The thoughts and ideas presented in this slideshow are my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of any previous, current or future employer. There was never an intention to reflect poorly on any organisation, but just to point to the way forward for libraries and their web presence; to point to libraries that are outstanding in the way they present their services online. I could have used any of 1000 library websites to illustrate my point.

1. Why do people visit a library web site?

2. The thoughts and ideas presented here are purely my own personal opinions and do not reflect the views of any previous, current or future employers. There was never an intention to reflect poorly on any organisation, but just to point to the way forward for libraries and their web presence; to point to libraries that are outstanding in the way they present their services online. I could have used any of 1000 library websites to illustrate my point. hang on - before you go any further

3. Library Website - Jan to Mar 2010 Home page Catalogue and Account Functions Locations and Contacts Everything Else

4. Library Website - Jan to Mar 2010 81%

5. What happens in most library web sites?

7. Is this where I search for a book?

8. Oh , Right. I click over here on this tiny link...

9. switch from web site to catalogue...

10. and sometimes back again.

11. (possibly without me knowing it)

12. Great experience?

13. But it can be better...

15. Make your catalogue your main website (and put all the important stuff in there)

19. What about all the other stuff?

20. It's mostly advertising...

21. ...so advertise where the people are!

22. Start a facebook group?

23. Start a facebook group? Add them to Council's calendar?

24. Start a facebook group? Publish a News and Events Blog? Add them to Council's calendar?

25. Start a facebook group? Publish a News and Events Blog? Tell your local book groups? Add them to Council's calendar?

26. Start a facebook group? Start a public Google Calendar? Publish a News and Events Blog? Tell your local book groups? Add them to Council's calendar?

27. Start a facebook group? Tweet them? Start a public Google Calendar? Publish a News and Events Blog? Tell your local book groups? Add them to Council's calendar?

28. Start a facebook group? Tweet them? Start a public Google Calendar? Publish a News and Events Blog? Tell your local book groups? Word of Mouth is good! Add them to Council's calendar?

29. Then suck the data back into your catalogue using embed widgets, RSS or web services

32. pic credit: /disapprove by striatic on Flickr This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/ hat tip to bernard de broglio for setting me thinking with his article: Does your council even need a website? http://stories.lgwebnetwork.org/2009/09/does-your-council-even-need-a-website/