library webmasters in medium-sized academic libraries
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This article was downloaded by: [Columbia University]On: 13 November 2014, At: 23:07Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK
Journal of Web LibrarianshipPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjwl20
Library Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic LibrariesJason Kneip aa Auburn University Montgomery , 893 Hollins Road,Auburn, AL, 36830, USAPublished online: 12 Oct 2008.
To cite this article: Jason Kneip (2007) Library Webmasters in Medium-SizedAcademic Libraries, Journal of Web Librarianship, 1:3, 3-23, DOI: 10.1300/J502v01n03_02
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ARTICLES
Library Webmastersin Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
Jason Kneip
ABSTRACT. Library webmasters in medium-sized academic librarieswere surveyed about their educational backgrounds, job responsibilities,and training and experience levels in Web development. The article sum-marizes the findings of the survey with recommendations for librariesand library and information science programs. doi:10.1300/J502v1n03_02[Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Ser-vice: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]>Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc.All rights reserved.]
KEYWORDS. Webmasters, job descriptions, job profile, training,educational background, academic libraries, medium-sized libraries
INTRODUCTION
Web development has become an integral part of the workflow pat-tern in most academic libraries over the past ten years. The demandfor libraries to keep up to date with users’ needs and expectations has
Jason Kneip is Archives and Special Collections Librarian, Auburn UniversityMontgomery, 893 Hollins Road, Auburn, AL 36830 (E-mail: [email protected]).
Journal of Web Librarianship, Vol. 1(3) 2007Available online at http://jwl.haworthpress.com
© 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1300/J502v1n03_02 3
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grown substantially since librarians first began tinkering with html andcreating Web pages just ten years ago. Libraries are staying relevant inthe digital age by adding new services and creating Web resources on avariety of research topics.
In the mid-1990s, libraries were leading the pack as institutions andorganizations scrambled to create a Web presence. Sometimes these in-dividuals were professionally trained librarians with little or no formaltraining in computers or programming, and other times a non-librarianwith experience in information technology or computer science as-sumed the task.
Libraries are now using their Web sites more effectively to achieveseveral goals. Home pages act as portals to conduct research, to instructusers, and for marketing and branding purposes. As libraries have in-creased the functionality of their home pages, users now expect more interms of visual presentation and content. Subsequently, the process ofcreating Web pages in many academic libraries is no longer as simple asit once was. In the past ten years, Web development in libraries hasevolved into a multifaceted process that relies heavily on technologicalskills such as information architecture and programming and involvescomplex issues such as usability and accessibility. No longer is a basicknowledge of HTML enough to meet the needs and expectations of users.
At many large institutions, library Web development, which wasonce handled by one individual, is now a complex activity managed bymultiple people both within the library and in other departments oncampus. However, many medium-sized colleges and universities do nothave the resources to maintain a large staff of Web development librarians,often relying heavily on a single individual to coordinate all activitiesrelated to library Web development: a “solo webmaster.” Accordingly,the necessary skill set for library webmasters at medium-sized schoolsis potentially more complex than that of large institutions; these individ-uals also must constantly upgrade multiple types of skills to stay currentin the ever-changing culture of Web development.
The goal of this study is to create a professional and educationalprofile of solo webmasters in medium-sized academic libraries and toidentify how these individuals are trained in areas considered highlyimportant to the process of Web development. Because the role of web-master is relatively new and less well understood than other positionswithin the library, it is important that the necessary competencies be iden-tified and measured. For the purposes of this study, the webmaster profileis based upon questions asked about the participant’s job responsibilities,educational background both in terms of higher education and in key
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areas of Web development, their position within the library, and experi-ence in areas of Web development.
