The New York Public Library's Summer Reading Program site is finally up, and if I do say so myself, it rocks. Our target audience is 3rd through 12th graders (although there is some stuff there for younger kids and their parents). Readers can send e-cards, write book reviews and vote on books, connect with authors and other readers in our bulletin boards, and chat live with 4 world-class authors.

How did we do it? We hired a whiz-bang project manager - Linda Braun - with experience designing for kids, and some snappy graphic designers & programmers. We didn't let a committee near the content (although that was a close call). We kept the focus on children and teens, rather than parents, librarians or administrators. They can find their own damn sites.

And - finally - we never, ever, considered saying something like this -- "this year we have added several new features to our site. In addition to the Program Manual in a variety of formats (HTML and PDF), we have included several "interactive pages" where users can enter information directly from their keyboard." [from the Florida State summer reading site splash page].

Our users don't want to know about format, nor do they want to think about the process of interacting online (my fingers are typing on a keyboard...) They want to talk, vote, trash a book, play games, meet a cute author, and hang out with other book-ish types.

Actually, they want to do more, but there's there are are limits to what a library website can provide.
;-)

On Memorial Day I didn't "press a foot on the accelerator to make the car move north" - I went on a road trip. Writing for the web really is quite simple.