The document discusses best practices for designing an effective library website. It recommends that the website have consistent design elements across pages, provide clear navigation aids like menus and breadcrumbs, and organize information in a way that matches how users typically perform tasks like searching the catalog or finding articles. The website should also have a simple and visually appealing layout with minimal use of distracting graphics or animations. Cross-linking between different sections can help users easily find related resources.

1. Iqbal Ahmad Ansari
Faculty Librarian
Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University),
Dayalbagh , Agra-282110, (UP)
Ph No. 9450427212, E-mail. iqbal360@gmail.com
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2. In the present scenario the librarian should think towards extending the
facilities to the users apart from his institution by marketing their services.
Library Website page reflects characteristics of an academic institution.
It provides an opportunity to the library to propagate its services and
facilities to the academic community worldwide.
The home pages of libraries are increasingly used as an integrated interface
designed to deliver detailed information about a library as well as to provide
access to all computer-based services offered by the institution.
A library home page is a web page meant to serve as the primary gateway to
a library web site. This welcome page is the first or front page of the library’s
web site. Good design is essential for effective presentation of content.
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3. To collect detailed information about collection, staff, and different
sections of the Library;
To use comprehensive guidelines for designing library web page and
also to illustrates the features of some selected web site designing
software;
To design a model website Library using web designing software;
To host library web site on the web using service providers and also to
provide anywhere and anytime access to the user regarding the library
collection staff, library membership, library rules;
To submit the URL of library web site to different search engines viz.
Google, Yahoo etc for retrieving information about Library from these
search engines.
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4. Librarian-administrators and Web developers should collaborate to make
library web pages easy to locate from the library’s home page.
In order for users to become aware of available library services and resources,
it is essential that the library web pages be easily accessible, or findable.
The library web sites can have features like have Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) along with their answers.
Library web sites have library calendar listing events or show information for
forthcoming events, Web forms for inviting feedback.
Libraries may also use bulletin boards, threaded discussion forum and listservs
to help promote and evolve web-based library services. The Library web sites
should offers events such as seminars and workshops in their home pages.
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5. The page should have a sensible title that includes the keywords likely to be
used by people searching for the page.
Graphics and photographs can make a page very attractive, especially when they
are chosen carefully for the information that they convey as well as for their visual
appeal.
For users from outside the country, a short explanation in English would be
helpful even if all the other information on the page is in the national language.
Links to other Internet resources can be very useful to the users of a library
home page. If a link can be provided to the online catalogue of the library, this is
often a useful service.
Other features that are important include the provision of a ‘way out’ of the
page an indication of when the page was last updated and a postal or street
address for the library.
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6. Use a style sheet for visual consistency across related documents.
Use small graphics to identify all of the documents on a web site.
Offer a short and simple home page.
Provide active links to mentioned documents.
Avoid ‘monster’ graphics, as well as using many little graphics; sparingly use bold,
italics, blinking, etc.
Provide navigational aids for users; provide hot buttons for shortcuts.
Use a minimum of text in list or menus.
Use a Markup language that is readable by future maintainers of the web site or page.
Check the finished document with a variety of browsers, both textual and graphic.
Use a copyright statement or indicate the latest date of update.
Provide a statement of status when a document is in progress.
Include a section highlighting new information, content, etc.
Provide an indication of restricted access when appropriate.
Include a warning statement when links will need to large documents or images.
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7. Site Structure
Sequential structure
information is presented in a linear manner from start to end.
Hierarchical Structure
Information is arranged as a progression from concise to detailed
topics.
Web structure
A Web structure represents complex relationships among
various information chunks or Web pages on a Web site.
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8. Site Navigation
It is common for web users to jump from page to page on the web by clicking
links . The most common navigational element is a hyperlink, which is either
text or a graphic that a user can click to move to another page or to a different
part of the same page. It includes-
Menus
Menus provide the user with a choice of links to various parts of the web site.
The links that have already been clicked by the user are displayed in a different
colour, to provide context.
Path Links
A path links is an ordered sequence of links, with each link representing a
segment of Web site that the user visited before reaching the current segment.
The path link is usually displayed on the top or bottom of pages so that the
user has a context.
Web Page Design and Layout
Layout of Web pages creates the user experience on a site. Web pages in
the site should be visually appealing and informative.
