Blogs

The Web Redesign Team is working hard on the new website, especially the content creation environment and tools. We hope you are working on your web content, too--developing, editing, and refining the content you plan to publish on the new website’s subject guides, branch pages, and project pages.

We recommended some guidelines for Writing for the Web earlier to help you evaluate the clarity of your content’s message. But what about images, videos, or attached documents on your pages? Here are some guidelines to consider as you look at your content.

Guidelines for uploading documents to the library web environment

When moving content to the new website, you will need to follow the same guidelines established for capturing and sharing Everyday Electronic Materials (EEMs):

“In general, capturing and redistributing digital material is understood to be an act of distribution, which is an exclusive right of the copyright owner. Therefore, SULAIR must seek permission from the rights holder, unless the work is in the public domain or explicitly licensed for redistribution."

When in doubt, link to documents instead of uploading them.

In April, approximately 41,000 images representing just over 1,300 items across several collections were accessioned to the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR).

• R. Stuart Hummel collection: ~1,000 items (~ 35,000 images)
• Stanford Medieval Manuscripts: 280 manuscripts (560 images)
• Bibliothèque nationale du France: 3 manuscripts ( ~ 1,300 images)
• Reid Dennis California Lithographs: 47 lithographs (47 images)
• Archives Parlementaires: 2 books (1,600 images)
• Special Collections Requests: 19 items (~2,800 images)

While many of these objects are already discoverable via SearchWorks others will get SearchWorks records in the coming months. However, all materials are currently available via the item’s PURL (a persistent URL which ensure that these materials are available from a single URL over the long-term, regardless of changes in file location or application technology).

Between January and March of this year the web redesign project took a small break in full-time engineering to focus attention on design work, bug fixing, user testing, and analyzing user feedback. The outcomes of this work have been positive, as we've learned a great deal from students, faculty and staff about how they would use the new site and whether or not it will help them successfully complete their most important tasks.  Many small and large improvements to librarypreview.stanford.edu have already been made, and continue to be added.