Alan Cooper and Finbarr Joy talk about the past, present and future of the Library Association Web Site. This article appears in the Web, and not the print, version of Ariadne.
Two years' ago the Library Association was considering how best it could deliver services and information to its members using the Internet. There seemed no obvious need to add to the substantial number of successful e-mail lists catering for the UK library community, but a number of librarianship bodies overseas (notably the American Library Association [1] and the International Federation of Library Associations [2]) were developing their use of the World-Wide Web.
We were concerned about the resources needed by a small organisation such as the LA to operate a Web site. A long-term IT strategy had been developing at Library Association Headquarters which had led to our having in place a 2 Mbs secondary connection to JANET, and a decision to refurbish most of the building with a network using structured cabling for voice and data. However, we were not convinced that we had the technical expertise or financial resources to be able to set up our own Web server, and the commercial rates for externally-hosted Web sites were prohibitive.
Fortunately, at this time we were approached by Fretwell Downing Informatics with a free offer to host a Web site on our behalf. The Library Association would retain full editorial control, while Fretwell Downing would operate the Web site and provide the technical expertise. The Library Association was extremely pleased to take up this offer, constrained by the resources we have to develop and maintain the information rather than any space limitations imposed by Fretwell Downing.
a voice for the profession
The LA influences government and other decision-makers affecting the
library world, by campaigning, lobbying, and responding to government
initiatives; in particular, campaigns such as National Libraries Week
[3]
and Library Power have changed the way people view libraries.
career development
Members can gain professional qualifications with Chartered status and
receive help and advice on employment-related issues; in addition,
librarians can obtain career opportunities through the INFOmatch
recruitment agency, take part in an extensive programme of short
courses and purchase professional resources published by Library
Association Publishing.
promoting standards
University library and information courses are accredited, awards are
given to promote professional excellence, and service guidelines in a
number of sectors are developed and published.
products and services
The Library Association record (12 issues a year) and Library
technology (5 issues a year) are free to members and available on
subscription; the Vacancies supplement (fortnightly) is the leading
medium for job advertising in the profession.
Many of the activities of the LA take place within its special interest Groups and regional Branches, and all were encouraged to make their information available on the Web, either on their own sites or the main LA Web site. A majority of Groups now have Web pages. In addition a number of organizations in liaison with the LA (i.e. national organizations with a substantial number of LA members which have formal links with us) have pages on the LA Web site.
As a consequence of there being these many sources, information for the Web site arrives in a variety of formats, mostly word-processor or text files, but in some cases HTML files and in some cases pieces of paper! A deliberate decision was made not to be prescriptive, in order to encourage Branches and Groups to participate and editorial control is extremely light.
The training section on the LA Web site
Two years' ago, LAHQ staff had terminal access to Uniplex (office automation software) and elm (e-mail software) running under Unix. As a result of the implementation of the next phase of the IT strategy, LAHQ staff now have Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange running under Windows 95 on the desktop, with servers running Windows NT. (Our monthly journal, the Library Association record, is the exception, in being Macintosh based.)
Our new systems will begin to make it easier for LAHQ staff to develop materials for the Web site, and the use of Web editors , such as the FrontPage editor, is being encouraged. In the long term, the ability for us to develop and maintain the LA Web site is dependent upon generation of Web information being integrated with our everyday office procedures for creating and sharing information. In order for this to happen, as well as promoting Internet use for all LAHQ staff, we are beginning to look at developing our use of Intranet technology.
Library Association Publishing was sufficiently convinced of the value of the World-Wide Web to the book trade, that it soon arranged to have its own Web site, as part of the Internet Bookshop. As well as the advantages of LAP's current list being accessible as part of a large collection of publishers' catalogues, the Internet Bookshop provides facilities to order books online and to be notified of new titles by e-mail automatically.
A decision was made that the advantages to the Association of a Web-based version clearly outweighed any possible disadvantages. It was agreed that the service would be available to anyone and not just the LA membership, but that users would need to register. Members would continue to receive a personal copy at least three days before each issue goes live on the Internet. Fretwell Downing was commissioned to develop the new service, which started in January this year.
The Netscape Enterprise server is typical of the latest wave of web servers in that it offers much more than a simple HTTP server daemon. Such servers now also provide suites of web publishing tools to help with server administration (usually through a GUI interface as opposed to the old command line/ configuration file hacking method). Typically, user administration, authentication/security, version control, and text retrieval components are available 'out-of-the-box' and are configurable through the GUI administration interface. These features are even to be found in 'freeware' servers such as Apache (although without the GUI interface and only after some patient source code hacking and compilation from you/ your pet programmer).