The relevance of this research is twofold. First, library webmasterstypically are those on the front line of the Web, becoming aware ofemerging trends and new developments well before other library staff.This puts them in an ideal position to advise and make recommenda-tions to administrators about current and future Web standards. Second,library webmasters, library and information science degree programs,and administrators who hire these individuals need to know aboutemerging trends if they wish to remain professionally viable by stayingon top of the latest Web technologies.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In the past ten years, several studies have been conducted on Web sitedevelopment in large academic research libraries. These studies haveeither focused on the staffing and organizational structure of Web de-velopment in academic libraries or have looked at library webmastersthemselves to get a sense of their education backgrounds and job respon-sibilities. But none of these studies have addressed these issues with a fo-cus on library webmasters in medium-sized academic libraries.
The Association of Research Libraries has published two reports thataddress library webmasters and how libraries staff their Web sites. ARLSPEC Kit #246 was published in 1999 to identify how each library ap-proached creating their Web sites. The results indicated the responsibil-ities for Web development activities were more widely distributed amongthe library staff than in 1996.1
The second study, ARL SPEC Kit #266, dealt more directly with howWeb development was organized and coordinated within libraries. Thestudy investigated the distribution of Web site development tasks andresponsibilities in libraries. Findings for this study also indicate the re-sponsibilities for Web site development were broadly distributed to staffat all levels–even outside of the library on some occasions.2
There have been two studies that focus solely on the job responsibili-ties, educational background, and training of library home page authors.In 1998, Beth Evans conducted a study to identify “authors of academiclibrary home pages, their skills, methods of training, and use of skills be-yond the construction of the library home page.” Evans found academiclibraries employed individuals who were strongly motivated to learn
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and apply skills in Web page creation and to disseminate learned skillsto colleagues.3
In 2000, Mary K. Taylor conducted a more in-depth study of librarywebmasters, covering many of the same areas as Evans but also lookingat the opinions of library webmasters about job satisfaction, the effec-tiveness of library Web committees and the role librarians played inWeb development. Taylor’s research, along with the Evans study, fo-cused exclusively on large libraries, which often have larger staffingand funding than medium-sized libraries, thus having more resources todirect toward the development of a Web site.4
All previous research indicates a trend of looking at Web develop-ment from the organizational perspective of large academic libraries.However, even the smallest of academic libraries can now boast to hav-ing some form of Web presence, so it is time to shift the research focustoward medium-sized libraries.
METHODS
The sample population for this study consisted of 176 academic li-brary webmasters. For the purpose of this study, a library webmaster isdefined as an individual who has a significant level of oversight for a li-brary’s Web site and is actively involved in consistent updates andmaintenance for the library’s Web site.
To populate the sample, online staff directories were consulted todetermine the individual whose job title indicated involvement in Webdesign/development, information technology, or systems. In 71 percentof the library Web sites visited, the online staff directory provided thecontact information for the library’s webmaster. In the remaining in-stances, library directors and deans were asked to provide contact infor-mation for the library’s webmaster.
An online survey was distributed to library webmasters employed inacademic libraries categorized as “medium-sized” by the Carnegie Foun-dation, which assigns classifications to colleges and universities basedon factors such as enrollment figures (see Appendix for survey questions).This term will be used to describe colleges and universities with full-time equivalent student populations between 3,000 and 9,999. The surveydistribution and data collection were handled through Survey Monkey,a Web-based data collection application. Additionally, the followingcriteria were added to limit the size of the population: all institutions hadto be located with the United States, be publicly controlled, and award at
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least a baccalaureate degree within their academic programs. Privatecolleges and universities were excluded from the sample population inorder to limit the response pool. Additionally, funding and staffing atprivate institutions vary widely, making them less standardized thanpublic institutions, which could potentially skew survey results.
RESULTS
Of the 176 selected individuals, 63 individuals (37 percent) respond-ed to the survey. Although this number represents a small response rate,the survey results offered significant insights about the background,training, and responsibilities of library webmasters.
