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THE FUTURE OF ACADEMIC LIBRARY WEBSITESPAMELA CARSON

Word cloud via http://www.wordle.net/

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2001

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2011

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2021

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?

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89% START WITH SEARCH ENGINES

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DON’T DESPAIR

There’s more to the story

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MORE DETAILS

OCLC’s data came from a survey of 396 participants

“Eighty-seven percent of college students have visited a college library in person, and more than half (57 percent) have visited an online college library (Web site)” (OCLC, 2005, p. 1-1).

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2009 REPLICA STUDY

“… libraries should not rely on the data presented in College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources for making decisions in their local environments. Use local data for local decisions”

(Sutton, Bazirjian, & Zerwas, 2009, p. 484).

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LIBRARY STATS:ATTENDANCE

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91

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92

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93

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94

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95

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96

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97

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98

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99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

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04

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05

20

06

20

07

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08

20

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20

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0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000Webster 1,709,567

Vanier345,001

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LIBRARY STATS:WEB VISITS

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

9,000,000

10,000,000 Page Views8,614,051

Unique Visi-tors

744,886

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THE ANSWER

In today’s context where 2% of students start their information search on a library site and 89% use a search engine, what do libraries need to consider in designing their website?

1. User Testing and Needs Analysis

2. Competitive Intelligence

3. New & Emerging Technologies

4. Collaboration & Strategies

5. Advocacy

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&USER TESTING NEEDS ANALYSIS

Goal: A usable, attractive site that supports our library’s vision

• Where can we add value?

• Top tasks?

• Jargon?

“Two common and often related problems that came up repeatedly within the literature were user confusion regarding navigation and professional jargon used on an academic library Web site” (McCann, Ravas, & Zoellner, 2010, p. 393).

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COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

COMPETITORS

Academic libraries

Public and private sectors

GOALS

Benchmarking

Find out about emerging technologies

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Mobile Location-based services

Data curation

Web 2.0 Web 3.0

Personalization

Social networks & media

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&COLLABORATION STRATEGIES

Link web changes to overall library vision and strategies

All library departments and committees have web needs

Information Literacy

CSU and student relationships

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ADVOCACY• Vendors (Ahem… ProQuest)

• University (CMS project)

“…it simply is not in the better interests of vendors to facilitate ‘one stop shopping’…We encourage academic librarians to push the envelope with vendors (either consortially or individually)” (Detlor & Lewis, 2006, p. 254).

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TO SUM IT ALL UP

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WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE,

BUT WE KNOW HOW TO GET THERE.

When designing an academic library website, we need to

• Be informed of our users’ needs,

• Know what other organizations are doing on the web,

• Implement new technologies,

• Collaborate with stakeholders,

• Create overarching strategies to guide us, and

• Advocate for our unique interests.

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QUESTIONS?

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REFERENCESDe Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Hawk, J., & Wilson, A. (2005). College students’ perceptions of libraries and information

resources: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, OH: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved on November 30, 2011 from http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/studentperceptions.pdf

Detlor, B., & Lewis, V. (2006). Academic library web sites: Current practice and future directions. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(3), 251-258.

Erdman, J. M. (2009). Library Web ecology: What you need to know as Web design co-ordinator. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

Evans, W. (2009). Building library 3.0: Issues in creating a culture of participation. Oxford, U.K.: Chandos Publishing.

Lehman, T., & Nikkel, T. (Eds.). Making library web sites usable: A LITA guide. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

McCann, S., Ravas, T., & Zoellner, K. (2010). The researcher’s journey: Scholarly navigation of an academic library web site. Journal of Web Librarianship, 4(4), 391-412.

Miller, W., & Pellen, R. M. (Eds.). (2005). Libraries and Google. Binghampton, NY: Hawthorn Information Press.

Singer Gordon, R. (Ed.). (2007). Information today: Reflections on technology and the future of public and academic libraries. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

Sutton, L., Bazirjian, R., & Zerwas, S. (2009). Library service perceptions: A study of two universities. College & Research Libraries, 70(5), 474-496.