In addition, the latest servers also support direct access to the server API. This offers many benefits for those developing applications or interactive elements for web sites since it obviates the need for the more complex (and slower) CGI -based programs traditionally used and gives the developer direct access to the server's more powerful functions. To further aid developers, many server vendors also provide their own development platforms - in Netscape's case this is known as 'LiveWire' [6] and consists of a JavaScript implementation which executes entirely at the server (as opposed to the more common implementation at the client) through the server API.
The LA HQ site runs as a 'traditional' web site in that all HTML pages are created by LA staff and transferred to the server using FTP. These pages are updated remotely on a regular basis as required.
In contrast, most of the information contained within the LA JobNet site is generated from within a database - i.e. HTML pages are dynamically generated by the server at the time of each user's request.
The actual job of presenting the site via database queries is handled through the Netscape LiveWire interface which provides a library of database connectivity routines for use in server-side JavaScript. This supports the direct connection and execution of database operations without the need for third party web/database gateways and so simplifies the development process. Since LiveWire is an extension of the server's API performance is also enhanced.
A standard 'template' is employed throughout the site which defines common page elements that can be constructed programmatically according to the context. Hence, site-wide 'headers and footers' can be defined which need only be edited in one 'template' file for changes to be reflected across the site. Similarly, query and record display screens are composed of form and list elements which are called on as needed from a single file.
The advantage of constructing a site in this way is that maintenance is greatly reduced since only one (template) file is edited rather than multiple HTML files to effect changes.
These templates are automatically populated by data from the database according to the context of the user's actions so that database interaction is transparent to the user who navigates the web site in the same manner as a 'static' site.
Web preparation and management
We are looking at how , in the long term, the Web site will become
integrated with information management within LAHQ and with
information services to members of the Association. For example,
information for print publication and the Web site should need to be
created once only.
Also, if we are to allow our members to re-new
their subscriptions or book a course place online, this clearly has
implications for our in-house membership and courses systems. Existing
tools, such as FrontPage, still have a number of inadequacies in areas
such as ensuring accessibility, generating metadata and carrying out
validation.
This raises a number of issues, such as the extent to
which we feel able to decentralise responsibility for the Web site to
staff using these tools.
new services
The Library Association is committed to developing new information
services to our members and the wider profession using Internet
technologies.
Already, BLISS
[7]
and the BUBL Information Service
[8]
provide information about the professional literature, and the
University of Wales, Aberyswyth provides the PICK gateway
[9] and
Electronic Calendar
[10].
The Library Association is well placed to
provide information on LIS in the media, suppliers of library services
or products, and legal and parliamentary matters affecting the
profession, for example.
The Library Association is an information
provider to the NewsAgent for Libraries eLib project
[11]
. LA JobNet
will be extended to provide complete details of all the posts
advertised in the print version.
The LA JobNet web site is currently exploiting some of the most advanced features available from the latest wave of web servers. The 'next wave' (already looming over us!) will bring closer integration with other applications besides database servers such as news, media and directory servers (based on X500 or LDAP - the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).
Such integration would enable organisations such as the Library Association to set up authoritative, secure information services to its members that would be available over the Web.
[2] International Federation of Library Associations,
http://www.ifla.inist.fr/
[3] National Libraries Week,
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/nlwnews.htm
[4]NISS Library vacancies service,
http://www.niss.ac.uk/noticeboard/jobs/libvac.html
[5] BUBL Jobs Service,
http://bubl.ac.uk/news/jobs/
[6] Livewire developers guide,
http://europa.rlj-consulting.com/documentation/livewire/developers_guide/
[7] BLISS,
http://portico.bl.uk/bliss/
[8] BUBL Library and Information Science journals,
http://bubl.ac.uk/journals/lis/
[9] PICK LIS Gateway, http://www.aber.ac.uk/~tplwww/e/
[10] PICK Electronic calendar of events,
http://www.aber.ac.uk/~tplwww/eleccal/
[11] NewsAgent for Libraries eLib project,
http://www.sbu.ac.uk/litc/newsagent/
Finbarr Joy,
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This article last updated/links checked on 11-Jul-1997