« Opening: Head of User Services, Rutgers-Newark Library for the Center for Law and Justice | Main | State Court Filings Online: A Reality Check of Commerical Retrieval Services and Court-Hosted Websites »
May 17, 2011
Link Rot, AALL-Style
It really, really doesn't take all that much time to code a redirect so as not to yield the below display. They were the results of clicking on two links in LLB posts to (1) a 2011 issue of AALL Spectrum and (2) a 2005 LLJ article . All it takes is paying a little attention to detail. Perhaps our association's official publications just aren't all that important in the minds of the webdev redo team. Webdev-ers, you do know how to code a redirect, right? [JH]
May 17, 2011 in Library Associations, Web Communications | Permalink
Comments
Well, that's not entirely fair. AALL moved from one database-driven system with a lot of individual content pages to another database-driven CMS system. The underlying structure is completely different, so setting up redirects is not exactly a simple process.
That said, however, you're absolutely right. Simple or not, it's a really important consideration. I get the distinct impression the AALL web team doesn't understand the value of the website as anything more than a marketing/PR and limited internal communications system.
The elimination of committee pages is an even more basic issue--many of the committees (CRIV, copyright, access to legal information) are (were?) relevant policy entities in their own rights with exposure and respect outside of the association. Dropping their web presence is an affront, especially if redirects to their critical information offerings are missing.
Posted by: Anon | May 18, 2011 7:07:35 AM
