Untangling the Tangled Webs We Weave: A Team Approach to Cyberspace.

Working in a cooperative team environment across libraries and job classifications, librarians and support staff at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) have mounted several successful web projects, including two versions of the Libraries' home page, a virtual reference collection, and Science Library "ANTswer Machine." UCI's team-based structure, stressing shared responsibility and authority, makes its approach to these projects novel. Intended for librarians and other library staff involved in creating, designing, and/or maintaining library web sites, this paper offers insights into both the intellectual and technical processes that continue to inform the design and implementation of the UCI Libraries' presence in cyberspace. The following issues were discussed by three panel members: (1) "Background: The Who, What, Why of the Teams," the context within which project deliberations and decisions were made (Kathryn Kjaer); (2) "Campus Climate and Web Redesign," the academic, social, and political factors that informed the home page design (Ellen Broidy); (3) "Operationalizing: Look, Criteria, Standards," the relationship between content and design (Christina Woo); and (4) "Conclusion: Where to From Here?," a brief overview of new projects and opportunities, examining how they fit into ongoing initiatives and how new directions force reconsideration of standards, guidelines, and criteria. (Author/SWC)