Pattern library for library web site design?

Just poking my head above the water (the Ocean of the Imminently Due Master's Thesis) to ask if anyone else thinks it would be a good idea to start a wiki-based pattern library of design elements and design solutions for library web sites.

Inspired by the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library, I thought it would really cool if there were a site that would feature all kinds of solutions to common design issues for library web sites. For example, most libraries have got a collection of databases that can be accessed via the library site. How you present that list (i.e., how you slice and dice the list of databases by title, by subject, by type, etc.) is a common problem web designers must address. It would be great to have a site that recommends and links to really great examples of things like:

• database lists
• search this site boxes
• catalog search boxes on the home page
• link resolver look-up tools (like the "journal finder" tool from SFX that many libraries have customized)
• "how to" pages (e.g., "how to find books" or "how to find articles" pages)

In addition to the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library, I should also mention two other sites that inspired this idea: John Kupersmith's Library Terms That Users Understand page and the MyLibrary Manual from the University Libraries at Notre Dame.

I'm just throwing the idea out there so (a) I don't forget it (b) mabye someone will take the idea and run with it or (c) someone will tell me about some already existing site that does this. While I've been part of the committee at my library that is working on the redesign of our web site, we've been looking at hundreds of other library sites and taking notes. You can find some of those sites we found especially noteworthy in our committee's del.icio.us account.

Where are the PCs?

Finally, something from American Libraries Direct (3/22/2006) that I can use: a link to a dance music video shot in an unspecified New York library. While there's much for librarians to chatter on about in the way of librarian stereotypes (it's a male librarian...Marion the Librarian, not Marian the Librarian?), what caught my eye was the distinct lack of computers shown in any of the shots. Instead, the card catalog is prominently featured! Make of that what you will; it just gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia.

Link to the video (Real Media file)

Reading 2.0 Conference

Most of the posts on the O'Reilly Radar are a bit beyond my usual interests, but here's one that's worth sharing: library-related issues presented on at Reading 2.0. Among the presenters highlighted: Lorcan Dempsey (on FRBR), Brewster Kahle, and Clifford Lynch.

If only I had time to read this all right now. Instead, I've got to get back to writing my master's thesis on McCarthyism and libraries. Nothing like a little blog break to keep me going.

Update on IMLS-funded research on chat reference assessment...

...can be found in this recent Library Journal article: "What Chat Transcripts Reveal." For more on the research that Marie Radford and her colleague, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, are doing, see this earlier post of mine from last November.

I'm pleased to announce that the Virtual Reference SIG that I am a co-convenor for will feature a presentation by Marie Radford at the next meeting (May 8, 2006, 2-4 PM). Details can be found on the wiki that our group maintains.