Library Website Comparison
LSC 548
Authority
| Name of Web Site | West Springfield Public Library (Western Massachusetts) | Milford Town Library (Central Massachusetts) |
| What is the URL? | http://www.wspl.org | http://www.infofind.com/library/ |
| Is there a recognizable sponsor of the web site? Who is it? Will it be possible to find background information about this sponsor? | The West Springfield Public Library is the sponsor of the page. No, it is not possible to find background information about the sponsor. I found library hours but not library policy, trustees, nor missions statement! | Milford Town Library is the sponsor of the page. Yes, it is possible to find background information about the sponsor because there is a link the library's policies, their trustees and their is even a link to their full mission statement! I could not find a history of the library though |
| Has descriptive information about the sponsor been provided, either on the opening page or via an “about us” link? | There is no descriptive information about the sponsor on the opening page. The address, phone number and number of visitors is there. Other information links are: 1) Library hours and 2) Directions to the library from MapQuest. | There is some descriptive information about the sponsor on the opening page such as hours, address, phone number and library director. There is a nice Milford library logo which states that the library was established in 1858. Other information is provided be a link. Some of the links are: 1) picture of a presentation of a generous donation from the Milford Federal Savings and Loan Bank and 2) Library Web Site and Other Policies. This page is hosted by Ashdown Technologies, Inc. |
| Is there an address, phone number, or fax number provided for the sponsor? | There is an address and telephone number but no fax number. | There is an address, telephone number both to the main library and the children's room, a fax number, and the name of the director with a link to an email address to her. |
| Is a personal author identified for the information, articles, or documents presented at the web site? | No. | No. But it seems that the library Director, Linda Wright, is the author. It is just a gut feeling I get when I navigate the page. |
| If an author is identified, is it clear what his/her credentials are? | N/A | N/A |
| Is there a way to contact the author? | N/A | N/A |
| Will it be possible to find background information about the author? | N/A | N/A |
Scope and Purpose
| Does the content appear to be fact or opinion? | Fact. | Fact. |
| What is the scope or purpose of this web site? | The scope of the page is to allow users access to online materials that the library has access to and purpose of this web site is to access these online resources from outside the walls of the physical library and use this material as if one was actually in the library. | The scope of the page is to allow users access to online materials that the Milford Town Library has access to and the purpose of this web site is to access borrowing information (like circulation for WSPL), Access the catalog (WSPL has) but Milford has two separate links to access Milford and another link to access the Region. C/WMARS makes you choose a section from a drop down menu. |
| Does the information presented here seem to be complete and comprehensive? What is included? What is excluded? | It seems somewhat complete. A counter is includes a counter and the card catalog, search the databases, use electronic reference sites, do online reserves and Interlibrary loans, use ready reference links, circulation shows facts about it, Youth Services, Directions, ESOL Program, Suggestion box, hours and Friends of the library. There is also a link to an online book club. It excludes the Local History collection, Genealogy, and policies. | It seems complete. It include directions, events, teen page, Children's Services, For Parent's Link, The Information Desk, Connecting Cultures, Museum passes, Health Information, Local History and Genealogy, Friends, ESL information and finally Trustee information. I cannot think if what it excludes |
How can you tell? Is the scope
described
|
Just by gleaning the information from what is seen on the web site. | It is stated in the small mission statement on the opening page of the web site. Here is the mini-mission statement: "The Milford Town Library is a focal point for community learning. We are dedicated to providing free, easy, equal and confidential access to all forms of human expression. Our staff is responsive to cultural diversity and standards of excellence." |
| How does this site compare to similar information elsewhere? | The Ready Reference Site is small. The different categories have between 7-9 URLs. This follows the rule of 7. I like it. It is not overwhelming like some of the bigger library's reference sites are. The bigger sites might just need to have more links. | The Milford library reference is simillar to other sites. It has five searches that have icons and 10 other sites that are just URLs that are underlined. This is similar to other sites but I don't like the different type of display for the different URLs. They were not consistent. |
| How is this database structured? | For Ready Reference the left hand frame items change and one can click down that new table of contents to look at the different information that is now available. For Example: They have Biography and Books/Reading and you can click on the desired URL. But Business/Finance and Computers/Technology and 8 other categories are not active yet. This should be worked on. More links are coming soon!!!!! is the message. | Same as above. |
| Are there links provided to other sources of information on this same topic? Is it clear how these links are selected? | Yes. For Ready Reference West Springfield has Grove Art,
Novelist, Infotrac, Wilson Web and Net Library with 9 search
engines available for use.
