NEWS

For Immediate Release       Contact:  Debi Lewis

January 13, 2004             312-280-3272

ALA Web site URL solution to debut next week

Site to be down for maintenance Sunday, January 18

The American Library Association (ALA) Web site will begin featuring shorter URLs during the week of January 19, according to ALA members and staff who have worked to develop this improvement to the site.  To implement this solution, site updates will be halted from Thursday, January 15, through Monday, January 19, and the entire site will be inaccessible for several hours Sunday, January 18.

“The Web site is one of our most important communications vehicles, and we should take every opportunity to maximize its usefulness,” said ALA President Carla Hayden. “Thanks to the members and staff that have continued to work out the ‘kinks.’”

An example of the change in URLs illustrates the extent of the improvement. Currently, the URL for the Libraries Build Sustainable Communities page appears as follows:

http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Round_Tables/
SRRT/Task_Force_on_the_Environment/Libraries_Build_Sustainable_Communities/
Libraries_Build_Sustainable_Communities.htm

After the change is implemented, the URL will be:

http://www.ala.org/ala/srrt/tfoe/lbsc/librariesbuild.htm

The URL solution implemented will be an actual alteration to the structure of the site and content management system, a major overhaul of the system launched by ALA in April of 2003. The solution has been extensively tested by the Web Advisory Committee and ALA staff. 

Additional improvements to be rolled out simultaneously include a new “Cite This Page” feature, which will provide easy standardized citations on all ALA pages, and streamlined sidebar navigation for the sections of the site devoted to ALA Offices and Round Tables.

For additional information regarding future ALA Web site changes, please visit www.ala.org, and click on the FAQ hotlink.

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