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Lisa Carlucci Thomas

Journal of Web Librarianship

July 2010

Social Eyes: Library Intranets: Trends & Enhancements

Libraries are widely known as institutions that access, organize, and preserve collections

of information. Libraries are also dynamic administrative entities that generate and exchange

internal business information. From small operations with limited staff and technology to large,

multi-departmental institutions with full IT support, libraries universally require efficient

communications systems to operate effectively. Many libraries use proprietary systems or self-

designed intranets to centralize institutional information. In addition, faced with new and

competing communications technologies and shrinking budgets, some libraries are exploring

whether social and emerging technologies might offer advantages over existing models.

I recently became responsible for managing my library’s intranet for the first time. Our

intranet is fairly new, and I’m excited to develop it into a content-rich information resource for

our staff. The sky’s the limit when it comes to planning … except, wait — there’s much to

consider. I have a plot of land (server space), and a foundation (an HTML-based Web

framework), but what does the architecture look like? What structure will best support growth?

What will this building hold? Who do we want to visit, and what do we want them to do there?

Admittedly, these are questions advanced intranet managers will have already considered and

answered, but whether you’re starting from scratch or exploring ways to modernize and refresh

your library’s intranet, they are questions you’ll need to return to time and time again.
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Intranet expert Toby Ward, CEO of Prescient Digital Media, authors IntranetBlog.com, a

blog of current research, reports, analysis, case studies, and assessments of intranets and related

best practices. The blog features intranets in the business environment, offering readers the

opportunity to benefit from integrating enterprise models and perspectives into their own

intranets. This blog sparks new ideas; I’ve recently come across three articles that have me

thinking differently about library intranet trends and enhancements.

Let’s start with Ward’s “Intranet Predictions for 2010.” The full IntranetBlog.com article

provides an in-depth look at how and why these predictions are relevant to enterprise. How and

why are these predictions important in the library communications environment? What are we

doing well, what can we learn or try, and how can we leverage strengths and benefit from these

trends?

 SharePoint will continue to dominate.

Microsoft SharePoint is a leading platform in the intranet market and already a popular

choice among libraries. Ward predicted many sites will upgrade to SharePoint 2010 this year

and SharePoint Online will make this product even more attractive. Libraries seeking a fully

featured Web-hosted product will be interested in SharePoint 2010, and SharePoint’s existing

place among library intranet platforms in the United States offers intranet managers an

expanded community of support when seeking best practices for library implementation.

 IBM will finally become more aggressive with WebSphere Portal.

We know IBM well, but the company’s WebSphere Portal product is less commonly adopted

by libraries. Ward reported this platform is “a more sophisticated, certainly more mature,

product than SharePoint.” For libraries seeking a robust, proprietary, SharePoint alternative,
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this may be worth exploring. Is your organization using WebSphere Portal? Let us know

about your experience.

 Social media will become mainstream at the enterprise level.

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are dynamic platforms for rapid information

exchange, and librarians are at the cutting edge of exploring the opportunities they provide.

Many libraries are already employing social media tools to support internal and external

communications functions. Likewise, many libraries rely on social and emerging

technologies, such as blogs, microblogs, and wikis, to support collaboration and information

sharing. The use of these tools in libraries is maturing and will continue to advance in the

year ahead.

 KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid.

It’s complicated to keep things simple. Bottom line: “The more you throw on a page, the

more you confuse and distract users,” Ward said. Emphasize simplicity in design up front,

and you’ll increase the chances are of creating a streamlined, effective intranet. Ward’s take?

“People like Google for a reason — it’s dead simple.” The easier the intranet is to use, the

more likely it is that users will visit frequently.

 Outsource the intranet to the cloud.

Cloud computing proved to be a very hot topic for libraries in 2009 and will remain so

through 2010. Personal and institutional models for Web-hosted content have mainstreamed,

and librarians continue to experiment with their uses. Cloud-hosted intranets have lower cost

of entry than proprietary products. Ward predicted “as many as 5 percent of medium to large

organizations will outsource their intranets to the cloud over the next year.” Will your library

be among them?
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 Death to the portal!

The concept of the “portal” is out of fashion. Libraries prefer flexible, customizable, open-

source options over static, proprietary, pre-packed “portal solutions.” Thus, customizable

tools such as Drupal, WordPress, MediaWiki, and PBworks have emerged as popular choices

among library intranet managers. As librarians optimize use of these tools, share knowledge,

and experiment with innovative implementations, they will garner increased attention and use

as intranet platforms.

Evaluating enterprise trends in the context of our own work environment helps us to stay

abreast of opportunities in the market and allows us to identify areas of professional strengths.

For example, libraries may be quicker to adopt social networking tools and transform them into

social intranets or perhaps to examine and employ intranet platforms in the cloud to ensure

agility and scalability. Libraries would benefit from regularly reviewing content and design

strategy to “keep it simple” and from making a concerted effort to move away from limited

portal and proprietary options that don’t fully suit the needs of the users.

Predictions can provide a broad assessment of current intranet trends affecting

institutions, but it’s up to intranet managers to maintain a deeper understanding of the role and

purpose of the intranet locally. The IntranetBlog.com article “Intranet ROI” emphasized the need

to assess and articulate the return value of intranet endeavors. Ward’s article offered several

examples of ways intranets are cost-effective for organizations and offers a useful list of content

topics optimal for intranets. Using Ward’s list as guide, let’s explore ways to maximize

effectiveness in the library environment by integrating current trends and social features into

library intranets.
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 Software distribution

Still visiting each staff workstation to download software updates? Create a place on the

intranet where staff can download the programs and updates they need, and teach them how

to use it. Value added: For each product, include a brief summary of the licensed terms of use

and a name and contact information for someone who can answer questions about the

product or troubleshoot the installation.

