Why are you here: Goals for your Website

I studied philosophy as an undergraduate, so I’m fond of the big questions. Why are we here? What is truth? What is the good life? I enjoyed it because there’s really nothing more basic than questions like these. So it is with your website.

I’m going to continue to write on analyzing library websites, but before we can do that, it’s important to figure out the point of your site. As analytics guru Avishash Kaushik would say, “Why do you have a website?” If you can’t answer this basic question than you all data you gather is fairly useless.

Now, it seems like this is a no-brainer for libraries. But it’s a question that’s really more subtle than we’d think. Library websites can go a couple of ways. The two most basic things they can do is point to digital collections or point to physical services. Now that is highly reductive. There are a range of other things websites do, they provide reference, they give staff information, they provide entertainment for summer reading programs and so on. But I think in the end these two basic needs are primary. So let’s parse those a little more.

Websites as Pointers to Digital Collections

So, if this is the point of our website (this is the case for academic libraries), what are some smaller goals. Here are a few a library might focus on:

• Users find library catalog (seems simple)
• Users outside of the local area find and use digital collections (of photographs or open source documents)
• Users can easily access databases
• Users can find email/virtual reference links

Websites as Pointers to Physical Collections

Again, this seems intuitive, but this goal can also be broken down further

• Users sign up for event updates
• Users can quickly find hours and locations for branches
• Users can place holds on items in the collection
• Users can find textbook reserves for their class

These are just a few different examples of things a user might want to do on a webpage. The point, though, is not the specifics. The point is that a few clear goals are understood. Quickly, think too of what should not be included. Notice there are no goals about users finding the history of the building, or statement of building policies. This information might be important to include, but don’t make it a priority. The more items that clutter up a clear agenda for a website, the more likely the website will become cluttered and useless.