Library webmasters come to their positions in a variety of ways.Some are hired specifically because they have had training in Web de-velopment; some are existing employees who express an interest inlearning Web design, and some become the de facto library webmasterbecause they hold the most knowledge of computer systems, informa-tion technology, or programming. More specifically, the findings of thisstudy indicate the majority of library webmasters in medium-sized aca-demic libraries:
• hold baccalaureate degrees,• perform other job responsibilities in addition to Web development,• report spending twenty hours per week or less fulfilling Web de-
velopment duties,• received their training in Web development largely through self-
instruction using books and Internet sites,• feel relatively experienced using established markup languages
such as HTML and CSS but are less experienced in using XHTMLand XML,
• have some experience in design/graphics,• have some to a little experience with Web programming and data-
base management.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Nearly all respondents (96 percent) possess a baccalaureate degree,but they represent a diversity of educational backgrounds. The highest con-centration of undergraduate degrees is in fields related to the humanities
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and social sciences (66 percent). Other respondents reported holding un-dergraduate degrees in the following fields: Computer science and infor-mation technology (10 percent), education (10 percent), business andengineering (8 percent), and math and science (5 percent). Two percentlisted degrees in other fields (see Table 1).
Although “humanities and social sciences” is a much more diversecategory than the other fields indicated by respondents, it is striking howso many of the library webmasters with liberal arts degrees in fields suchas English, history, and psychology are in positions so involved withtechnology. Perhaps it is the liberal arts focus on communications thathas led these individuals to Web design.
Moreover, many liberal arts majors choose to pursue library work aftercompleting their undergraduate degree, so it is no surprise that 74 percentof respondents possessed a MLIS degree. However, 26 percent indicatedthat they did not (see Table 1). Additionally, librarians are experiencedwith leading users to relevant information, so presumably librarians shouldserve a primary role in establishing “virtual libraries” online.
JOB TITLE
Respondents were asked to give their full job titles. The responseswere analyzed according to both the departmental category given andthe position category given. In terms of position categories, 27 per-cent of respondents identified themselves as a librarian, and another25 percent indicated their job title contained the word(s) director/as-sociate director, head, or manager. The departmental categories indi-cated by respondents included the following: Web/digital (20 percent),
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TABLE 1. Degrees Held by Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
Baccalaureate Degrees: No. %
Humanities and social sciences 40 66
Education 6 10
Computer science, IT 6 10
Business and engineering 5 8
Math or science 3 5
Other 1 2
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree 45 74
Total respondents 61
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systems/automation/technical services (18 percent), IT/communications(13 percent), and reference/instruction (10 percent). The remaining 30percent of respondents listed titles in either general library positions orgeneral IT positions or had job titles indicated multiple categories (seeTable 2).
HOME DEPARTMENT
Respondents were asked to identify the department within the libraryto which they were attached. The department indicated most frequent-ly was systems/automation/technical services (30 percent), followed byreference/instruction (22 percent), library Web development/librarytechnology/digital services (14 percent), administration (14 percent),and access services (8 percent). Six percent listed other library depart-ments. Collection development and electronic resources managementboth represented 2 percent of respondents. Only 3 percent indicated thattheir home department was university Web development (see Table 3).Overall, 97 percent of respondents indicated that they performed theirroles as library Webmasters within the library administrative structure.
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TABLE 2. Job Titles Held by Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
Title word
Director, head, manager 15
Librarian 16
Specialist 4
Coordinator 4
Title category
Web, digital 12
IT, communications 8
Systems, automation, technical services 11
Reference, instruction 6
General IT 5
General library 7
Multiple categories 6
Total respondents 60
Note: Some categories were used more than once.
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As more colleges and universities migrate their Web sites to contentmanagement systems, many academic libraries are discovering the “onesize fits all” model thrust upon them can be more hindrance than help.Often referred to as a “site within a site” design layout, Sarah Houghtonidentifies certain problems that arise in such situations. One issue is that“users have difficulty distinguishing between library and nonlibrarycontent.” Another issue is when “shortcomings (such as ADA noncom-pliance) of the larger organization’s site also occur in the library’ssite.”5 As librarians and library staff involved in creating Web pages ar-guably have a better understanding of how best to organize informationfor their users, it is important that academic libraries be allowed someform of autonomy and have an active voice in Web design decisions atthe university level.
