The original design of Plinkit was approached with one prevailing aim: to empower local libraries to market themselves as a local, valuable resource and information service provider.

The impact of the this design philosophy was to create a content and information-rich site for patrons that would require relatively little overhead for library staff to maintain and update. Whenever possible, the content was incorporated directly into the website as opposed to simply providing links to other (external) websites.

The two areas of the Oregon Plinkit template (and what is becoming the "Master Template" each new Collaborative member receives) that most bear this out are: 

1. The Home Page by having:
• The Catalog Search top and center
• The "eShelf and Research" highlighted in the middle; these are web-based resources that are directly embedded in the site in one form or another
• Additional statewide library services (virtual reference and K-12 information literacy tools)
  
  



2. The eShelf and Research Page by having:
• "Materials Online" which provides links and descriptions to the individual databases provided through Oregon's Statewide Database Licensing Program
• "Selected Sites" which is a local mirror of the entire Online Directory Project (http://dmoz.org/). [not currently distributed to Collaborative partners*]
• "Community Organizations" which is an online directory for libraries to provide information about their local (typically non-profit) organizations
• "Good Reads" which uses (almost exclusively) various RSS feeds and other external sources to provide various book lists
• "Digital Exhibits" which enables libraries to show case historical photos and other digitized materials

As Plinkit is starting to be used by different states and regional systems, it's clear that that this approach is not universal and not necessarily desirable in all situations.

What each Collaborative member is encouraged to do is think about the approach they want to take in supporting their small public libraries with a web site. The "Master Plinkit" template is a great starting point but obviously wasn't designed with the idea that every public library in every regional system or state would find it adequate without some modifications.