Funny post about how lousy library websites can be!

The entry - http://www.librarianavengers.org/weblog/2005/02/more-on-lousy-digital-library-design.html - is worth a look, if you've got a good sense of humor and aren't too easily offended. Warning, it has harsh - though funny - words, folks, but if you're on the frontlines with web design at libraries, you'll really laugh about it!

BTW, I'd written an entry myself in response to this article originally, but then I'd reconsidered it. It was written in a way that came off entirely too harshly and as a result, I don't think it added anything constructive to the discussion. My key point was about how politics can get in the way of innovation. I'm hoping that some day I find the magic bullet that allows us to get people and personalities to harmonize around an objective - that makes committee-work actually improve websites, and so on.

I guess to move forward, we have to think and rethink our choices. We have to build on our mistakes as well as our successes.
Have a great weekend everyone!

changing the blog title

Whaddya think - should I change the title? It's been so long since I've been able to really concentrate on innovative web work, as opposed to playing whack-a-mole with issues and making things run the old way when it's painfully inefficient. I think I should change it to something like library cobwebhead.... Well, that having been said, I do intend to set up prerequisites for users who want to create web projects. There will be a process that they have to go through so that the end results will be well-thought out and we won't repeat work ad nauseum. Also, it would help us to balance departmental/division-level requests. It's too bad when just one division gets to monopolize resources. I know that that was not the intention of the folks who hired me. So we'll establish some management procedures here.

changing the blog title

Whaddya think - should I change the title? It's been so long since I've been able to really concentrate on innovative web work, as opposed to playing whack-a-mole with issues and making things run the old way when it's painfully inefficient. I think I should change it to something like library cobwebhead.... Well, that having been said, I do intend to set up prerequisites for users who want to create web projects. There will be a process that they have to go through so that the end results will be well-thought out and we won't repeat work ad nauseum. Also, it would help us to balance departmental/division-level requests. It's too bad when just one division gets to monopolize resources. I know that that was not the intention of the folks who hired me. So we'll establish some management procedures here.

Website Accessibility

Here's how you know I've been SWAMPED in the past month and a half... No posts! That usually doesn't happen for more than a week at a time, but geez, I really have been going all out... as have most folks I know right now.

The up side? Last week, the state's website accessibility guru & I presented two classes on making accessible websites to librarians from throughout Connecticut. In preparation, I'd done a LOT of research. All of the materials that I dug up & found very useful are found in the online slideshow of the presentation - available at http://www.cslib.org/webaccess. Enjoy!