It is clear how these were selected. The library has access to them. |
Yes. Milford has Grove Art, CMRLS (The Central Mass card Catalog)
(This is also available as a link on the opening home page),
Net Library, Grove Art and Infotrac. Novelist is one of the
8 extra URLs available.
It is clear how these were selected. The library has access to them. |
| Are the links reliable? Do they get you where you need to go? | Most of the links are reliable and go where they need to go. But, Science Fiction Resource Guide does not. It is from Rutgers and should be stable. Mysterious Home Page - Themes in Mystery Fiction did not work either. The other did. | Yes, the links are reliable and they go where they need to go. Several are .orgs. Several more are .govs. Several are .coms. They were the newspaper and www.tranparent.com. I heard that some libraries like to stay away from .com links but some are too good to not include especially Amazon.com. |
Accuracy
| How accurate is this information? | The information is accurate but has not been updated since November and December 2001. | The information is accurate but I could not find when the web site was last updated. |
| How can you tell? | This is my home town library and I know what I read on this web page is accurate because I know my library hours, programs, and policies. | The have a list of programs for YA book discussions for summer reading books and these are scheduled for July and August 2002. They appear to be accurate but I cannot know for sure unless I call the library to verify it. |
| When statistics and other factual data are presented is it cited so that one can verify it? | Library hours, directions, Circulation Policy - Borrowing Limits, Fines, Replacement costs for lost or damages materials, refunds and new cards. | Library hours, directions , Circulation Policy - Borrowing policy, FAQ about library cards. These policies have this following them. "Adopted by the Board of Library Trustees December 10, 1997." This assures me that it is accurate. |
| Are tables, charts, and graphs clear and easy to understand? | Yes. There are not may table, just the library hours and the search engine choices. | The only table is the site map and that is easy to understand. |
| Is there any bibliography? | No. | No. |
| Is the document generally well-written? Free of spelling mistakes and typographical errors? | Yes. | Yes. |
Objectivity
Check the domain to ascertain
possible reasons for the provision of this information
|
.org - This site was written and posted by the West Springfield Public Library staff. | .com - This site seems to have been written and posted by infofind.com. It is a little more professional than the West Springfield's site. Ashdown Technologies, Inc. is the name of the company. It appears they have done a number of web sites and some for the town of Milford, Massachusetts. |
Is the subject controversial?
If so,
|
The subject is not controversial, all sides of the issues is not relevant on this site, there is no bias and there is no advertising except for the few .com sites listed as links. | The subject is not controversial, all sides of the issues is not relevant on this site, there is no bias but there is advertising. One is for the Milford Federal Savings and Loan. It is a thank you from the library for their generous donation. and the other is for Ashdown Technologies, Inc., the company that is hosting the site and I think wrote the site. |
| Is the information free from advertising? | There is no advertising except for the few .com sites listed as links. | There is advertising. One is for the Milford Federal Savings and Loan. It is a thank you from the library for their generous donation. and the other is for Ashdown Technologies, Inc., the company that is hosting the site and I think wrote the site. |
Currentness
Are any of the following dates
provided?
