Karen Coombs beautifully explains why the future of web services isn't the library web site. My thoughts exactly.
Instead of focusing almost entirely on developing one monolithic, obsessively tweaked web site, let's place some of our efforts toward putting our web resources where our users are. We've started working toward this, with the Research JumpStart page, the iGoogle tab and the Facebook app. Next to come is the Libraries Firefox toolbar, and then, who knows what lies ahead? I hesitate to guess where we'll be even two years from now.
The trick, as Karen points out, is in placing this priority for exploring new ways of embedding ourselves online into the Libraries' traditional web workflow. These sites and technologies are ephemeral and rapidly changing. How do we keep up with innovatively placing our resources and services in our users' flow while also maintaining traditional portals like the library web site?
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