December 2009
7 posts
2 tags
Inviting Comments →
Sometimes, a blog post or article on a library website doesn’t get any comments. And that’s fine – not every post is comment-worthy, right? But there are ways to prompt, or “invite” visitors to comment … even by using the website’s built-in comment functionality.
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Online community metrics: numbers you need to pay... →
I’m surprised people haven’t pulled me up on this yet – I often state that member count isn’t a reliable indicator of the success of an online community; but nobody has asked me what numbers are better to use. Here, I’ll offer you some suggestions.
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Improve Your Website: #01 Wrangling Content →
Less is Less (& That’s Good) We bet that your library’s website has too many pages. You might think that there’s no harm in keeping pages around just in case someone needs the info there. You’re probably wrong. More stuff on your site means that:
it takes more time to make sure it is still relevant and up to date.
your patrons are forced to sift through junk to find what they really need.
...
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Twitter lessons from Depeche Mode →
So what lesson is here for the library? Tweet when people are talking about you, and link to the original story or post. Re-Tweet particularly nice Tweets about you. Be consistent in sending out updates — but don’t overwhelm your users. Tweet things that your user base might be interested in. Remember – they’re fans. They’re following you because they care. So listen to them, reach out to...
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Michael Stephens on Hyperlinked Library →
Michael Stephens has a wonderful presentation (available as a PDF) entitled: The Hyperlinked Library in Times of Change and Challenge. As with all of Stephens’s presentations, I come away not only with more ideas and thoughts about my library’s services, but with a better feeling about what libraries do for society…our impact ever day on the people who access our services.
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User posting guidelines for library websites →
I get a lot of questions about what kind of policy to write for the public to get them to “write the right stuff” on the library’s website. Much of this stems from a fear that every library user will log on and write nasty things, use profanity, and somehow make the library website blow up. And you know what? It never happens.
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A pre-launch checklist for your new online... →
Maximise your chances of success – only launch your community website to the world when the following conditions have been met…