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Sean Brady, Special Services Librarian, NSW Agriculture, Orange, sean.brady@agric.nsw.gov.au
Jennifer Kirton, Librarian, NSW Agriculture, Wollongbar, jennifer.kirton@agric.nsw.gov.au
Marsha Reilly, Librarian, NSW Agriculture, Wagga Wagga, marsha.reilly@agric.nsw.gov.au
The NSW Department of Agriculture (NSW Agriculture) Information and Library Service (ILS) uses the Intranet to offer a range of information products to 2220 staff at 105 locations. The web pages provide access to catalogues, information gateways, current awareness services, journals and databases. We can respond quickly to hot topics with subject specific information packages including daily/weekly updates.
We aim to combine traditional library information with online services. For example, our Advisory Portal includes statistics, lists of books and journals, Departmental publications and online request forms. We actively promote our library web pages and provide training in their use.
NSW Agriculture is a major research organisation that also provides advisory services to farmers. Site sizes range from single staffed offices to research stations with between 100 to 200 staff. All staff at even the most remote locations have access to the Intranet. NSW Agriculture ILS is a decentralised service consisting of eight regional libraries, and a central unit providing network services. We service a very diverse and geographically dispersed client group.
In developing our web services, we concentrated on the research staff - both professional officers and their technical officers and assistants - who are usually based at the larger sites often with a staffed library. This client group uses a wide range of research literature and, particularly, our desktop databases through ERL/Winspirs, and our online journals. The expansion of our electronic journal collection in 2000 and 2001 has proved an enormous success with this group.
During 2002, we shifted focus to our Advisory staff who deal directly with farmers throughout the state and who are usually based in small offices. They are rarely in the office and the challenge for us is to provide relevant content to convince them that it is worthwhile visiting our web pages.
Another major client group is the management and administrative staff. Middle and senior management are not regular users of ILS, and so again we have had to produce specific library products tailored to their information needs.
To meet the needs of these diverse client groups dispersed across the state we needed to develop or repackage information and services and provide them through our library web pages. To achieve this, we created a Web Team.
The Web Team was formed in 1998 to develop the ILS Intranet website. The team consists of six library staff who either volunteered or were nominated because of their expertise in a particular field. Creating a team or committee within the ILS was seen to be the best way to move quickly in creating a web presence.
All library staff have had training in Microsoft FrontPage (which is the Department's standard HTML editing software) and were asked to contribute content. The Web Team undertakes the bulk of the authoring, publishing, content and direction of the ILS web pages. The Web Team meets twice a year, with all decisions documented and posted to the website.
Our goals were to provide all existing services in an electronic format and where possible to create new services or products for the web pages.
In early 1999, following a weeklong summit, a website management plan was developed by the Web Team and endorsed by the other librarians. This plan is regularly updated so that it is relevant to changes in technology, software and the information needs of our clients. It is available on our website.
The key features of the web management plan are:
There were no Departmental standards for Intranet pages, so we developed our own guidelines. There have always been three considerations that have affected the design decisions of the Web Team. They are:
1) The information architecture - How can we make it easy for clients to find things on our site?
The emphasis has always been to create a site with enough flexibility to suit a variety of information seeking methods. To achieve this, our architecture is designed with the web in mind, not a strict linear progression of pages. Design elements include a site map and an emphasis on cross-linking web pages. For example, while some information seekers pose a question, 'How do I borrow a book?' others seek keywords such as Loan Request Form. Our website allows both.
Guidelines for navigation and site design were decided with the most popular web pages easily accessible and prominent on our library home page. Web pages are grouped under traditional library headings such as journals and books so they are immediately identifiable to the clients.
2) Wide Area Network (WAN) connection speed - How can we make our site fast?
We decided to minimise images and irrelevant features to keep page size to a minimum to ensure good delivery speed to our remotest clients. Web content is created in a range of formats including HTML, Word, RTF, Excel, PDF and zipped executables. Attached files have their file type and size indicated and for large documents and software, we always zip to reduce size. Text is kept as succinct as possible, with the web page restricted to one screen wherever possible.
3) Product branding - How do we make ourselves known?
Branding is crucial to our design. The i.Reach publishing system does not allow us to display our ILS name prominently, although it is included in the breadcrumbs. Therefore for branding, we rely on our design layout. The layout is in colours specific to the library site, to differentiate them from other Intranet pages (we therefore do not use colour for navigation within our site). Other standard layout features used are standard fonts, headings and images.
This is the role of the Special Services Librarian who overviews the whole website and who is responsible for its day-to-day running and maintenance.