Web development was initially undertaken in libraries by those withthe most experience in computers (e.g., systems, technical services), sothose departments still handling Web development is not surprising. Inaddition, it is no surprise that reference is the department with the sec-ond highest number of library webmasters; this figure reflects the cre-ation of Web content becoming a vital part of the way in which librariesinform their users. Since the reference department is often the most visi-ble department to users, it makes sense that a sizable percentage of li-brary webmasters are attached to this department. On the other hand, alibrary’s Web site content is often evaluated by an administrator beforebeing posted live, so it is reasonable that those in administration wouldmake up 14 percent of respondents.
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TABLE 3. Job Classifications of Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
No. %
Access services/circulation 5 8
Collection development 1 2
Director, associate director, unit/department head 9 14
Electronic resources management 1 2
Library web development/library technology/digital services 9 14
Other library departments 4 6
Reference/instruction 14 22
Systems/automation/technical services 19 30
University web development 2 3
Total respondents 64
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JOB DUTIES
In medium-sized libraries, a library webmaster may have duties inaddition to maintaining the library’s Web site. Twenty-four percent of re-spondents said developing, managing, and maintaining the library’s Website was their main job responsibility, while 62 percent indicated havingother duties in addition to handling the Web site (see Table 4). Those re-spondents who said they had other duties were asked how many hoursper week were devoted to handling the Web site and what other job dutiesthey held. Of those respondents, the majority (52 percent) spends betweenone and nine hours per week handling the Web site, and 38 percentspends between ten and nineteen hours a week. Only six percent of re-spondents spend more than twenty hours a week handling the library’sWeb site (see Table 5).
When asked about the other job responsibilities held by those who donot have Web development as their main job responsibility, 33 percenthold duties in reference, 23 percent in systems, automation, or technicalservices, and 13 percent in electronic resources management. Other jobresponsibilities indicated by respondents included cataloging support
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TABLE 4. Library Web Development as Primary Job Responsibility AmongWebmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
No. %
Yes 15 24
No 39 62
Other (please specify) 9 14
Total respondents 63
TABLE 5. Hours Per Week Devoted to Library Web Development
No. %
1-9 25 52
10-19 18 38
20-29 2 4
30 or more 1 2
Other (please specify) 2 4
Total respondents 48
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and administration (8 percent), digital services (6 percent), collectiondevelopment (6 percent), outreach (4 percent), and supervising othersinvolved in Web development (4 percent). Ten percent listed other mis-cellaneous duties (see Table 6).
WEB DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
Respondents were asked to select which instructional methodswere used while learning Web development. The 62 respondents saidself-instruction was most often used. The majority, 92 percent, indi-cated they had used Internet sites to teach themselves Web developmentskills, with 89 percent using instructional books. Professional develop-ment workshops were used by 73 percent of respondents. Finally, 37percent indicated taking a computer science course while pursuing a de-gree (see Table 7).
There are varying opinions on how library and information scienceprograms are preparing future librarians to fulfill the role of webmasterwithin a modern library. To a question where multiple responses wereallowed, 39 percent of respondents indicated library/information sciencecourses helped them in learning Web development skills. Of the re-maining 19 percent of respondents, two additional methods for learningWeb development skills mentioned are collaborative learning with col-leagues and studying the source code from other Web sites.
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TABLE 6. Job Responsibilities Other Than Library Web Development AmongWebmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries
No. %
Cataloging support/administration 4 8Collection development 3 6Digital services 3 6Electronic resources management 6 13Outreach 2 4Reference 16 33Supervising web office staff 2 4Systems, automation, technical services 11 23Other (please specify) 5 10Total respondents 48
Note: Some categories were used more than once.
