Website Policy Statement

Adopted by the Gallagher Law Library Council on August 5, 1997. See also the Library's Privacy Policy.

Policies

• The homepage should support the curricular and research needs of the University of Washington Law School faculty and students. 
• The homepage should promote sales of the library's commercial publications. 
• Supplementing the library's existing communication efforts, the homepage should not consume large amounts of staff time that should be devoted to direct faculty and student services. 

Rationale

This fundamental policy follows the library's Mission Statement:

The primary purpose of the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library is to support the curricular and research needs of the University of Washington School of Law. The law library's collections and services are available to the University of  Washington community at large. As a publicly supported institution, the law library makes its resources available to the general public, including the legal, business, and academic communities of Washington State and to all libraries through cooperative agreements. Financial resources and academic priorities may limit services and materials to secondary patrons.

To the extent that secondary users find answers and useful information on the homepage, library staff may be free to spend additional time serving our primary users. Of course, secondary users will be welcome to use the material we provide, just as the "library's collections and services are available to the University of Washington community," as well as the public, Washington State residents, and other libraries.

A great deal of information about the library's collections and services is available to faculty and students via a variety of formal and informal channels, including:

• the Faculty Handbook 
• the "Library News" column in the Condon Crier
• "What's Up"
• assistance and information provided by Administration, Circulation, East Asian, Reference, selectors, Technical Services, and individual library staff
• faculty meetings
• instructional sessions
• chance encounters in the hallways and elevators.

Publishing on the web supplements these outlets and enhances law school community access to library information and services. The library homepage will be

• available around the clock
• accessible by any computer connected to the Internet
• an efficient and economical method for disseminating current information
• an interactive forum that allows faculty to communicate their needs to library staff.

Improved marketing of the library's products may generate more sales by reaching new audiences. The use of fill-in-the-blank forms, sent to administrative staff via email, and easily converted into invoices will streamline ordering and billing processes.

Increased sales and greater efficiency will contribute to the profitability of the library's publication program, thereby augmenting the library administration's discretionary resources.

To guarantee that the library homepage is a successful and useful publication, the library should commit appropriate resources to its development and maintenance. However, the homepage is a vehicle, not the message itself. The homepage should describe the library's collections and services and provide unique and specific information not otherwise available. No new staff are being added for homepage-related work; time spent working on the homepage must give way to individual job assignments and departmental and library priorities.