Friday, February 6, 2009
Blogging Assignment 1: Library Blog Example
It just so happens that one of my favorite libraries, the Georgetown (TX) Public Library, also has one of my favorite library Web sites (look no further than the Peeps-guided library tour to find out why). You can visit the Georgetown library's online branch (terminology stolen from Farkas; I love it) at http://www.georgetowntex.org/ and what you might notice is that the front page is almost entirely populated with feeds from the library's various blogs. Or, better yet, you might not have noticed that at all because the blogs are so well integrated into the site. The fact that the blogs are all there embedded on the front page make the page really dynamic: it's updated all the time! It also makes it easy for people to find news in the area they are interested in: News, Library Happenings, Teen Space @ GPL, etc. Having blogs for different audiences and interests is the way to go; that way people don't get bogged down in information they don't want and start avoiding your site or missing out on info they do want or need.
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3 comments:
You mention that the blogs are prominently shown on the main page and I can see several "above the fold."
The SCILS site - http:/scils.rutgers.edu - tries to integrate blogs and they tend to be below the fold: do you think this might affect the effectiveness of the blog posts?
I think above or below the fold matters almost as much in electronic settings as it does in real papers. You'd think not, since scrolling is so easy, but I think most people concentrate on what they see immediately when the page opens. For one thing, they assume that since that information is at the top, it's the most important. I think users are especially likely to avoid scrolling when a page is dense with information. Users have to prioritize and in the interest of saving time and effort may gloss right over anything that isn't immediately visible.
Love it! It's like an instructional children's book on the library.
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