Considering the Audience

In planning any website, a necessary step is to identify the intended audience and their needs. When it comes to the academic library website, primary users will fall into the following categories:

• Students
• Faculty/Staff
• Researchers

What are their needs? What brings them to the website?

A large portion of users will be seeking books and other materials to check out. Clearly, a search function for the library's catalog needs to be featured prominently on the main page; related offerings like journals and databases can easily be incorporated into the same search area.

What else might users be seeking? What other services may visitors expect to find linked from the main page?

• Library hours and contact information
• Coming events
• Reference information
• Research guides
• Course reserves
• Interlibrary Loan
• Special Collections/Archives

Consider also the audience's skills and level of internet savvy.
If you use complex visuals or flashy interfaces, are certain portions of your audience going to understand how to use and navigate them? If visitors are using outdated software or older browsers, will they be able to view the site properly? Make no assumptions that what you see is the same thing other users see, or that they will understand it in the same way that you do. You will likely find it necessary to discover a balance between what looks good and works well, and what your audience will be able to handle.

While you can make some generalizations about your target audience groups and their needs, it is crucial to realize that individual visitors come with specific and varying demands. Keep an open mind about their expectations when planning the library website.