|
Creation date - Copyright date - 1998 Post date - None Revised date - March 27, 2002 (These dates were on the home page.) |
Creation date - None Post date - None Revised date - None (I could not find a single date except for ones on the event page.) |
| When was this site last updated? How can you tell? Is there any information on how often the site is updated? | This site was last updated March 27, 2002. It has not been updated in three months! The Hours page was revised November 16, 2001. | I could not find any revision date on the site! It seems up-to-date though! |
| What was updated? | I did find a revised date on the Youth Room page. It was June 15, 2002. I could not tell what was updated. I assume it was the summer reading program information. | Events. There were events for June and July and August. |
| How does the creation of the database stay current? | N/A | N/A |
| In cases where there is statistical data or factual data is it indicated when that data was gathered? | Just from the revised dates on the Hours page and the home page. | Just from the events page. |
| Does the information seem out of date? | The Friends information is definitely out of date. They are maintaining that page so I do put that on the library's revision list. The youth room must maintain their own web page because some of their programming dates are for March 2002. | The information does not seem out of date but there are not dates on the web page to anchor this information to except for events. |
| How stable is this site, its address and its information? Is it here today and gone (or moved) tomorrow? | The site if very stable. I think it is hosted on map.com, a local ISP company, and it has been around for a decade or so. The site should be here for a long time. | This site seems stable but I do not no the hosting company, Ashdown Technologies, Inc. The site should be here for a long time. |
Arrangement and Format
| How easy is it to find and use this site? | It is very easy to find and use this site. The domain name
uses the abbreviation of the library (WSPL) and I am used to this.
I can remember the URL very easily and key it in whenever I need
to go to the site - www.wspl.org. The site is easy to navigate and I can always get home and go from page to page easily. There are only a few broken URLs. |
I cannot for the life of me remember the URL for the Milford Town Library. I have to open my web page, go to my comparison web page and click on the URL. Or I can go to google and key in Milford public library and I have to search for the correct URL. |
| How convenient is it? | It is very convenient and well organized. The home page has
12 icon buttons that you can choose from. They range from Card Catalog
to Friends of the library. Card Catalog is in the first position
followed by Search Databases, then Reference, Reserves and ILL
are not working at this time, Ready Reference and Circulation
finished the first column. The right hand column has Youth Services, Directions, ESOL Program, Suggestion Box, Library Hours and Friends of the Library. This is in order of importance in a small public library. |
The Milford Town Library has eighteen links and they are left justified on the home page. The catalog link is in the tenth position and I think it should be higher. Their order is Search the site, Site Map, Directions, Contact a Librarian (I would put this at the bottom), Events, Children's Services, For Parents, Borrowing, Catalog, Information Desk, Connecting Cultures, Museum Passes, Health Information, Local History and Genealogy, Friends of the MTL, ESL/Literacy and Board of Trustees. I might group them in a different order. I just realized that the Fast Features link to http://catalog.cwmars.org/screens/pinfo.html does not work. |
| How well-organized? | The West Springfield Public Library's home page is very well organized. It has all the important links up at the top and less important as you go down the page. The colors are bold in a white background and it is easy to navigate and get to the information. | Actually, I do not think the home page is well organized. According to Williams and Tollett the home page should be simple and explain the purpose of the web page. This home page is very busy and has too many links and is trying to do too much on the first page. At first is looks well organized but when you look at it it is not. |
| How quickly can you usually get to this site? Get around the site? | One can get to this site very quickly. It has a large photo that changes every 5 seconds or so. It must use JavaScript to do this. It does not take very long for the home page to load. One can get around this site very quickly. The home page falls into the 640 x 460 size and no scrolling is necessary. It has a clean look but does not look professionally done. | Once you know the URL the home page loads quickly. There is a picture of the library but it is small and does not interfere in the loading. One can get around the site quickly. They do have three major links at the center. These three links are not pronounced enough. My eye tended toward the left side where all the links are listed. Once you get through this you can pass quickly to the other URL's. I would change the home page to be simple and put links other on other pages. |
| How appropriate is the format of the database for its intended audience? | The catalog format is appropriate format for the intended audience. The other databases are too. | Same |