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When respondents were asked to rate the usefulness of these instruc-tional methods, the figures continued to show the common model of howrespondents learned Web development skills put self-instruction highest,followed by professional development workshops or courses; formalcourses taken in fulfillment of a degree were the least useful (see Figure 1).
WEB DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE
Web development has expanded since the early days of the Web.While different people have various criteria on just what the duties of a
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FIGURE 1. Effectiveness of Specified Instructional Methods in Acquiring WebDevelopment Skills Among Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries(N = 62)
TABLE 7. Instructional Methods Used in Acquiring Your Web Development Skills
No. %
Library/information science course(s) 24 39Computer science course(s) 23 37Professional development workshop(s) or course(s)on web development
45 73
Self-taught using instructional books 55 89Self-taught using internet sites on web development 57 92Other 12 19Total respondents 62
Note: Other methods indicated by respondents included: Collaborative learning with colleagues (4), andstudying code from other websites (4).
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webmaster truly are, areas that are often cited are: using markup languages(such as HTML and CSS), design/graphics, using server-side scriptinglanguages and applications, and managing databases. Webmasters alsoare involved in testing sites for usability and accessibility.
Markup languages such as HTML, CSS, and XHTML combine textand added information about the processing, structure, and presentationof a Web document. HTML is the most mainstream and widely adoptedof markup languages. When asked in general about experience levelswith markup languages, 60 percent of library webmasters feel very expe-rienced, and 32 percent feel they have some experience (see Figure 2).In looking at specific markup languages, most library webmasters (72percent) feel very experienced with HTML, but only 45 percent claim tohave experience using CSS (see Figure 3). As we move toward the nextgeneration markup languages (XHTML and XML), we see the level ofexperience drop further.
Design and graphics have become increasingly important as the amountof traffic to library Web sites increases. Fifty-two percent of library web-masters claim to have some experience in design and graphics, while just20 percent feel they have only a little experience (see Figure 2).
Web programming is another skill where a large group (35 percent)claimed to have at least a little experience. When asked about experiencelevels with specific languages and applications, open source languages
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FIGURE 2. Levels of Experience in Web Development Among Webmasters inMedium-Sized Academic Libraries (N = 60)D
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such as PHP and Perl ranked the highest among the respondents interms of their experience level (see Figure 4). Two proprietary lan-guages, ASP and Cold Fusion, ranked much lower. This ranking is per-haps explained by the “open source” nature of PHP and Perl, which arefreely available to anyone over the Internet, making them more feasibletechnologies for medium-sized schools with limited budgets.
Database management is increasing becoming an area in whichwebmasters must possess some basic level of understanding. In thissurvey, 28 percent of respondents claimed at least some experience withdatabase management (see Figure 2).
When surveyed on experience levels with software packages mostcommonly used in Web development, many library webmasters say theyfeel very experienced using Dreamweaver (45 percent) and have someexperience with graphic design applications such as Photoshop (40 per-cent) (see Figure 5).
DISCUSSION
The focus of this research has two components. One component is togauge the comfort levels of library webmasters in medium-sized aca-demic libraries in the main areas of Web development. The second
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FIGURE 3. Levels of Experience in Specific Markup Languages Among Web-masters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries (N = 60)
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component is to identify what instructional methods these individualshave used to learn about Web development and how effective thesemethods are based on personal experience.
The difficulty with regards to the data expressed in this study lies inmeasuring the correlation between librarians’ training in Web develop-ment and how this impacts their level of experience. Many librarywebmasters may take an active role in building upon existing Web devel-opment skills during what little free time they can muster but do nothave the opportunity to put these skills into practice on the job because ofa lack of time. Job responsibilities outside Web development mayconsume much of their time as well. Another factor may be that libraryadministrators are not giving these individuals enough freedom to ex-periment in areas of Web development. A lack of time to try new thingscoupled with too much control exerted over Web development activi-ties makes it extremely difficult for library webmasters to find newways to move the library’s Web site in new directions.
