Today I was talking with some colleagues about what we could do to make an excellent library Web site. Every idea we entertained came back to one thing: good indexing. Forget about the ColdFusion developers and the graphic designers. The most important thing one can do to make a good, easy-to-use Web site is to create good metadata.

A few days ago I was asked to tell a small group of MLS students about what I did to get where I am today. I gave them my standard sermon about cataloging. Even though my hip little job is quite removed from the more traditional aspects of librarianship, the most important thing I did to prepare was to take intro to cataloging while I was in library school. The technical skills are ephemeral but the underlying knowledge is what holds it all together. And to think that library schools are dumping this kind of class — cataloging, indexing, metadata, whatever — from the curriculum.

Still thinking about my cataloging rant (12.21.00). Looked for a few sites with good indexing:

• Revealing Things, the first Smithsonian exhibition to be created specifically for the Internet.
• weather.com

I would love to see an example of well indexed tech help notes.

reading to remember
reading quickly for plot
reading voraciously
close reading
forward reading
reading to prove something
reading to escape
reading to learn
reading to feel better
reading for pleasure
bias reading
reading to interpolate
neutral reading
misreading
diagnostic reading
confused reading
forced reading
timed reading
reading for comprehension
reading in translation
reading out loud
speed-reading
phonetic reading
preliminary reading
background reading
reading for context