| Does the information seem out of date? | The arrangement information does not seem out of date. That is not on the surface. I think with a closer look that it might be a little out of date. But so are a lot of the other web pages on the Internet. It changes so quickly. | No. Williams and Tollett would definitely change the home page. It is not out of date but it is too busy. |
| Are there any hardware, software, or multimedia requirements? | None | None |
Design Considerations
| Does it function well with different browsers? | Yes, both AOL and Internet Explorer work well. | Same |
| Is too much filler used? | If filler means white space or spaces I think it is fine. If filler means extra buttons that don't need to be there I think WSPL does a good job and kept the filler out. | I think there is too much filler on the Milford Town Library web page. Some of the links could be moved off the web page. |
| Is it obvious when you leave to a different site? | No, I thought it opened a new window, but it stayed at the site and went to C/WMARS. I got confused and tried to enter data in the other catalog. | Yes, I could tell another window was opened by looking down at the tool bar and seeing the new window. |
Layout Considerations
| Enough white space? | Yes, there is enough white space. | No, there is not enough white space. |
| Overdone styles? | The color purple is a little dark for me but I like the style. | The style didn't look overdone to me when I first started comparing the two library sites. But now I see that the style is way overdone with it JavaScript thank you message scrolling across the home page and the handicapped icon and dog icon that do not link to anything. The fast features work well but the page is too busy. |
| Too many links? | Actually, there are not enough links. The shell of Reference has 17 places to put in links but there is a note that more links are coming. Two areas of reference have active links. | There are too many links on the home page but I think if the links were organized better and put on separate pages it would not appear to be too many links. |
| Links with too many words? | No, the links are not with too many words. The links are just right. | Same |
| Textual descriptions too brief or too long? | The textual descriptions maybe a little too brief but it works. | The textual descriptions maybe a little too long on the Children's Services page but the other pages the textual descriptions are just fine. |
| Use of color? | The color of the letter head was blue so I might have used blue instead of Purple and Clay in the web page. This theme of the Library might have been better to use. Otherwise the color is fine. | The color of the Milford home page is a very light beige that it looks white. The text and text link is a maroon and after the link is looked at it turns blue. It gives a patriotic look to the page. |
Graphics
| Do the graphics relate to the surrounding text? | Yes. The home page has great graphics. They have a nine-picture slide show that shows the pictures every three seconds. Some pictures are clearer than others are and I do not think the resolution is that high. There is a picture on the Youth Services Page. The rest are small icons that look great in resolution but could be better placed on the pages. The pictures do relate to the surrounding text. The twelve buttons relate mostly to what the pictures are showing. There is a Reference picture and a Reference Button. | Yes. The home page has a single picture of the Milford Town Library on it. Actually it is an artist's rendition of the building not a photograph as I originally thought. There is a photograph on the Information page but it is not that clear and the resolution not that high. The other pages have random icons that are high resolution and look great! They do relate to the surrounding text. The Borrowing button shows books around what the policy is. There is a picture of a TV where the audio-visual policy is written. |
| Do the graphics provide important information? | Yes, I think so. The graphics actually show a virtual tour of the WSPL and what the staff do and what they look like. This might make a patron comfortable knowing the surrounding before they come into the library. I just realized there is a slide show on the Youth Service's page. This shows some activity project that they have used in the past. It also shows the staff working. | Not really. The graphic shows the building of the library but not much more. There is a picture of the reference staff working but it is not as warm as the pictures in the slide show. The other graphics seem to be there to put something there. The audio-visual one bothers me the most. It is a graphic of an old TV set and doesn't really apply to today's world. |
| Does the size of the graphics relate to the page content? | Since WSPL used a table for their home page the pictures in the slide show work as well on the larger monitor as it does on the smaller monitor. | On a smaller screen the picture of the library related to the web page. I am using a larger monitor and now the picture looks too small for the home page. The home page looks a little skewed to the left on the larger monitor and there is too much room on the right of the screen which is blank. The size of the picture on the information desk in fine on both monitors as well as the icons for the different databases. |
