ACQNET: What's going on with AcqWeb?

Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2007 13:57:33 -0500
From: Eleanor Cook (Chief Editor, ACQNET-L) <cookei_at_appstate.edu>
Subject: What's going on with AcqWeb?

It’s been awhile since I’ve reported what’s going on with AcqWeb.
Right now there is a message at the top of the opening screen of AcqWeb 
that says:

“*AcqWeb is not currently being maintained and contains out-of-date 
information.
The ACQNET-L Editorial Board has surveyed the community for interest in 
AcqWeb and
is discussing future directions for this resource. If you have 
suggestions or are interested
in assisting with the revamping of AcqWeb, please contact Eleanor Cook 
at cookei_at_appstate.edu <mailto:cookei_at_appstate.edu>.
More information will be forthcoming Spring 2007. Thank you.”***

**We recently changed the message to read “Fall 2007.”

AcqWeb exists in a primitive state – as a flat html file, it needs 
serious revamping. The web world has come
a long way since 1995, when Anna Belle Leiserson first developed AcqWeb. 
And yet, people are still using it,
even though it is seriously stale and in desperate need of updating!

All of us, no matter how much we use and like AcqWeb, have paying jobs 
that require us to focus our attention
on our institutional priorities. AcqWeb was created by a single 
individual in the days before dynamic websites
existed. Anna Belle was on the verge of shifting AcqWeb to a dynamic 
database model, but then was promoted
to a web position that was not in a library.

The old model is not possible to maintain, particularly with the growth 
in importance of the web and the growth
of the site. The good news is it's a great fit for Web 2.0 technologies, 
which typically get content from volunteers.
It needs to shift into a dynamic site, with an editor-in-chief to 
coordinate the different facets -- both editorial and
technological. Based on her experience, Anna Belle believes that in time 
the editor-in-chief position will actually
require less time than most high level editorial jobs. However, 
initially it will need time and attention so that the
right technologies are picked and deployed effectively.

Here’s what happening now: We have contracted with a free lance computer 
consultant to help us review the options
for software migration. I want to thank Appalachian State University and 
the University of Utah for funding this
short-term consultancy. We will have some recommendations and a plan of 
action by the end of December 2007.

We also have a small group of law school acquisitions librarians from 
AALL looking at some prototypes for
database design.

We want to be able to continue to allow AcqWeb to be a useful and 
easy-to-use site for our constituents.
The survey conducted last year convinced us that AcqWeb is being used 
enough to continue its existence.

The biggest challenges are time and commitment. AcqWeb is currently 
hosted at Appalachian State University.
My systems colleagues at ASU have done a fabulous job of keeping AcqWeb 
up and running. And it continues to
serve as a portal to the ACQNET-L archives which are regularly updated 
by our Archivist, Eric Lease Morgan
(Thank you, Eric).

SO – here’s my invitation to all of you – do you have time on your 
hands? (Probably not!) But do you need to do service work
and other creative or scholarly projects in order to earn tenure or 
promotion? Would your institution see creative work with
AcqWeb as worthy for such recognition? Are you particularly adept with 
database design and other technical applications?
(Don’t kid yourself – this is not a “learn by doing” kind of project – 
rather - we need people who are already technically
savvy and can hit the ground running.)

If you are interested – sincerely interested – in helping revamp AcqWeb 
and have some web and database skills to
offer – contact me. However, we are not interested in:

*Commercial offers to buy AcqWeb
*Organizational bids for AcqWeb (professional organizations we all know 
and love)
*Individuals who can’t commit to some time and effort to do what needs 
to be done (been there, done that)

Almost every week I hear from someone who wants to know what is 
happening with AcqWeb. Occasionally
I even get offers for help. If you have offered and never heard from me, 
or I’ve replied and said “I’ll get back to you,”
please understand: I am one of the many in our profession who is working 
in an environment where we’re being
expected to do more with less, and there are simply not enough hours in 
the day to do it all.

Thanks all,
Eleanor Cook
Chief Editor, ACQNET-L cookei_at_appstate.edu
and current keeper of AcqWeb - www.acqweb.org <http://www.acqweb.org/>







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