Subject Web Page Management without HTML Coding: Two Approaches

This article describes two examples using relational databases to streamline the creation and management of active, Web-based subject bibliographies. Before the database approach, library staff expended considerable time and effort compiling subject Web-resource pages to guide users to high-quality resources. The process of producing subject guides was tedious, repetitive, and labor intensive, requiring librarians to become proficient at the intricate task of Web-page creation. Since identical resources, descriptions, and links frequently appear on several different pages, there was considerable duplication of information. Wesleyan University and the Tri-College Consortium each, independently, sought to solve this problem by creating a database of resource information and a process for mapping guide pages. This report compares their different approaches, contrasting in-house versus outsourcing approaches, an independent database versus one built from OPAC, and open source versus proprietary software. ********** Wesleyan University Library (WUL) in Middletown, Connecticut, and the Tri-College Consortium (TCC) of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges near Philadelphia faced a challenge common to many libraries in their need to create subject-specific Web pages for library users. Creation of these pages by appropriate subject specialists required that they either learn to manipulate HTML coding, or to use a Web composition software program. Although the latter option is easier than direct coding, it still requires mastery of a new software application for the sole purpose, in all likelihood, of producing these subject guides. The subject specialist must spend considerable time formatting pages, keying descriptive data about the resources, and troubleshooting unexpected problems with online displays. Not all librarians are equally comfortable with writing Web pages, and individual comfort levels discourage and delay both creation and timely updates of existing pages. A small college library staff is simply unable to develop and maintain Web research guides in this complicated manner. Many of the same resources, such as major reference works, indexes, journals, and meta Web sites are duplicated on different subject pages. As the Web resources change their URLs, coverage, or other characteristics, each occurrence of the identical data in different pages needs first to be located, and then appropriately updated. Subject guide pages tend to quickly become outdated. Since several different librarians write the pages, they may even be unaware of updates needed, and of descriptions previously written by their colleagues. This factor contributes to a considerable duplication of effort. The goal of WUL and TCC was to find efficient ways for librarians to create and update subject research guides. Both institutions addressed this issue independently in 2000, unaware of the other's involvement with it. In January 2001, through a chance discussion, it was discovered that both institutions were working toward similar solutions to the same problem, although with very different approaches. * The Two Approaches The solutions employed by WUL and TCC are based on the creation of relational databases for tracking resources and building page content to enable the dynamic generation of research guides. The goal is to enable librarians, instead of writing separate and static research guides, to quickly enter or select resources and arrange them on a page through a simple staff interface. Updates of URLs and other resource information can be made once on the database record. Since page displays are created dynamically from the database, the updates take effect immediately on all relevant pages. Outdated resources can be quickly deleted from the database and thus from the pages. It is also possible to compile electronic guides for users on demand by allowing them to search the database itself. …