McKee Library Web Site Development

ASDAL Presentation June 21, 2001
Marge Seifert and Patricia Beaman

Historical Background
Since this conference is about the past as well as the future, we would like to start our presentation by going back to 1983 when McKee Library on February 1 switched from a card catalog to an automated one. Searching was through the use of dumb terminals. PCs were added in 1986, one of which was used for the Magazine Index on CD-ROM. It is interesting how we received the money for the Magazine Index. A package was received in the mail with no return address. On opening it, Peg Bennett found $5000 in cash. The next day there was a phone call from a young lady wanting to know if the library had received a package with money and on being told that we had, she immediately hung up. We never discovered the benefactor. In 1993 the Library was responsible for bringing the Internet infrastructure to Southern’s campus. At that time we used Telnet, ftp, Archie, WAIS, and Veronica and Gopher.

I am sure many of you remember these means of Internet communication. In 1995, the librarians at the McKee Library decided that they would like a web site. Prior to that time there was a DOS-Based menu program for accessing the catalog and CD-ROM databases. However, it was felt that the Library should be represented on the web not only for Southern’s students but also for others outside the university. The librarians talked with the library systems person who said that he had a student who was familiar with HTML working for him. This student was 14 years old and in fact was very good with HTML. This young man, with the help of the systems person, designed the web site by himself. The librarians told him what they wanted on the pages, but he did the work and they did not see the web site until it was complete. Our first web site incarnation was quick to download, simple in design, easy to navigate, and had three divisions – McKee Library, Research, and Search Tools. A student from Scandinavia also helped by locating web sites and was responsible for making sure the links worked.

The second incarnation had added content and was more complex with frames that reflected the university’s colors of green and white. The web site’s color later changed to blue but the overall design remained the same.

It is interesting to note that Southern Adventist University’s first official web site was not until 1996 although there had been an unofficial one developed by students in the MAC lab in 1993.
Reasons for change
In several library staff meetings during the year 1999-2000 we talked about re-designing the web site, but decided to wait until the Computers In Libraries Conference in March of 2000 to gain new perspectives and ideas. We needed to change our site because:
1. Old site needed updating.
2. Old site had become unwieldy-wanted to add new things to the site and there weren’t good spots to put them. We needed more categories. By adding more to the site, it would make navigation too complicated with too many layers before reaching information.
3. Our website needed to be able to expand – to allow for change and growth over time.
4. New ideas on web design became available.
New website designed by a committee. Why?
Patricia and Marge went to Computers in Libraries in Washington, D.C. in March of 2000. One of the presentations given was an excellent one titled, “Successful Web Page Design.” This was presented by the reference and electronic resources librarian from Dowling College in Oakdale, NY. Dowling College Library’s web site was honored as Innovative Interfaces WebOPAC of the month for maximizing features and functionality. That presentation gave us a number of good principles to use in updating our web page. One of the primary principles was: before beginning the design process, establish a web committee that will give adequate input and representation and be responsible for making the essential decisions. The committee should determine what the perspective of the page should be and develop an appropriate mission statement for the page. The committee would also need to define some key points:
- Target audience
- Policies for the page
- Operating principles; frequency of updates
- Categories to include
- Means of navigation; layout, buttons, toolbars
- Look of the page.
As the library staff thought about designing a new web site, we knew we needed more than one or two people to make all the important decisions that would make the new web site an excellent one.
Composition of Committee and Level of Expertise
The selection of the committee was made by Peg Bennett, Director of Libraries. Each person chosen for the committee had areas of expertise that would add to the content or the technical aspects of the new website. The committee included:
- Patricia Beaman – Periodicals/Interlibrary Loan Librarian & committee chairperson
- Ann Greer – Circulation/Distance Education Librarian
- Ron Miller – Computer System Support
- Karen Morgan/Carol Harrison – Circulation Supervisors
- Marge Seifert – Public Service/Reference Librarian
The most knowledgeable of the committee was Ron, who knew the technical aspects of web design and Ann, who for her doctoral dissertation had put together a web site for distance education students according to the human computer interaction theory. Karen’s expertise was in the area of graphic design. The rest of the committee were inexperienced in web design, but had content expertise. Karen left McKee Library in the fall of 2000, and her spot on the committee was filled by Carol, the new circulation supervisor.
Initial Steps
Literature

When our committee consulted the literature written on web design, we discovered an abundance of information. It seems like there is an explosion of articles and books on web design. Several key articles and books that we found to be helpful are listed in the bibliography. All of the sources agreed that in order for a web page to be effective, it must be well designed. Some sources suggested we use professional web tools to help with web design. Others gave recommendations or principles for accessible web pages. We gleaned information from the articles, received inspiration from both books and articles, and felt totally overwhelmed!! In the end, we decided to follow the principles outlined in the presentation from Computers in Libraries. These principles incorporated ideas from other sources that we read, gave sound advice and were easy to understand.

