Developing a library staff Intranet at City University
| Published date | 01 February 2000 |
| Pages | 48-52 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040751 |
| Date | 01 February 2000 |
| Author | Simon Bains |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Developing a library
staff Intranet at City
University
by Simon Bains, City University
This article looks at work carried out by City
University Library Information Services to
develop a library staff Intranet. A simple
design was adopted to ensure maximum
usage, but features such as drop-down menus
and forms added extra functionality. A range
of content was made available, divided into
sections. The various ways of providing
security and plans for future developments
using more sophisticated technologies are
outlined. The return on investment is still
subject to debate, so work continues on
developing the site and monitoring and
evaluating usage.
When discussing Intranets, it is worth defining
what we mean by "Intranet" Strictly speaking, an
Intranet is an internal Web site, using the same
protocols as the Web, but not accessible by exter-
nal Web users. Intranet creation could include the
construction of the technical infrastructure (net-
working hardware/software) as well as the Website
itself.
In this case however, the infrastructure, in
the form of the University network, was already in
place. All that was required was the creation of
a
Website and some way of making it accessible by
Library staff only (more of which later).
Background
Library Information Services serves all schools
and departments at City University, and is located
on a number of
sites.
The University Library is the
largest, providing for the needs of a diverse range
of subject areas, whilst there are a number of
libraries catering for the Business School and the
School of Nursing and Midwifery. There are
approximately 50 library staff
in
total.
Following work by a focus group on staff commu-
nication issues, it was decided to establish an
Intranet as a means of making various information
sources more accessible by
staff.
Much informa-
tion had previously existed only in hard copy,
meaning that duplication was necessary for several
staff to have easy access to the same material, or a
limited number of copies meant that they were
only available in certain locations, such as the staff
room or the public enquiry desks. If a document
was required by all
staff,
multiple copies had to be
made and distribution would be further compli-
cated if the document had cross-site significance.
Electronic access would make such material
accessible to staff at any location, and copies could
be produced as and when required.
Design
The main design issue was that the service needed
to be as simple as possible. Staff IT resources vary
considerably, and at the time that the Intranet was
established several staff were operating on PCs
with fairly low specifications, and with monitors
with low resolution. This meant that clever "whis-
tles and bells" features were out of the question.
Even fairly simple design elements like coloured
backgrounds did not look good and hindered
readability on some PCs. It was decided to keep it
as simple as possible using a table with each cell
containing a section, and borders to separate them.
The problem with such an approach is that as the
amount of material in each section grows in size,
the table very soon becomes long and unwieldy. It
was found that a simple Javascript function to
create drop-down menus worked on all PCs, so this
was used to enable lists to be viewed only when
necessary, so that the table would remain reason-
ably small. To do this code needs to be entered in
the > of
the
Webpage as shown in Figure 1.
48—VINE 119
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