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9. 1.CONSISTENCY
Provide a Help link on every page: place a Help link in the upper right
corner of every page
Use consistent design elements: across all pages of your Web site use
fonts and colours consistently for a uniform and professional appearance.
2. ORIENTATION AND NAVIGATION
Link to your library Web site directly from your institute’s home
page
Use one navigation bar: Usually a navigation bar appears at the top of
every page, as a series of buttons or tabs. By highlighting the tab or button
correlating with the user’s current location on your library Web site, you
provide a visual clue and keep the user from getting lost.
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10. 3. HYPERTEXT AND LINKING
Treat links according to conventions: Underline links, and use a different
colour to indicate links users have visited. Following these conventions helps users
identify clickable links and any already visited.
4. PAGE LAYOUT
Use page real estate wisely: try to minimize the amount of space the site’s logo
and navigation bar occupy on the top of the page, so users can see more of the
page’s main content without scrolling.
5. AESTHETICS AND GRAPHICS
Use few colours and minimal graphics: Use only three or four matched
colours in the design of your Web site to make it more aesthetically pleasing and
prevent a circus-like appearance. Avoid or minimize use of animated or flashing or
scrolling text, as many users find it annoying and distracting.
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11. 5. AESTHETICS AND GRAPHICS
Use few colours and minimal graphics: Use only three or four
matched colours in the design of your Web site to make it more
aesthetically pleasing and prevent a circus-like appearance. Avoid or
minimize use of animated or flashing or scrolling text, as many users find it
annoying and distracting.
6. FLEXIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF USE
Organize information in multiple ways
Organize information by type of material
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12. Cross-link information when possible
Sometimes users enter an Online Public Access Catalog or OPAC, thinking it
searches journal or magazine articles.
•If your OPAC uses a federated search tool; users at this point may be in good
shape.
•If your OPAC doesn’t search across your library’s proprietary databases, by
including in your OPAC a link to your library’s main e-journals page, you help
users find what they want.
Minimize the number of clicks users must make
Place links to different types of research materials and sources (such as
electronic journals, abstracting and indexing databases, or OPACs) right on the
home page of your library Web site. Most users come to a library site wanting
to do research, and the shorter their paths, the happier they are.
Explain details to help users select and access resources
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13. 7. MATCHING THE SYSTEM AND USER ACTIVITIES
Organize your site based on users’ tasks and their frequency
Conducting research to find materials such as journal articles, indexes and
books.
Finding course materials such as lecture notes, reserved books, suggested links
or other materials related to certain classes.
Finding information about libraries such as locations and hours of operation.
Getting help in using a library and library Web site.
Make your website search clear
Do not use librarian terminology
Ensure good performance
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14. 8. ACCESSIBILITY
Make your site accessible
9. USABILITY TESTING
Test your site for usability
Conduct a usability study and you can make sure your library site is meeting
your users’ needs. The usability of your library web sites is measured time
to time. Tracking usage and repeating usability testing, after website changes
have been made, should indicate if improvements contribute to a better
experience for your users.
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15.  Now a day any one can download some freely available web site designing software
and they can easily design a web site for their company, organization or personal web
sites. Many freely available webpage design website many of the website designers
made this job easier by introducing the free tutorial videos and any one can have
their own website. Here some of listed web design tools help in design and
development of library web site.
 FrontPage XP
 BlueVoda
 NetObjects Fusion
 Web Studio 5.0
 Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5
 AlleyCode
 Kompozer
 Trellian Webpage , etc.
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16. • Following technologies are used in an attractive design and
development for library website-
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17. • An effective web presence is all about engaging your customers across all the
computing platform and devices they depend on. For nearly a decade college
and university libraries have utilized available technology to develop a Web
presence. Librarians are continuously refining library Websites to make them
more content-rich and navigable. A web site reflects characteristics of a
Library. It provides an opportunity to the library to propagate its services and
facilities to the academic community worldwide. The home pages of libraries
are increasingly used as an integrated interface designed to deliver detailed
information about a library as well as to provide access to all computer-based
services offered by a library. The pages are being developed in a variety of
ways and for a range of purposes. The website designing software has filled a
hole in the web design, world has made everyday people capable of creating a
web page with great ease and expertise. The goal of a library website is to
design web pages that contain even basic information to identify the library
and their resources.
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