Library administrators should make an effort to support library web-masters by allowing their time to experiment and work toward makingthe library’s Web site more innovative and user-friendly. This includessupport to attend professional development workshops that will help tobuild upon existing Web development skills. Library and informationscience graduate degree programs need to become more progressive in
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FIGURE 4. Levels of Experience in Specific Web Programming LanguagesAmong Webmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries (N = 60)
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preparing their students for the “real-world” of Web development in ac-ademic libraries. It is not enough to teach students how to make a basicWeb page in only one library science course. The curriculum needs tobe expanded to meet the needs of academic libraries of all sizes so thatstudents interested in Web development will know what is expected inthe job market.
Library science students may need to look beyond what is traditionallytaught in their courses if their aspiration is to become involved in Webdevelopment. There are many resources freely available online that stu-dents can use to familiarize themselves with Web development. Addi-tionally, students can follow job advertisements for library positionsrelated to Web development to see what libraries are looking for in newlibrarians.
Finally, library webmasters themselves should allot time to educatetheir colleagues about how emerging Web technologies and innova-tions to the library’s Web site can improve services to patrons.
CONCLUSION
The findings of this survey indicate library webmasters in medium-sized academic libraries wear many hats in addition to the demands of co-ordinating activities for their institution’s Web site. More than 50 percentare able to allot less than ten hours per week toward developing, planning,
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FIGURE 5. Levels of Experience in Specified Software Applications AmongWebmasters in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries (N = 60)
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and maintaining the Web site. The majority of these individuals are self-taught, using books and Internet sites, and do not feel that formal classeshave helped them in preparation for their roles as webmasters. Whilecomfortable using html and CSS, library webmasters seem to have spentsome time exploring emerging Web standards (XHTML and XML) andmore technologically challenging areas such as Web programming anddatabase management. As library Web sites shift further toward dynami-cally generated Web pages created from databases, these skills are goingto be essential for library webmasters who want to keep their libraries andthemselves in pace with webmasters in other organizations.
NOTES
1. Yaping Peter Liu, Web Page Development and Management (SPEC KIT #246)(Washington: Association of Research Libraries, 1999).
2. Kate Ragsdale, Staffing the Library Website (SPEC KIT #266) (Washington:Association of Research Libraries, 2001).
3. Beth Evans, “The Authors of Academic Library Homepages: Their Identity, Trainingand Dissemination of Web Construction Skills,” Internet Research 9, no. 4 (1999).
4. Mary K. Taylor, “Library Webmasters: Satisfactions, Dissatisfactions, and Ex-pectations,” Information Technology and Libraries 19, no. 3 (2000).
5. Sarah Houghton, “I’ve Been Designing a Library Website,” Computers in Librar-ies 25, no. 6 (2005).
Received: 08/14/06Revised: 09/24/06
Accepted: 02/19/07
doi:10.1300/J502v1n03_02
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APPENDIX
LIBRARY WEBMASTERSIN MEDIUM-SIZED ACADEMIC LIBRARIES:
SURVEY QUESTIONS
1. By clicking ‘YES’, I affirm that I have read the Informed Consent State-ment and agree to participate in this study. Clicking ‘NO’ will take you to anexit page.
� Yes� No
2. Are you the Webmaster for your library’s Website (i.e., do you primarilyhandle the site’s development, management, and/or maintenance)?
