Web Committee Annual Report 2020

submitted by Kerry Masteller

Current Roster

  • Vaughan Hennen (2021)
  • Raymond G. Heigemeir (2023)
  • Jason Imbesi (2021)
  • Amy Jackson (2021)
  • Kerry Masteller (chair, 2023)
  • Abbey E. Thompson (2021)
  • A-R Editions (ex-officio)
  • Katie Buehner (ex-officio)
  • Elizabeth Cribbs (ex-officio, 2024)
  • Joshua A. Henry (ex-officio, 2022)
  • Stephen P. Henry (ex-officio, 2023)
  • Jacey Kepich (ex-officio, 2025)
  • Tracey E. Rudnick (ex-officio, 2022)
  • Sandra Pearson (ex-officio, 2025)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • Maintain Website Content
    • The Committee continues to update basic content on the site at the request of board members and committee chairs.
    • Jason Imbesi continues to serve as liaison to Notes and E-Notes.
    • Ray Heigemeir created Google docs pages and links in Sched for collaborative notes in every 2020 annual meeting session; if this is done for future meetings, more guidance for members about the presence and purpose of the documents may be necessary.
    • As liaison from CMC, Joshua Henry completed migration of the CMC website to Wordpress.
  • Migration of MLA Website: In progress
    • Under the direction of the Web Manager and Assistant Web Manager, work remains underway to prepare for and track the migration of MLA’s website from YourMembership to Wordpress. After test migrations of the CMC and MLSTEP websites and the Library School Directory, we are satisfied that Wordpress will be easier to use and to maintain.
  • Subtitling of Conference Presentations 
    • Making our conference presentations accessible furthers our core organizational values of access and inclusivity. After a semi successful pilot of video captioning in 2018/19, we will need to refocus efforts on this project.
  • Inevitably, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused interruptions in institutional support and personal availability; many of our day-to day efforts (e.g. routine website updates) have continued as usual, but work on longer-term strategic goals (such as final migration of the website) has lagged. An extended and frustrating period of instability of the Your Membership platform during MLA’s elections this fall brought new urgency to the website migration. Hopefully, the new year and the approaching virtual annual meeting will give us an opportunity to refocus on these larger projects.

 

List of Future Goals

  • Complete Migration of MLA website to Wordpress: Technology; Organizational Excellence; Value of the Profession
    • Work on transfer of MLA’s site to Wordpress, directed by the Web Manager, began in early summer 2019. When completed, MLA’s website will be easier to maintain and more useful for organization members and others interested in the profession. The migration gives us an opportunity to think about how MLA highlights content of interest to the profession, such as Notes and other publications, and to further increase the visibility of MLA.
    • Some content review and reconciliation between the two versions of the website (current, and Wordpress) will need to be completed before launch of the new site.
    • Conversations with other committee chairs and MLA members have made clear the desire of the membership to have a website that more clearly highlights their contributions to the profession. We’ve seen increased interest from committees and interest groups in ways to use the site to share their own work.
    • A topic for future discussion with the web managers, board and membership: when should information on a page be archived, and how long should legacy content remain available on the main website, versus in the MLA Archives
  • Virtual Conference Support:  Technology; Organizational Excellence; Value of the Profession
    • Although much remains to be determined about the final shape of the 2021 Annual Meeting, we anticipate that the program committee and web managers may need additional support from the Web Committee for the virtual conference, and we look forward to assisting!