Collection descriptions are the one thing on the web that stands between your potential users and your collections. You have already spent considerable effort in writing a description that succinctly and accurately describes the items that you mediate access to. Now the biggest hurdle is getting potential users to look at your collections.
Here at selfdescription.org we are advocating the use of microformats - little nuggets of information - to make your collection descriptions more accessible.
We would be very interested to hear from you if you are interested in what we are doing.