All library staff can contribute content for the website. The advantage of this system is that everyone has the opportunity to increase their skills as well as spreading the load of creating content and web pages. Staff are paired to check each other's work to encourage consistency and maintain quality of web pages. Staff members are required in their annual work plan, to check all their web pages on a quarterly basis for currency and for broken links.
The difficulty of the distributed authoring system is gaining the commitment and sustaining the enthusiasm within the library staff over time and distance, to ensure that web pages are created and maintained to a required standard.
The Web Team initially identified material that was immediately useful to clients and already available, such as links to existing electronic documents or forms to request existing services. Using existing printed material enabled us to get valuable content up on the website quickly.
This included all our library forms such as document delivery, book purchase request and reference request forms. Documentation such as library contact lists, descriptions of services (such as current awareness services), copyright and library policy was made available as HTML web pages. A current serial list was provided as an Excel file.
In time, with increased confidence and skills, we began to identify the gaps in our library website and started to develop more original content and deliver it with increasing functionality. We are also fortunate that we have relative freedom in what we publish on our website.
We have now developed our services to include:
As part of our strategic management for the Web Team, we have looked for opportunities in the organisation to work with our clients in providing services they want, and also to partner other Departmental Programs to jointly deliver services to our clients. This also introduces cross-linking between different Program websites which has not been pursued before.
Our Natural Resources Program is particularly advanced in using the web to integrate services by subject groupings, and we have been able to add our booklists and other services within their pages. Similarly we are working within our own Department Program (Education and Training) to provide subject pages and library booklists for some of the internal training courses that are offered such as Report Writing, Leadership, and Negotiation Skills.
In the changing environment that special libraries face, we believe it is important to align the ILS as closely as possible to other Programs within the Department. The web pages provide an excellent opportunity to achieve this goal.
The IT infrastructure in NSW Agriculture is a TCP/IP Wide Area Network linking 105 sites. Thirty of these have Local Area Networks running Novell software and have communication lines via routers. The rest are connected using modem dial-in or Dial Connect technology. The lines vary from 1Mbps ISDN to 64Kbs telephone lines, with the majority of sites falling into the latter line speeds.
The Intranet is driven by a Unix-based server running Netscape web servers and an i.Reach database system. More recently Windows2000-based servers have been added to the network on which we have housed the DBTextworks databases and the WebPublisher system. We are increasingly using DBTextworks to deliver products using database technology. It has been adopted as the primary tool and has proved flexible and easy to use for design. The Web Team uses this software for a variety of tasks and the web publishing package allows an easy migration from the local PC to the Intranet.
The IT Program does not support non-standard software, such as DBTextworks, because of their concerns about security and management issues, including compatibility, integrity of data, contingency planning and update scheduling. The Standard Operating Environment of IT consists of SQL database management systems located on Unix servers, which require a high degree of programming expertise to develop systems. If we were to use the IT development model, we would be unable to develop timely products in response to client demand.
We are also constrained because of the unavailability of suitable link checking software, and we have not been able to use any freeware or Internet based link checking services because of firewall/security concerns.
Library services do have special technology needs so it is important to develop and maintain a balanced relationship with IT.
As part of our regular duties, librarians visit each office in the Department at least once a year. This provides an opportunity to deliver library training to all clients in a one-to-one situation. Additionally, all new professional staff receive a half-day training session, which primarily involves web-based services.
Thirty percent of respondents to a library survey undertaken in 2000 requested formal training in Internet searching. So we included use of Internet Explorer and basic navigation of the Internet in our library training as well as navigation around the library home page and demonstrations of our most popular services such as the online journals, service request forms, the current awareness services and the Advisory Portal.
Training sessions on using electronic information (such as citing, copyright), how to find information on the Internet, how to find statistics (on our own web pages as well as external sites) have also been developed by librarians.
Our next step is to create self-directed online tutorials and subject specific Internet resource training packages (such as horticultural or environmental websites). These together with our existing training packages will form an integral part of our formal Information Skills (Information Literacy) program that the ILS is currently developing. Increased training provision by librarians has been identified as one area to develop as we attempt to redefine our roles as special librarians within our Department.
As with any library product or service it is essential to market the library web pages. Our library survey identified that e-mail messages, face-to-face promotion, an e-mailed newsletter, group demonstrations and the Department's Intranet home page were the desired mediums for communicating library news.
We responded to the survey by creating our own quarterly newsletter that is e-mailed to all staff. It predominantly features our web-based products and a special issue describing the library website was very well received. While we have pursued a fairly aggressive program of advertising, we are also conscious of not annoying our clients with endless messages or multiple newsletters.
