Education

LITA offering regional institute: Writing for the Web

A new regional institute: “Writing for the Web,” presented by Brenda Reeb of the University of Rochester, is now available.

This full-day workshop presents best practices for writing for the web within the context of academic and public library websites. The format is lecture style, followed by critique sessions that examine how successful sites implement best practices. Participants will revise web copy and receive feedback on their work during the workshop and will leave the workshop with quick fixes they can apply to their site immediately as well as strategies for tackling long range projects that will enhance the quality of their library website. In this workshop, participants will learn how to critique current web content for immediate improvement, write quality web copy from scratch, identify content areas that require significant revision, assess the “findability” of important features or important library content and create a style guide so that content is uniform and meets standards across the site. The intended audience should be familiar with publishing content on library websites, either as a web designer or as a writer.

Brenda Reeb is director of the Business & Government Information Library at the University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries. In addition to her work as a business subject librarian, she began practicing usability testing methods in 2001 at the University of Rochester. Her usability experience includes developing web applications for academic and public libraries, commercial vendors and nonprofit organizations. She has worked with undergraduate students, adults and children. She speaks regionally and nationally on user-centered design and usability testing on library digital projects. She received a Master of Science degree from Simmons College in 1991.

LITA Regional Institutes are one-day workshops on technology-related topics. Taught by experts and presented throughout the country, they reach beyond ALA Conference locations to bring you high quality continuing education. LITA licenses institute to organizations and would like to hear from potential hosts. Please contact LITA if you would like more information.