Keeping Up Appearances
There's no such thing as a low-maintenance Web site
Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 12/1/1999
Yeah, I already know you don't have hours of extra time on your hands when you're at work. Every media specialist and public youth-services librarian I've ever known has too many things to do and too few hours in which to do them. Way too many of us cut out flannel board pieces at home and practice booktalks in the car as it is.
But if your library or media center has a Web site, that's no excuse for not checking your links, weeding them, and adding new ones. There's no such thing as a low-maintenance Web site.
Every media center and public library children's and YA area should have at least a Web page, and preferably a Web site, of its own. You should take every opportunity to place its URL strategically in the path of every parent, teacher, and student you serve, forcing them to step over it before going to Yahoo! Your Web site (and if you're in a school, there is a link on the school home page that says "Library" or "Media Center," isn't there?) is your opportunity to tell everyone about all the great things you're currently doing, as well as link to great resources available on the Net.
If we kept mailing you the same issue of SLJ month after month, you wouldn't renew your subscription, would you? That's what it's like if you visit a library Web site on September 10, December 15, and February 2, and its images and links are always the same. It's dull; why go back? A Web site is like a cat box; you have to keep changing it if you don't want users going elsewhere.
So here are some "Chat Room" site maintenance tips. I've asked Julie James, a former Kansas City Public Library youth librarian and Web manager who is now the Library of Virginia's technology consultant, to join me:
Check all your links regularly. Julie says to check them "as often as humanly possible. Once a week is fantastic, once a month is desirable, once a quarter at the very least." Software is available to automate the task; my favorite is a German freeware program named Xenu Link Sleuth. It checks all the links on your pages and generates a nice clean report of which links have coasted off down Interstate 404. Get it from www.snafu.de/ ~tilman/xenulink.html#Download. Also worth a look is NetMechanic at www.netmechanic.com. There's a free trial, but a charge for the more sophisticated services.
Still, link checking via software won't always cut it. Julie says, "I have yet to find an automated link checker that does a good job--they don't recognize forwarding pages, and many of the larger sites won't allow automated 'bots' to hit them." Result: errors. Your best human link checkers? Often they're teen volunteers, if you train them in what to look for.
Just as important as cleaning up links is adding new ones. Make certain that everyone who answers reference questions is bookmarking sites that answer frequently asked questions and is sending you their URLs. Julie suggests reading as many magazines and newspaper technology sections as possible, looking for content-rich sites.
Weed your links, just as you would your books. I'll let Julie tell you: "One thing I have been preaching about lately is the need to weed your links. Your customers/patrons/students are not well served by hundreds and hundreds of links. And just because something was a great resource a year ago doesn't mean it is the best resource today. The site may not be maintained, or there may be a newer, better resource out there. Once a quarter or so, I try to evaluate each subject area as a whole."
Most important: Don't let keeping up a Web site get you down. The best way to avoid feeling overstressed is to spread the maintenance, and collection development, work around. "Collaborate with your colleagues!" says Julie. "I have been very fortunate to have some wonderful public librarians in Virginia who are totally agreeable to this concept, and let me steal collections of links at will to share with the rest of the libraries in Virginia."
Library sites compete with every other site out there for the "eyeballs" of your community. Fair or not, kids, teachers, and parents judge your site against all others they visit. Show them that you care what they think.