We have also used other non-library newsletters to promote our services. These include local site newsletters at the larger research stations as well as Program newsletters. This involves tailoring the article for the audience. For example, for the Animal Industry Program newsletter, we would have a feature highlighting online journals such as Animal Genetics and Journal of Animal Science.
We have held a successful group demonstration in the Head Office to launch the Statistics pages when they were first developed. This is one form of promotion that can be very useful if there is a large group of pages on a single topic to be launched. Specific individuals and sections were invited, including the senior management in our own Departmental Program. We will be using a similar approach when we launch the Advisory Portal at a regional site, inviting its intended audience, the advisory staff.
Within NSW Agriculture, the Web Team were the first to use the Department's 'Headlines' news section on the Intranet home page as a forum to advertise services, new web pages, and activities such as Australian Library Week. The Web Team created a 'promotions officer' whose role was to actively promote the web pages and other library services primarily on the Intranet home page, but also in other media. This involved not only new services, but also existing services that may not have been so widely known, particularly by new staff. Once created these articles were recycled into the various print newsletters (both library and non-library).
Another role of the 'promotions officer' is to regularly advise other library staff about which service was being promoted or to alert them to a new group of web pages (such as the Advisory Portal pages). We have found repeatedly that our own library staff had not discovered changes to our library web pages. As face-to-face contact with library staff is a key factor in alerting Departmental staff to new library services, it is vital that our own library staff are fully aware of what is available.
The ILS is currently in the process of developing a coherent marketing plan that includes a major component on online services. The key message is not to be inhibited about where or how you advertise your library.
We encourage feedback by using both a Suggestion Box on our library home page, and a contact e-mail address on each of our web pages. It was a client's suggestion that lead us to develop the Departmental publications list. This list is the only source of information on documents that are solely published electronically to our external website.
The library survey undertaken in 2000 included five questions related to the library web pages or services provided through them. We asked what they knew about, what they used and what they wanted. A follow up sample survey will be undertaken in 2003.
The library survey provided us with reassurances that some of our services were actually being used, as well as suggestions about what new information was required. It reinforced that we need to continue to market our services including existing as well as new products. Clients often asked for services that already existed.
If you conduct a survey or request feedback, it is important that you respond to your client's requests. We appear to be able to respond quickly to providing traditional library services and products (such as new book lists and online journals) over the Intranet. However we were slow to create new packages of information, such as providing access to rainfall and climate data which was requested in the survey. During 2002, with the development of the Advisory Portal, we have begun to redress this.
Testing the navigation and content of your website with your clients is important. We have done this on a limited scale, but it does require close consultation with your clients and of course utilising their valuable time.
It is important to note that our Web Team activities are in addition to our normal library duties. There is a high degree of pressure on librarians in small organisations to maintain traditional library services as well as embrace and develop new services and products particularly in the web environment. The role of the Special Librarian is expanding quickly. Utilising the web environment may be the answer to providing a modern service, delivering library services to as many clients as possible in the most efficient and effective manner.
If there is one message we would like to send to other libraries, it is that the only person holding you back is yourself. Library web pages do not have to have every bell and whistle to be effective. We have used software that can be used by anyone with an aptitude to learn. We do not hesitate to combine traditional library services and products with the new electronic environment - the two are not mutually exclusive.
Have we succeeded in creating a useful website for our clients? While it is a work-in-progress, the library home page was ranked fourth as the most requested page after the Intranet home page (June 2002).
When we began developing our website, we reviewed current literature and sought examples of library websites on the Internet to gain ideas on content, style and navigation. We also visited other libraries to view their Intranet websites. We continue to keep abreast of new ideas and developments for library web pages by using current awareness services and reading the professional literature. A selection of this literature follows.
University libraries have been developing initiatives like the Scholars workstation at Curtin University (White and Newton-Smith, 1993), and, increasingly, the web is being used to meet the needs of distance education students (Cooper et al, 1998; Huxley and Ford, 2000). The key theme of these papers is unlimited access to library resources for users, no matter where they are located.
Increasingly, special libraries are reporting on their efforts to reach their clients using the corporate Intranet. Gulliford (1998) reports on developments in a high tech industry company where librarians are based within the divisions, but provide the library service across their Intranet. In a geographically dispersed organisation, service provision is split and has complicated information seeking for clients, who need to identify which section to approach. A library service across an Intranet can remove the barriers.
Health libraries have been at the forefront in developing online services for their clients. Brenneise and Marks (2001) report on the development of a state-wide health information network in Michigan, while Ladner (1990) provides examples of service networking among special libraries in the United States. The importance of a customer focus is developed by Hennessy and Mann-Henderson (2001), Huxley and Ford (2000), and McCullagh (1997).
