3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A poor, ineffective tool, September 5, 2002
This review is from: Building the Service-Based Library Web Site: A Step-By-Step Guide to Design and Options (Ala Editions) (Paperback)
If you are just starting, if you have no idea of how to even remotely begin construction on your library's web site, than this book might be of some help to you. Maybe.
However, if you've got a basic plan or if you are going to be working on an existing site for the first time you may want to look elsewhere for guidance. *Building the Service-Based Library Web Site* starts off by assuming that you have little to no understanding of how the web works. Which is fine. But it shifts gears fairly quickly and starts liberally using HTML terms and techniques that aren't adequately explained in the text, and that could prove to be confusing for those with no HTML experience. It also assumes that your library does not already have a web site and proceeds to give the most advice on how to put your catalog online. Few libraries in my region do not have a web site to their credit so this hardly seems necessary. Other advice, such as "avoid cluttering it with too much detail about your library", is just absurd. Besides the catalog, basic information about the library is what brings our patrons to our page.
I recently took on the task of redesigning a section of my library's web site--I started with very little knowledge of just how it would be done. Ideas weren't the problem, but implementing them proved to be. I've been working on it for some months now and I picked up this book, hoping that I would be able to strengthen what I've already put in place. It wasn't much help.
My suggestion would be to write out a basic plan for what you have in mind for your site(for this you might want to visit other library sites, and the book does actually provide you with the means to do this effectively and simply); find out as much about the program(Dreamweaver, etc.)you will be using as you can; and have a book that outlines the basics of coding close to hand. You'll learn on your own what works and how you can make it work more quickly than you'll get help from this book.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Put your library on the Web., March 30, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Building the Service-Based Library Web Site: A Step-By-Step Guide to Design and Options (Ala Editions) (Paperback)
Building the Service-Based Library Web Site shows how any type of library can make the most of its cyberspace presence
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