VALA2008 Session 11 Hider

VALA Peer Reviewed PaperThe use of information architecture guidelines by Australian libraries

VALA 2008 CONCURRENT SESSION 11: Websites
Thursday 7 February 2008 10:45 – 11:15
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2008-proceedings/vala2008-session-11-hider

Philip Hider

Senior Lecturer, School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University
http://www.csu.edu.au

Sally Burford

Senior Lecturer, School of Professional Communication, University of Canberra
http://www.canberra.edu.au

Stuart Ferguson

Senior Lecturer, School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University
http://www.csu.edu.au

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Abstract

This paper reports the results of a survey which aimed to examine the extent to which the information architecture (IA) of Australian library web sites is developed with reference to documented methods and guidelines. It was found that a majority of libraries used either in-house or external documents, or both, but that the nature of these documents varied greatly. The extent of libraries’ control over their own web sites also varied very widely. Although documentation was considered useful in some ways, respondents were more interested in developing the necessary IA skills and competencies than in standardisation.