aliaNEWS - a broadcast e-list to the library and information sector

19 May 2003

In this aliaNEWS broadcast:

It's here

Important notice to members...

It's here
The new website was launched on Thursday evening to a most enthusiastic crowd at the ALIA Annual General Meeting. The actual switch of the site took place this morning, and mostly things are now running fairly smoothly. It has taken three intensive months of solid work to build ALIA's '5th-generation' website. We hope that you like it, and hope that you enjoy the faster speed of loading, the new chat server, the e-prints repository, the database-driven events pages, the new conference pages, and the members-only material.

The site retains ALL previous URLs, in spirit and intent. As with all site rebuilds from the ground up, we've had to reassess where material sits, and some content has moved to a better location that suits the growing needs of members. However, in almost all cases, the URL will either remain the same or will hopefully be slightly shorter. The only exception is members-only material - for the sake of keeping this content in a 'closed box', we've had to add a small snippet to each URL. If we have missed a redirection, please let me know personally. We believe that we have picked up 99.9% of the possible suspects.

Here are some numbers to dazzle you: to move and convert the existing 20 000 pages, it took 4 staff working solidly for 3 months to bring you the new site. Integration with the new membership database was handled by contractors who are building the membership database, but essentially the bulk of the work was performed by just 4 ALIA National Office staff. A recent site conversion in America by a similar organisation has these figures: more than 100 staff took 2 years to convert 40 000 pages, at a cost of US$6 million. Back-of-the-envelope comparisons are mind-boggling.

That aside - we encourage you all to view the new site, and to send us your comments (positive or negative - though we hope that you enjoy what you see and find). It is a brand-new site, so there is still much to be built, and like any new construction, the builders are still tinkering around the edges to make sure that it all runs smoothly.
http://alia.org.au/alianet/v5.html

Important notice to members...
The timing is uncanny, but many of you will be aware of a virus that has hit our systems over the past few days. Their general imprint indicates that the message purportedly comes from support@microsoft.com (it does not) and has a reference in the subject to your password or your details or your application or something like this. If your virus protection does not trap it first, please delete the incoming message without opening it.

Note that if you are applying to gain access to the members-only section of ALIAnet, we will send a password to your listed e-mail address (the one that matches what we have in our membership database) that will allow you to access the site. That message can only come from membership@alia.org.au.

WE WILL NOT INDICATE IN THE SUBJECT OR IN THE BODY OF THE MESSAGE that a password is contained in the message. It most certainly will NOT have a subject of 'Your password'. Treat anything else as suspicious and potentially a virus!