 Newsletter

Instead of printing the newsletter, publish virtually on the intranet. The advantages are

numerous: production, printing, and distribution costs are immediately (and significantly)

reduced, and you create a periodic “draw” to the site. Value added: Include an RSS feed of

your institution’s Twitter account for up-to-the-minute news and information.

 Phone directories

Most libraries’ phone directories are part of a larger, institutional directory system. Integrate

the directory search into your intranet to avoid the need for users to go elsewhere for the

information. Value added: Populate data from the institutional directory database into

customizable profiles for library staff, and allow staff to personalize their own listings with

images, descriptions, and links to their professional Web sites and social networking profiles.

 HR forms, HR benefits material and enrollment, expense reporting, time tracking

Human Resources forms, benefits and enrollment documents, expense reports, and time

sheets are necessary facts of business life. Posting such forms on the intranet saves paper,

toner, storage space, and equipment wear for photocopying or printing as well as valuable

staff time spent searching for forms located in multiple places online (or time spent picking

up print forms in an office). Value added: Offer a “favorite” button for each business form
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and create a link for users to view an aggregated list of favorited items, thus minimizing the

need for them to search repeatedly for forms they use regularly.

 E-mail usage

Does your library have an e-mail usage policy? What about an e-mail etiquette document?

Checklist of best practices? E-mail is the predominant form of business communication

today, but don’t for granted that staff know how to use e-mail efficiently. Centralize

information about e-mail usage on the intranet, and include guidance for optimizing use of e-

mail software and tips and tricks to for managing e-mail effectively. Value added: Create a

place for users to post their own links and tips and rate or “like” those posted by others.

 Content management

Using a content management system (CMS) ensures consistency in presentation and allows

for rapid and flexible content delivery. Additionally, CMS facilitate distributed content

updates since contributors don’t need to encode text to publish to the site. This benefit allows

intranet managers to focus on administrative, organizational, and archival considerations.

Value added: Highlight author contributions to the intranet and invite new authors

periodically. Cultivate collaboration to increase readership and use.

 Information retrieval

Library intranets should be the place staff turn for any and all information related to the work

of the library. Intranets should include committee agendas and minutes, departmental policies

and procedures, announcements about news and events, papers and publications of library

staff, and more. Value added: Make all intranets documents word searchable, and create one

search box that searches the intranet and the library Web site. That way, users won’t have to

guess which site to search for the information they need.

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 IT Help Desk

Do your current IT help procedures require users to seek out a contact address and e-mail

troublesome issues to an anonymous recipient? Not only is this inefficient, but it may turn off

users who might otherwise report minor problems before they become big headaches. Make

the intranet a one-stop solution: centralize information resources for routine and non-routine

issues, and create an entry form for staff to easily report problems. Value added: Create a

searchable database of problems reported and resolved, and before you know it, you’ll have

an information-rich knowledge base focused on your own local technology matters, including

reports, responses, updates, and improvements.

Effective intranets are essential to high-performing organizations. They streamline

information delivery and retrieval, minimize the time wasted when seeking out distributed

communications and forms, and may even improve staff morale by increasing engagement and

reducing the frustration of missed announcements or locating necessary documents. Library

intranets may be managed by one person or many; however, an intranet must be a collaborative

institutional objective for its benefits to be actualized. In “Nexus of Intranet Success,” Ward

presented a graphical view of the critical elements of an intranet. Ward’s “nexus” depicted

intranet components in three levels. Level 1, at the center, is executive support; Level 2 includes

administrative and technical factors — i.e., planning, resources, content, and technology; and

finally, Level 3 is made up of motivated users. Ward wrote, “Optimal intranet and Internet

success requires success on all levels,” and the primary barrier to successful intranets is “internal

politics.”

Steps to take when coordinating an Intranet are similar to other library Web projects.

Research intranet trends, propose user-centered design with enhanced features, and organize data
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to articulate return on investment to the administration. Monitor and evaluate use of the intranet,

create an assessment schedule and annual survey mechanism to regularly evaluate its value, and

report results. Include users in the content creation process, engage them with intranet features,

and make the intranet the most convenient place to go for timely, relevant, institutional

communications and information. Incorporating trends and enhancements keeps the intranet

fresh for users, integrating new features expands interest and awareness, and measuring and

reporting return on investment to administration ensures alignment and support within the

institution. Evaluate, re-evaluate, and add value to your library’s intranet, and you’ll be setting

new trends of your own for intranet success in the year ahead.

Lisa Carlucci Thomas

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The Journal of Web Librarianship is available online at http://www.informaworld.com.

References

Ward, Toby. 2005. “Intranet ROI.” IntranetBlog.com.

http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/18/1309095.html.
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———. 2010a. “Intranet predictions for 2010.” IntranetBlog.com.

http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2010/1/15/4428951.html.

———. 2010b. “Nexus of Intranet Success.” www.prescientdigital.com.

http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/nexus-of-intranet-success.

This is a preprint submitted for consideration in the Journal of Web Librarianship, copyright

2010, Taylor & Francis. The Journal of Web Librarianship is available online at:

http://www.informaworld.com.