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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ALA Web Site Disaster - Hyperlinks No Longer Work; ALA's New Web Site Makes Many Former URLs Obsolete

The ALA has revamped its web site, and in the process, at least some former hyperlinks fail to work.  They are not being redirected to new URLs.  I have so many links to the ALA web site to support my findings, I just don't know what to do.  I'll bet everyone else is similarly affected.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to resolve this?  Like by convincing the ALA to set up redirects, or by using Archive.org, or by mass editing hyperlinks (hopefully not)?

For example,  the ALA's "Library Bill of Rights" used to be at:

http://www.ala.org/ala/
oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights
.htm

and now it is at:

http://www.ala.org/ala/
aboutala/offices/
oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights
.cfm

All you get now is this:

Page Not Found

The page you're looking for is unavailable at the web address you used.  The American Library Association has implemented a new site architecture and has reorganized all of the content on the site.

Here are some strategies to use to find the information you are seeking.

  • Try browsing to the page, using the navigation on the left side of the page.
  • Use the site search function (the search box is in the upper right quadrant of the page).  search bar graphic
  • Contact Karen Muller, the ALA Librarian, at library@ala.org for assistance.  She (or another member of the Library staff) will try to find the page, or connect you to the unit responsible for the page, usually within a business day.

Thank you for visiting ALA's new website!

at

4 comments:

  1. SafeLibraries®Tue Sep 23, 07:11:00 PM 2008

    From the ALA:

    "ALA Launches Web Site Upgrade," by Steve Zalusky, American Library Association, 23 September 2008.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SafeLibraries®Thu Sep 25, 09:53:00 AM 2008

    Whoops, even the ALA itself is affected, according to this portion of an email of today's date from one ALA Councilor to all the others:

    "I did a search on the ALA site using the term 'open government' and found a number of links to ALA activities. None of the links seem to be working this evening and I can't get into the Washington office part of the ALA website, but I am sure this is only a temporary problem so the search can be done later for more information."

    Please, ALA, please resolve this problem quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SafeLibraries®Sat Sep 27, 05:44:00 PM 2008

    "hello ala.org"

    ReplyDelete
  4. SafeLibraries®Tue Oct 21, 10:47:00 PM 2008

    Well, it seems the ALA will not be fixing the problem, based on these old links still not working a month later.

    ReplyDelete

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