BUT never once going once to the library site (even if I could do all of this on them)

What is a purpose of a library website? Is it really the same as the purpose of the library itself? Can libraries make better services on their websites as those which already exists? I doubt it.

But I agree that a library should offer all their services on their's websites too. I just wonder if it's reasonable or cost effective.

When working on their library website, a small neighboring library was compiling link after link to help children with their homework. The librarian was spending hours researching the best homework sites and educational games online all to add to this new site, but she was just assuming that every child who uses her library would also visit her site for after hours help. She was using municipal statistics to proclaim a need for these resources (or maybe just a way to justify the time she was spending on it?) It was frustrating listening to her go on and on about how great her site was going to be, and in the end, not many people have taken advantage of it because they are not going to go to the library site first to then follow other links to other sites for help with their homework. Google or Yahoo will do that for them in an instant and it is just wishful thinking that we can help to control where our children will visit. I assume this would be the same for any adult doing research.

However, offering resources to sign up for programs online after hours or make suggestions about library services would be useful to do from a library website. I wish library websites could be as magnetic as other websites, but for the most part, I think they just aren’t “necessary”. Does that make sense?

I would think that a library’s “experience” has a lot to do with the scope of their services, but while some embrace the idea of becoming a public media service, others see themselves more as a community sanctuary type thing. While my local branch certainly fails to provide an adequate online experience, they also fail to provide extensive collections in several basic subjects. They do manage to have a really interesting fiction and graphic novel section though – I tend to find that really satisfying. It’s an interesting question you pose, I think, to wonder if that’s a service, a kind of niche, that a smaller library provides by distinctly ignoring its online presence, saying “the things you can do here you can only do by coming in, physically. (That’s all we can afford anyway.)”