I began this thread about library web sites by talking about positioning them for your patrons. I also mentioned the importance of integrating your content in ways that make sense for your end users. That in this day and age with virtually every library connected to the Internet, a website for every library was a foregone conclusion--at least until I read Marshall Breeding's article again.

Despite my zeal for high functioning web sites that add value for the patron, I was forced to examine whether our rural libraries can and should be using this technology. After looking at the common reasons not to implement such a web, I am convinced that we can and should be adding this functionality to the rural library.

As I proceeded through the conditions that were raised as barriers to implementing a web site I advanced my preference for using CMS portal systems rather than a plain web site or a wiki. I have come out in favor of outsourcing IT functions in order to control costs by commoditizing IT as a cloud resource, while also escaping the need for the System administration skill set that would be required. Yet I agree with King (linked elsewhere on this site) that we must not outsource what is important. The design and responsiveness of your library's digital presence should be firmly under your control.

Amazingly, while I have been weaving a rationale for portaling the public library, Steven Bell has set out to destroy the rationale for academic library portals! Portaling has been popular in academia since the late '90s. Today the University Library portal seems to be consumed by Campus-wide portals and digital courseware platforms such as Blackboard. Bell believes the next big thing is going to be more specific bits of library work integrated more closely with courseware at the point of use. It makes sense, but it is nothing new. Much like my example of sifting through statewide resources (in my first post) to isolate and identify those for my local patrons, Bell points out Temple's user guides as the kind of pathfinding that he believes is the future of the academic library portal. (See the side bar for a link to Temple University's guides page.)

The more I read about library web technology the more I believe that we have failed to mediate between the aggregators and the public. Bell tells us that many faculty and students avoid the library portal. Why?

"A serious flaw needing correction is the failure of the academic library Web site to invite the user community to, in simple ways, discover the full range of resources available for their research."

Instead we have departed into meaninglessness. The average Freshman could care less about Ebsco or Gale or Wilson. Even faculty are focused on certain Journals by name, not aggregator. Yet how many library portals expose the new researcher to the world of scholarly publications by listing each journal by name with annotations and a hot link that opens a search of that magazine's articles from its parent database? Of course the aggregators make matters even worse the way they add and delete titles from the database so frequently. Is it any wonder that people who are trying to make the best use of their time tend to stay with the tried and true? We need to leverage what they already know, rather than give them more hurdles to clear before they can confidently and effectively manipulate the resources we have.

This detour through academia with Bell provides something of use to those of us in the public space. Our patrons are even more opposed to what he refers to as "Scavenger hunts through library portals to locate needed databases or e-journals..." He has brought this discussion back to the point at which it started. Librarians wielding a powerful technology platform can extend services and information to any place with a connection at any time of day or night. They must add value to that information by leveraging their unique classification and organizational skills to make digital resources sensible and easy to use for the public.

Bell says "librarians thought they were in the information gateway business, but they were really in the learning and scholarly productivity business." Amen.


1. Bell, S. (February 17, 2009). Views: The Library Web Site of the
             Future - Inside Higher Ed. Home - Inside Higher Ed.
             Retrieved December 6, 2009, from
             http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/02/17/bell

~dd



ps. I have one observation about Bell's article that bears sharing, though it falls outside the bounds of the discussion above so for those of you interested in academic libraries I will share it here.

He sees the librarian as a sort of service provider subordinate to the faculty member, who may or may not really desire the service. Faculty indifference to the libary is not uncommon, so success in this endeavor can be uneven, unless there is very strong direction from the president's office on down. The political realities on a campus will go a long way toward determining whether the library will be successful in integrating content into courseware platforms.