Alumni Online Plus: An Online Community for Professional Networking

Abstract

This paper describes the functional specifications for an online community to facilitate networking and professional development among the current, former, and future students of the School of Information and Library Science ("SILS") at UNC Chapel Hill. A literature review, surveys conducted on behalf of SILS in the summer and fall of 2002, and a survey conducted in conjunction with this paper in January of 2003 were used to inform the design of the community. In this paper, the evidence supporting a need to create more services for students and alumni is demonstrated, the literature supporting the creation of online communities is examined, and a design for the system is proposed.