The Search box on www.msu.edu works for finding MSU departments because we have a facility called MSU Keywords which is populated with URLs for most commonly-sought Web sites at MSU, and the keywords used most commonly to search for them.
We also provide the Browse A-Z function using the same MSU Keywords database. Some people find this a useful alternative to browsing via the topical or by-audience hierarchy.
The Browse A-Z is somewhat hidden on the existing site. The beta site has it at the top of the page. We received one customer comment that they liked this new feature and that it works much better than the Search function!
The Search and Browse A-Z functions on the beta site use the same MSU Keywords database and should return identical results, only with the look of the new site. On both sites, if MSU Keywords doesn't find a match, we hand the search off to the Google index of
msu.edu. (For instance, search for "matanuska glacier".)
MSU Keywords entries are maintained primarily by me. Unfortunately there are times when changes occur and the database doesn't reflect them -- departments are created, merge, renamed, etc. Anyone noting an error or omission in MSU Keywords can click Contact Us and let us know we need to make a change.
Ever since 1992 when I was MSU's Gopher Coordinator, I've dreamed of putting the Departmental Listings section of the Faculty/Staff Directory online. For a variety of reasons it never happened. Maybe it will happen someday, but in the Web era we may get to the point where that's no longer needed -- go to the main MSU home page, either search or browse A-Z, click on the department Web site, find what you need.
/rich
In general, I have found that the best approach to finding department
sites like this, is to use the Search box. That seems to work the same
with the new page as with the old.
However, I did a quick attempt to find the travel site via the menus,
and I found it where I would have expected to find it. I started by
clicking the "Faculty & Staff" tab at the top. Since I didn't spot
Travel or Controller in the highlighted list, I tried the "Facilities &
Services" entry under the "Exploring MSU" bar. There, under the heading
"Business & Administrative Services", I found both "Controller's Office"
and "Travel Office".
Now, I probably know the organization of MSU better than many, but it
seems like the choices I made were the intuitive choices, given what was
presented. Similarly, it was not difficult to find a list of academic
units and programs.