Committee Beginnings

The committee first met on March 30, 2000. The committee members were asked to do some research into web design and to bring their ideas to that first meeting. Many of the ideas for the initial steps were taken from the paper “Successful Web Page Design” by Francie C. Davis presented at Computers in Libraries 2000.

In order to provide direction and focus, we first of all addressed the following areas and future committee meetings were devoted to discussing them and arriving at a consensus.
- Audience
- Mission Statement
- Design Principles
Audience

It was determined that our primary audience is the student body and faculty of Southern Adventist University and the distance education students. We decided that there is a secondary audience of administration and the community. By knowing our audience and mission, we could then design a site that would attract that audience, supply content to meet their needs and utilize their retrieval methods.

Mission Statement

The mission of the McKee Library web site is to instill lifelong learning skills and to be the main conduit for information, services, and training to adequately support the instructional and research programs of the university.

Design Principles

The following basic design principles were discussed and incorporated in our planning.
1. Million-Dollar Screen
  
  The first screen is the most important screen, as that is what is first seen. It should contain all pertinent information without scrolling and should load quickly.
2. Chunking of information
  
  It is recommended that there be no more than nine links or seven buttons. Clump information together.
3. Consistent and easy means of navigation
  
  Organized either by simple to complex, chronological order or alphabetical order and no more than three clicks should be used to get the desired information.
4. Links need to be identifiable as links
  
  Post links only when they are ready. Avoid using “under construction”.
5. Quick to load
  
  Minimized loading time as much as possible.
6. Seamless
  
  Users should not be aware of the actual location or origin of items accessed.
7. Simplicity
  
  There should be no visual clutter
8. Text readability
  
  There should be contrast as busy backgrounds confuse and annoy visitors.
  
  Use a font size & type that is easily readable
  
  Provide a text alternative to identify graphics.
9. Accessible for persons with a disability
  
  Keep it simple.
  
  Choose colors carefully.
10. Frames
  
  We needed to make a decision whether to use frames or not. We decided to use frames.
11. No Scrolling on the main page – The entire main page should be seen at one time.
Organization of Web Site
Since we were organizing our site by committee, we wanted everyone’s input on the organization. Everyone on the committee made a list of what content they felt should be included on the web site and how they would organize it. One did it on paper and the rest did it on 3 x 5 cards. We then as a committee compared results and came up with three major headings or groups:
- About the Library
- Library Services
- Research Resources
The committee also felt that it was important to have library hours visible on the home page at all times. All content was listed under at least one heading and in some cases more than one. Over time because of time constraints some items were put on hold until later and some items were moved to another group.
Selection and Design of First Screen
In order to decide the design of our new web page, we looked at other websites to get ideas. We perused hundreds of library websites. Some of them were wonderful, some were just average, and some were awful! The outstanding sites were eye-catching and were uncluttered. These sites were well organized, had clearly defined subheadings and appeared easy to navigate. They gave us great ideas! (Valdosta State Univ., Univ. of Chicago, UTK) Those that were mediocre presented their information, they were usable, but did not have exceptional characteristics. Some sites were confusing because they had too much information on the first screen. That made them hard to read and to find information. In some cases, we had to scroll in order to see all the information for the home site.

Karen Morgan, our circulation supervisor at that time, loved to work with Page Maker and had a flair for creativity. She produced several different designs for a home page. The web committee met and thoroughly discussed the various designs. We made a choice and have been working with it since that time.

After the home page was developed, we began working on the content for each of the categories, including second and third layers of information. It was this stage that took a great deal of time and many changes were made from our original outline. We would work on a content page for a second or third layer, then discover that something additional was needed. Maybe there needed to be a page where a patron could click to find a list of subcategories before actually getting to the content page. Maybe the content needed to be included in more than one subheading. We would then have to go back to our original design principles and think of all the ways people would look for that particular content. All of our pages, both second and third layers were kept in a notebook in hard copy so we could see what had been accomplished. Patricia has been very good as chair of the web committee, because she has kept us organized, has checked, double-checked and triple-checked the layers of pages and she has kept on us about getting things done.

