relevant and something librarians -- who know all the possibilities and want others to have the best chance to find stuff -- forget.

All the possibilities overwhelm most of our users. We need to provide for them and also create alternatives for those who want more options, more possibilities.