During the fall, ALA hired UserWorks to perform a usability assessment of the ALA Website. The assessment included a Web survey as well as personal and group interviews. A Web Planning Retreat has been scheduled for December 18th at ALA Headquarters in Chicago. The goal of the retreat according to Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director are to “answer the question, “What would we do if we were starting with a clean slate?” and to develop a vision statement and an outline of a plan for the ideal website to serve our diverse needs.†A blog and a wiki have been created so anyone who is interested can follow the process. The planning session will be blogged so if you have a chance check it out the blog on December 18th and comment on the posts.
The participants as of December 1 are:
Michelle Boule
Cathleen Bourdon
Lynne Bradley
Linda Braun
Andy Bridges
Leslie Burger
Rob Carlson
Frank Cervone
John Chrastka
Nancy Davenport
Mary Ellen Davis
Keith Michael Fiels
Sam Florio
Michelle Frisque
Mary Ghikas
Judith Gibbons
Paul Keith
Leonard Kniffel
Jenny Levine
Olivia Madison
John McDonald
Sara McLaughlin
Karen Muller
Jim Rettig
Loriene Roy
Sherri Vanyek
Bill Drew
Nice to see this happening and to have a chance to follow the process. It does seem a bit late in the process unless there is going to be another new design for the ALA website.
Jenny Levine
At this point, there is no new design for the ALA website, so this meeting, the blog, and the wiki are the start of the discussion to create a new ALA website. While the whole enchilada is more than a bit late, it’s early in the process. I hope LITA members in particular will be vocal and visible during said process – we need you!