The web committee also decided that the design of the menu bar at the top of each second and third layer page should be the same. A patron should be able to navigate to any of the main categories from any layer and they should be able to return to the home page from any layer they may have gone to. Some examples of second and third layer pages we looked at, did not have the same design for menu bars. It was hard to determine how far a person was from the home page because of a lack of consistency. Also, uniform menu bars make the web pages look like they are part of a whole site, not just individual parts that are randomly put together.
Execution of Design
Once the committee approved the layout/design, it was given to the first of two student workers. He was an academy senior and had worked in the library for several years in the computer support area. Working on the web site was only part of his work. He came in after school for a short time each day, so progress on the web site was slow. The committee could easily keep up with him in providing content. During this time he also started working for a company providing telephone support which paid more then twice what we paid him. He decided to go work for the other company. Shortly before the first fellow left, the library hired a university student just to work on the web pages. This young man is majoring in character animation, so he has an excellent awareness of design and how things should look and he is willing to try new ideas and learn new things. The staff sometimes has to scramble to find content for him to work on.

Before the first young man left, the basic work on the web site was completed and he felt that it would be easier for him to upload the files rather than have someone else figure out all he had done. It was agreed, and in February of 2001 we began using the new web site. It had been almost a year from when we first started.
Final Stages
The final stages of working on the web site were the most tedious. Almost everyone on the web committee has spent time checking spelling. Links were checked to make sure urls were correct or active and also to make sure they linked back to the proper areas. Each category and subcategory were checked to be sure information was in the proper place and that information was complete. Small changes were made to the original layout. The address was placed in a different location. Changes were made in the size of font for several categories and the menubar has been altered slightly.

Another area that proved to be a challenge was getting the web site to work in both Netscape and Internet Explorer. There are still some difficulties with this and things that need to be worked out.

Changes were also made because of the Distance Education page. Originally, Distance Education was a subcategory under services on the home page. That site was accessed by password, mostly because it was a rough draft and needed a number of modifications. As we neared the final stages of the McKee Library web site, the web committee was asked to make changes in the distance education site. The distance education site was removed from our web site and was included with the other online courses for Southern Adventist University. It can be accessed through the proxy server by students off campus. Because of the distance education web site, we had to redesign a number of the pages on the library web site. The headers and content on the library web pages were together as one block of information. They had to be divided into frames because distance education uses the content from the library web pages, but uses its own top frame for headers. This process required a lot of work and these changes took longer to do than some of the original work, because there were multiple layers and numerous pages to correct.
Things we could have done differently
While the process of putting the web site together was a lengthy one, the committee felt the product turned out well. However, there are some things that could have been done differently.
1. Complete corrections before uploading the new site
  
  There will always be corrections in spelling and links but it would have been better to have done more than we had done.
2. Do a usability study
  
  We are currently in the process of doing this but again it would have been to our advantage to have done it at an earlier stage.
3. Take a class
  
  This last one is for me personally. I wish I had taken the opportunity for some formal instruction in web design.
Future
To make our web site even better, the following are some changes we would like to accomplish in the future.
1. Accessible to persons with disabilities
  
  This is one of our design principles, but our web site does not meet the criteria as accessible to those with a disability. For example, you cannot tab through the different links. You must “click” and there are no text equivalents for graphics. This is something we plan to work on in the fall when our university student comes back to school.
2. Database driven web site
  
  Developing databases is our project for the summer. We would like to have a web site that is up-to-date and this is one way to do it. Having a database driven web site would make updating easier. The updating could be done by the librarians, not just the systems personnel. We would also like to provide information for specific disciplines including reference books, databases and selected web sites. For example the first database we are doing is a database of our databases & indexes. We will be able to generate a list of databases and indexes just for history for example.
3. Site map
  
  Our original design had a “site map” which was changed to “site search” because of the lack of time to do the site map.
4. Implement changes based on usability studies
  
  Based on the few studies that we have already done, we know that terminology is one area that needs some refinement. Another area is in color contrast. When the categories are moused over, there needs to be more of a difference in the colors.
Finished Product
We looked at the web site and demonstrated the following:
- Emphasize mouse overs and second pages
- Databases are listed by discipline and an alphabetical list with descriptions is available at the top of the database page.
- Home button-McKee Web Library at the top of each page will take you back to home page.
- Menubar at the top of each page.
- Selected websites by discipline, one for each discipline we have on campus
- Information can be retrieved from several different locations. Example: Library subject guides can be accessed from Reference Sources, from Services, then to Library Services, then under reference and also under library instruction. The library guides can also be found under Library Publications.
- We wanted the hours to be visible at all times, so put them on the main page.
- The library tutorial is for Freshmen comp students, but could be used by anyone who wants to learn more about the library. As we have more time to develop other library tutorials, they can be added to that area.
- New takes us to news notes (online newsletter) or announcements
- We will always need to make changes and additions. Suggestions are welcome.
The McKee Library web committee is a standing one. We continue to function to provide updates and new ideas. As expected, changes will continually be taking place. However, the committee is delighted with the results of our new web site! We are pleased with the look and the functionality. We hope this web site will be usable for a long time to come.

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