Useful ideas can also be found in Mitchell and Baldwin's (1997) paper on Infomine as a resource for agricultural science and Connaughton (2000) on the selection and evaluation of websites. There are many websites providing guidance for web designers such as the Web Developers Virtual Library [http://www.wdvl.com/] and useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website [http://www.useit.com/].
The importance of library staff skills to provide services such as the maintenance of collections of web resources and user support (including technical troubleshooting) is highlighted by many writers including Hennessy and Mann-Henderson (2001), Huxley and Ford (2000), Pitschman (2001), McInerney (1999), Mitchell and Baldwin (1997) and Sloan (1998).
Brenneise, H R and Marks, E B (2001) Creating a state-wide virtual health library: the Michigan experience. Online Information Review 25 (2):115-120. 1468-4527.
Connaughton, S A (2000) Developing a virtual collection from the online smorgasbord. Computers in Libraries 20 (6):42-45. [Online] Available: [http://www.infotoday.com] [24 August 2002]
Cooper, R, Dempsey, P R, Menon, V and Millson-Martula, C (1998) Remote library users: needs and expectations. Library Trends 47 (1):42-64.
Gulliford, B (1998) Making choices in the virtual world: the new model at United Technologies Information Network. Library Trends 47 (1):158-171.
Hennessy, A K and Mann-Henderson, K A (2001) Innovations in virtual and remote library services: new kids on the block. In Rivers of Knowledge: 9th Special, Health and Law Libraries Conference 26-29 August 2001, Melbourne Vic [Online] Available: [http://www.alia.org.au/conferences/shllc/2001/papers/hennessy.mannhenderson.html] [29 July 2002]
Huxley, L and Ford, K (2000) Resource Guide for the Social Sciences: Signposting a Dissemination and Support Route for Barefoot and Meta-librarians in UK Higher Education. D-Lib Magazine 6 (11): 1082-9873. [Online] Available: [http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november00/huxley/11huxley.html] [29 July 2002]
Ladner, S J (1990) Networking and special libraries: Impact of technology, economics and human nature. Conference on Integrated Online Library Systems: 5th, 1990, New York NY 129-135.
McCullagh, L (1997) Customer needs and service provision In Information Online and On Disc: The Eighth Australasian Conference and Exhibition, 21 - 23 January 1997: Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, Australia 417-425. [Online] Available: [http://conferences.alia.org.au/online1997/proceedings/onl301.htm#one] [14 August 2002]
McInerney, C.R. (1999) Working in the virtual office: providing information and knowledge to remote workers. Library and Information Science Research 21 (1):69-89.
Mitchell, S. and Baldwin, C.M. (1997) INFOMINE: A unique virtual library of scholarly and educational resources in the agricultural and related sciences. Paper presented at The Information Frontier: Linking People and Resources. USAIN/IAALD Joint Conference, April 1997, Tucson, Arizona. Quarterly Bulletin of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists 42 (3-4):230-233.
Morrow, Terry. (2001) Dancing to the same tune. In Information Online 2001 Digital Dancing: New Steps, New Partners. Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Information Online Conference and Exhibition Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre [Online]. Available: [http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2001/papers/intranet_strategiesc.htm] [3 March 2001]
Pitschmann, L.A. (2001) Building Sustainable Collections of Free Third-Party Web Resources [Online] Available: [http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub98abst.html] [11 June 2002]
Sloan, B. (1998) Service perspectives for the digital library remote reference services. Library Trends 47 (1):117-143.
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website, Nielsen Norman Group, viewed various dates, [http://www.useit.com/]
Web Developers Virtual Library, Jupitermedia Corporation, viewed various dates, [http://www.wdvl.com/]
White, S and Newton-Smith, C (1993) Beyond the library walls: moving towards the scholar's workstation. In 'Drinking from a fire hose: managing networked information: preprints from the 7th Biennial Conference of the Victorian Association for Library Automation (VALA) 9-11 November 1993 357-368.
We would like to thank the following people for their help and assistance both with the website and this paper: Marilyn Hawkett (Library Services Manager) and Information and Library Services Unit, Bruce Ward (Website Services Manager) and the Website Services Unit, Geraldine James, and past and present members of the Web Team.
[1] Program: an administrative unit within NSW Agriculture focusing on a particular aspect of agriculture or a support service.
[2] ABARE: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
[3] AFFA: Department Of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australia
[4] FAO: Food and Agriculture organisation of the United Nations
[5] USDA: United States Department of Agriculture
[6] CSIRO: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
[7] BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation