Susan DiMattia has been editor of Corporate Library Update since its inception ten years ago and Library Hotline for 14 years. She is a frequent contributor to Library Journal. A former bank librarian and business information consultant, she is a past president of the Special Libraries Association and founding member of the Long Island and Fairfield County chapters of SLA. At various times, she has been on the adjunct faculty of the library schools at Long Island University, Pratt Institute, and Southern Connecticut State University.

For more information, see the PowerPoint presentations from the Creative Intranet Applications program presented at the Special Libraries Association 2002 Conference.

Design “Consistency in navigation is essential,” Chick explains. “In most intranets’ infancy, there was a notable lack of consistency, as many departments were striking out on their own, doing their own thing.” By moving to a template model in the redesign stage, office sites can mount their content with a consistent look and feel while offering some flexibility. That goal of consistent yet dynamic and flexible content is a hallmark of the Latham intranet. In displaying sample pages from the Reed Smith intranet, Sullivan is very open in his critique of some of the design elements. There is no standardization at Reed Smith between what is put up by the libraries and what is generated by the practice groups. As a result, similar terms may be used in different ways. Core materials are not meaningful across practice groups. The icons used on the library pages don’t mean anything to the lawyers, Sullivan admits. He also points out that the Reed Smith site uses a mix of fonts and type sizes, which confuses the user. Costs Faegre spent about $40,000 on the server and software needed to develop FaegreNet. In addition, they have a full-time staff of four people who are devoted to FaegreNet and FIDO (Faegre Interactive Documents Online), the firm’s knowledge management system. The goal is to improve service and reduce costs to clients by making use of the collective knowledge of the firm. Platt is quick to point out that the staffing level wasn’t achieved without a lot of work to convince the firm of the potential value of the intranet. In addition to the staff of four, the research librarians at Faegre participate in application development, current awareness, and maintenance of the research pages.

Tips for a Dynamic Intranet Create consistency in navigation and look— it’s essential Establish a simple, clean interface that will aid users Provide meaningful content Give people the ability to browse and search Minimize content updating functions Test before launch—can people use it easily? Design applications that can meet everyone’s needs Appoint a point person or team for overall responsibility Foster interdepartmental teamwork

“I honestly have no idea as to the real cost of the intranet,” Chick admits, saying that Latham has a substantial number of employees who are completely devoted to developing intranet applications and databases. One key to minimizing costs, in Chick’s view, is to make sure that you integrate the collection of the information with normal procedures. “You don’t want to duplicate information in a separate location or database and then double the work you have to do to maintain it,” she advises. “In terms of keeping staff to a minimum, yet still maintaining fresh content, it is important to consider how you can make available information that you’re already collecting in some form.”

Librarians’ Intranet Role Platt articulates the ongoing role of the librarian in sustaining dynamic intranets. Planner—bringing the organization into the intranet environment Marketer—understanding segments of the organization and their unique needs Leader— envisioning and communicating the value of the intranet, guiding management to an understanding that allows the process to move forward. Risk-taker — making decisions with no clear path to follow Partner—cooperating with users and vendors. Salesperson— the most important role in creating an understanding of the value of an intranet; should consume 50 percent of the effort

Training Whatever the actual investment in intranets, there is little to no return on that investment if staff do not use it at all or lack the expertise to use it effectively. Successful training efforts vary by organization, but individualized service tends to be most effective. Once FaegreNet was developed, it went through a test process. Individuals were given tasks to accomplish. The intranet manager watched them navigate the site in order to determine their success in finding the information they were looking for. Several changes were made based on the feedback from usability testing. Faegre’s staff have found that classroom training and conference room demonstrations aren’t very successful. Sullivan agrees that group training doesn’t work at Reed Smith. Instead, Faegre’s librarians have a multilayered approach to training. New attorneys and staff are required to take intranet training as part of their orientation. The library services staff continually attend practice group meetings to demonstrate new resources and to create awareness. Finally, they offer “@YourDesk” training, working with individuals “just in time,” at their point of need. Early in the history of Latham’s intranet, a combination of library and technology staffs conducted sessions on how to search the intranet and the Internet as a whole and guided users to content. Group sessions were held for the legal practice groups, such as tax and environment, and for specialized staff groups such as paralegals and secretaries. A great deal of one-on-one training was also offered, particularly as individual attorneys decided it was time for them to learn the intranet. Now, all new associates to the firm, as well as large groups of summer associates, receive at least one hour of intranet orientation during their first week in the firm.

Marketing Chick views training and marketing as companion efforts in the search for a dynamic, successful intranet. She says the Latham intranet has never been marketed in a strict sense but has been allowed to grow gradually in content and value over the years. In the process it sells itself as a key information resource. “The more information that’s published on the intranet, the more necessary it is for employees to use it to get the information they want, whether it’s about policies on vacation time or to research a legal issue. The more that employees turn to the intranet and find what they need, the more they’ll come back.” Chick has not done organized evaluation of intranet use and satisfaction. However, each portion of the intranet has been developed with substantial input from its main user group, and each group continues to be involved in maintaining and updating its site. An open house to launch FaegreNet was a disappointment. “We found that the excitement we had for the project wasn’t shared by all,” Platt says. In a continuing effort, over the past three years, the library services staff have made repeat visits to group and department meetings, hosted scavenger hunts, held contests, sent e-mails, written articles for the firm’s weekly newsletter, and featured individuals in “FaegreNet: Behind the Scenes” articles in the library newsletter—to show that while the library manages content, they look to contributors throughout the firm to provide that content. Sullivan says part of his marketing effort involves subtly nudging people toward the intranet. “If someone asks a question, answer it, but then say, ‘Did you know you can find this on the intranet.’ ” The Reed Smith libraries are leading the way in the redesign and rethinking of the intranet. An intranet revision committee was formed earlier this year to evaluate the current status of the intranet and where it needs to go. A questionnaire was sent to all practice groups, using Zoomerang software. Short term changes in the intranet have been implemented while a long term direction and goals are being planned. Future Challenges Delivery of intranet content to PDAs is definitely on the horizon, Chick says. “The development that I’d like to see most is the ability to search a wide range of information and resources on the intranet, including web pages, SQL databases, and perhaps even external web sites, in one search.” Learning from Amazon and Google, she would like to provide guidance, such as “others that asked for this also asked for that.” She also wants to move beyond making people choose which database to search. “That assumes they are aware of the wide range of resources that are available. They shouldn’t have to choose a source,” says Chick. “The source should choose them, so to speak, based on the search terms that they’ve used and the information that’s available.” “As we move from a printed collection to a more electronic library, we will need to use the intranet to develop that library,” Platt says. “We’ve only begun to figure out the design for the virtual library. As we try to create access to the hybrid library [print and electronic], we have user needs that are not being met. What does that mean for the future of the library? I don’t have the answer or even a prediction but I struggle with how we will provide a library experience that will still have meaning for our patrons.” Copyright 2002, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Library Journal. This article appeared in the July 2002 issue.