Patchwork 3 was completed about the same time I was creating the Carson Library's World Wide Web site. In early 1996, not many people had heard of the Web, and even fewer had regular access to it. While those 'in the know' were excited and enthusiastic, no one foresaw how quickly and widely it would be adopted. In 2000, almost all libraries and schools have at least some Web access; four years ago it would have been hard to imagine this occurring so quickly.

We realized in 1996 that putting Patchwork on the Internet inflicted some burden and cost on those who wished to obtain a copy. Nonetheless, we felt that as more and more individuals and schools gained access, the advantages outweighed the drawbacks. Not least, Web publication seemed to be the only way Patchwork could be offered to so many people, print publication no longer being an option.

Although we are now far more versed in the mechanics of online documents than we were four years ago, the Web is still a new medium. We are still learning how to make hypertext work. Moving from actual to virtual documents has not been without snags.

In spite of this, we went ahead and offered the first Web edition of Patchwork. It was nearly identical in content to the third print edition. Patchwork 3 lacked chapters on technology and reference services. The goal was to publish what we had, then add and update as new material became available.

Unfortunately, circumstances changed. Funding for the Montana Rural Education Center at UM-Western dried up, and the planned chapters on reference services and on technology were never written. (Given the pace of change in the latter, it might have been impossible to keep such a chapter current enough to be worthwhile.) Also, the print version of Patchwork 3 included a chapter on policies which never made it to the Web edition.

On a positive note, the Montana Legislature has approved funding for a new Rural Education Technology building at UM-Western, with construction scheduled to begin in summer, 2000. Once this facility is in place, there may be an opportunity to revisit the needs of school librarians, and with luck, we will someday see a Patchwork 4.

When I worked on Patchwork in 1996, Netscape's Navigator was overwhelmingly the dominant graphical browser. I used version 2.01, but worried about the people still using earlier releases which didn't support tables! I also tested the pages using Lynx, because it was gospel that Web authors had to accomodate text-only browsers.

Now it is 2000, and Navigator is nearly irrelevant. While one may question Microsoft's marketing tactics, one must also acknowledge that Internet Explorer is a much better browser than it used to be, and is increasingly the one most widely used. Over the last four years, log analyses show Lynx users to be fewer than half of one percent of visitors to the Carson Library's site.

Even though it is still impossible to know exactly how Patchwork will appear to every reader, we have tried to make it both usable and attractive. At this point, we assume most users have graphical Web browsers that support tables, and we still recommend you turn off link underlining to reduce visual clutter.

Over the years, Patchwork has attracted close to ten thousand visits--not a remarkable figure, but not bad for a modest publication on a relatively esoteric topic. We thank you all, and hope you found it worth your while.

George Suttle was Assistant Librarian at the Lucy Carson Library as well as an Associate Professor of Library Science at University of Montana -- Western of the University of Montana from 1995-2000. He created the Library's website in 1995 and saw it through several versions before moving on.

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It was last updated Tuesday February 04 2003