LIS 753: Internet Fundamentals & Design

You will be completing two different reviews, each 400 words in length and worth 10 points, and posting them on your blogs.  Complete both of these assignments before the second weekend of class.
Web Page Review

This will be a review of either the Dominican library’s website or the new Chicago Public Library website along with your recommendations for improvement based on exploration of other sites. See directly below for details:

Imagine that you are a librarian at the Rebecca Crown Library at Dominican University or the Chicago Public Library. You are appointed to a staff committee on the library website, and you are responsible for making recommendations about how it can be improved to better support the students and faculty who use it. [It is not uncommon to “inherit” a page designed by someone else that needs updating/revamping.]As background research, visit some of the attached library web sites. Select two of the sites that you think are especially well-designed and succinctly explain why. Then, apply your findings to the Crown Library main page and make specific recommendations. What would you change? What might you keep the same?

Think about:

• User-friendliness
• Differing audiences (undergrads, grad students, faculty/staff)• Ease of updating or changing information
• Interactivity
• Layout (what’s on top, what’s big/small, etc.)
• Aesthetics (color, images, fonts, etc.)
• Language (library jargon vs. user-oriented words)
• “The Human Element” (is the site personal / impersonal?)

Write a summary of 400 words that shares your findings/recommendations with the Director of the Library, using examples as needed from the two external library web sites you selected. Post this assignment to your blog, and be sure to use hyperlinks when pointing out examples. Because your comments will be out on the web, remember to be professional while remaining honest!

List of Library Websites (Select two that will help inform your recommendations.)

• Weld Library District
  http://www.mylibrary.us/
•  North Carolina State University
  http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/
• Osceola Library
  http://www.osceolalibrary.org/
• Columbia College Chicago
  http://www.lib.colum.edu/
• Ann Arbor District Library
  http://www.aadl.org/
• Bowdoin College(that’s pronounced “BOE-din”)
  http://library.bowdoin.edu/
• Orange County Library System
  http://www.ocls.info/flashDefault.asp?bhcp=1
• Georgia Tech
  http://www.library.gatech.edu/
•  New York Public Library
  http://www.nypl.org/
•  Illinois Wesleyan University - Ames Library
  http://www2.iwu.edu/library/
•  Moravian College
  http://home.moravian.edu/public/reeves/
•  IPFW
  http://www.lib.ipfw.edu/
•  Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/
•  Trinity College (CT)
  http://library.trincoll.edu/index.cfm

Web 2.0 Tool Review

This will be a review of a specific Web 2.0 tool for use in a particular LIS context. You’ll select a tool from a list, describe it,, show how it is being used, and suggest how your organization may use it. Online Cool on a Budget by Rachel Singer Gordon on Enhancing a Web site with Web 2.0 Tools is a good starting point for this assignment. See directly below for details:

Imagine an LIS context for yourself. Perhaps you work in a school library, a public library, an academic library, a special/corporate library, or some other information setting in which you might be the local expert on Web 2.0. Use your current employment setting, or invent one! Write a 400-word review of a Web 2.0 tool that might be useful to your colleagues, and post it to your blog. Assume that your audience is a professional one with basic Web skills, but don’t assume they are as savvy about Web 2.0 as you are. The art is in briefly explaining the tool and showing how it can be used in your work context.

Include the following in your post:

• A concise explanation of the tool (what it does and how it works)
• Three examples of how other libraries or information settings are using that tool. Link out to places that are currently using the tool — or to articles about how the tool is being used. Add a screen shot or image if it helps your explanation.
• Closing thoughts that list a few specific ways that you and your colleagues might be able to use the tool in your own context. Highlight the benefits of adopting the tool but also note if you anticipate any challenges. In short, you want to show people the potential the technology holds, prove that it is being used effectively, and suggest how it might be adopted in your own workplace. Select a tool from the list below:
  • Meebo
  • Chatango
  • Wikipedia
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Scholar, Google Reader, or Google Docs
  • Amazon
  • Bloglines
  • Netvibes
  • Facebook or MySpace
  • WordPress
  • MediaWiki or Wikispaces
  • Ning
  • Twitter
  • LibraryThing
  • Zotero