| Are pictures missing? | No. | No. |
| What is the quality of the graphics? | The pictures in the slide show are very good pictures but the resolution is not high but if it were it would take longer to load. | The drawing of the library on the home page is high quality but there is a photograph on the Information page but it is not that clear and the resolution not that high. |
| How long does it take for the graphics to display? | 2-3 seconds | Right a away! |
| Are textual descriptions of graphics provided when a text-based browser is used? | Not at single description showed up when the text-base browser was used. Actually I turned the pictures off in Internet Explorer using tools, advanced, multi-media, I clicked off pictures. | No. At first I thought Yes because the library picture Milford Town Library displayed but all the others on the home page and the Information page have no text |
| Are the textual descriptions appropriate? | N/A | On the Milford Town Library but there were none on the rest of the photos. |
Help Information
| Is “help” provided? | No. | No. |
| Is “help” information easy to find? | N/A | N/A |
| How helpful is the “help” information? | N/A | N/A |
| If “help” isn't provided, should it be provided? | Not really. The web page is easy to navigate and understand. | Not really. The web page is easy to navigate and understand. |
Feedback Information
| Are opportunities for feedback provided? | Yes. - "All Comments and Questions regarding this site to Webmaster" and click on Webmaster to send an email. There is also a link to the suggestion box. | Yes. One of the first things a user can do is to send the Library Director, Linda Wright, and email. You can also email a reference librarian from the the Information Desk link and you can also use "Ask a Question" feature at the same location. |
| Are feedback opportunities easy to find? | Yes. The email address is on the home page. | Yes. The email address is on the home page. |
Overall Feel and Look
| How well organized is the site? | I think the site is very well organized. There are twelve buttons around the graphic of the library and it staff at work. These buttons are in proper order of importance. | This site is not as well organized as the WSPL. It has a lot of links on the left of the home page but they are not in proper order of importance. They are not in alphabetical order. I think this could be grouped in a better way. |
| Are the pages consistent from page to page? | The Youth Services page and the Friends page are totally different from the other ten pages. The colors are the same. The logo is not on all the other pages. The pages are not really consistent. | All the pages have the logo in the same place on the page so it makes the pages look consistent. The color of the page and font colors are the same also. |
| How easy is it to locate important information? | The structure of the home page makes it easy to find important information. Those important links are at the top of the home page. | There are links as "Fast Features" on this page and it is easy to find the important information on the home page. It is right there! |
| On a scale of 1 to 10 (1=poor, 10=superior), rate each web site. | 7 - The homepage is conceptually correct in fitting into the 640 x 480 format. I liked that and I really liked the picture slide show of the staff in the library. I did not like the graphic of the professor at the blackboard. It never stops moving and according to Tollett this is not a good technique. There are alignment problems. The address is centered and the copyright is left justified. The eye does not flow correctly. There is no need for a visitor counter. The home page is not cluttered. There is not a theme that ties all the web pages together. Some pages have the left-hand navigation bar with scroll bars other do not. The logo from the first page is not carried through to the other pages. The web site has not been updated recently and it seems unfinished to me. | 8 - The home page and web site were professionally done and you can tell it is but as Robin says sometimes the professionals don't have great design technique and this is the fault I found in this web site. The left hand navigation menu is not scrollable and I kind of like that but it is not set off from the right hand 2/3rd of the page and it makes the home page too cluttered. This page does not follow the rule of three and the graphic is too high on the page. It is not aligned where is should be to follow this rule. The scrolling Thank you message is annoying and it does not stop. The alignment is way off and things seem to be put on the page arbitrarily. It does use the Milford Library logo on each page but the page set up is not strong and repetitive as it could be. The logo keeps moving from centered to left justified depending on which sub page you are linked to. One feature I do like on the left-hand navigation bar is that the underlined link is in black and enlarged font to signify where on the page you are presently looking at. Although the page was professionally done it could have been organized better. |
| The reason I chose these two web sites is that they are peer libraries serving the same number of population the their city/town. | They have the same demographic in the type of clientele the patron is. | West Springfield is my City library and The Milford Town library is a peer library to the West Springfield Public Library. |