� Yes� No
3. What is your official job title? (write-in)4. What office or department are you attached to?
� Access services/circulation� Collection development� Director, associate director, unit/department head� Electronic resources management� Library Web development/library technology/digital services� Other library departments� Reference/instruction� Systems/automation/technical services� University Web development
5. Are you currently responsible for the following Web development duties?
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Yes NoDeveloping Website content � �
Graphic design � �
Maintaining/editing Website content � �
Metadata creation � �
Posting content to Website � �
System troubleshooting � �
Web programming � �
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APPENDIX (continued)
6. Is developing, managing, and/or maintaining the library’s Website yourmain job responsibility?
� Yes� No
7. If Web development is not your only responsibility how many hours perweek do you spend on Webmaster-related duties?
� 1-9� 10-19� 20-29� 30 or more hours� Other (please specify)
8. What other job responsibilities do you have?� Cataloging support/administration� Collection development� Digital services� Electronic resources management� Outreach� Reference� Supervising Web office staff� Systems/automation/technical services� Other (please specify)
9. Do you hold a Bachelor’s degree?� Yes� No
10. If you hold a Bachelor’s degree, in what field?� Business & engineering� Computer science/information technology� Education� Humanities & social sciences� Math or science� Other (please specify)
11. Do you hold a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree?� Yes� No
12. Please list any other relevant degrees or certifications you hold? (write-in)13. Select any of the following instructional methods which you have used inacquiring your Web development skills:
� Computer science course(s)� Library/information science course(s)
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� Professional development workshop(s) or course(s) on Web devel-opment
� Self-taught using instructional books� Self-taught using internet sites on Web development� Other (please specify)
14. Rate the usefulness of each instructional method in acquiring your Webdevelopment skills:
15. Rate your level of experience in the following areas of Web development:
16. Rate your level of experience with the following markup languages:
Jason Kneip 21
VeryUseful
SomewhatUseful
Of LittleUse
NoUse
Computer science course(s) � � � �
Library/information sciencecourse(s)
� � � �
Professional developmentworkshop(s) or course(s)
� � � �
Self-taught using instructional books � � � �
Self-taught using internet sites � � � �
Other (please specify) � � � �
VeryExperienced
SomeExperience
A LittleExperience
NoExperience
Database management(eg, MySQL)
� � � �
Design/graphics � � � �
Markup languages(eg, HTML, CSS,XHTML)
� � � �
Web programming(eg, PHP, ASP)
� � � �
VeryExperienced
SomeExperience
A LittleExperience
NoExperience
Cascading style sheets (CSS) � � � �
HTML � � � �
XHTML � � � �
XML � � � �
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APPENDIX (continued)
17. Rate your level of experience with the following Web programminglanguages:
18. Rate your level of experience with the following software applications:
19. Other comments on your experience related to Web development:20. What is the total number of library faculty and staff members that contrib-ute content to your library’s Website?
� 1-4� 5-8� 9-12� 13-16� More than 16 people� Other (please specify)
21. Does your library use a content management system to publish its Web-site?
� Yes� No
22. Does your library have a Web team/committee?� Yes� No
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VeryExperienced
SomeExperience
A LittleExperience
NoExperience
Dreamweaver � � � �
Fireworks � � � �
Flash � � � �
Paint Shop Pro � � � �
Photoshop � � � �
VeryExperienced
SomeExperience
A LittleExperience
NoExperience
Active ServerPages (ASP)/ASP.Net
� � � �
ColdFusion � � � �
Perl � � � �
PHP � � � �
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23. How many individuals serve on the library Web team/committee?� 1� 2� 3� 4� 5� 6� 7� 8� 9� 10� More than 10 people
24. Please list some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a libraryWeb team/committee? (write-in)25. Has your library conducted any tests or measures to rate the effectivenessof its Website design?
� Yes� No
26. If so, what techniques or measurements have been used to evaluate the us-ability of your library’s Website?
� Card sorting exercise� Conducted an analysis of our Web server logs� Focus group� Usability testing on specific tasks (i.e., Website navigability, etc.)� User surveys� Other (please specify)
27. Please include any other comments you would like to share: (write-in)
(Copyright Jason Kneip, 2007).
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