[Sigia-l] Keeping pages current on an intranet / Best Practices

[Kubalak, Janet]

Hi all,

This might be a bit off-topic but since many of us started as jacks/jills-of-all-trades when it comes to the web, I'm hoping someone will have some suggestions as well as some actual cites.

I'm part of a small group tasked with coming up with a way to ensure that pages on our intranet are current. One of the things I thought of was asking that web pages carry the file attribute "LastModified" in the form "Last Updated: mm/dd/yy" or something similar.

I could swear that this used to be considered a Good Thing to do, but can't find it referenced anywhere and certainly don't see it done that often.  I'm beginning to think I made it up.  Btw, I recognize its limitations, i.e., adding so much as a comma changes the LastModified date, a recent LastModified date is no guarantee of either accuracy or currency, etc.

Does anyone have any memories of using LastModified on web pages?
An idea of why it is infrequently used?  Any citations to it?
Recommendations (simple, actionable) for keeping an intranet up to date?

Thanks!

-Janet Kubalak
 Joint Bank-Fund Library
 Washington DC 20431
 Tel: (202) 623-6402
 Fax: (202) 623-6128