Date post: | 29-Oct-2014 |
Category: |
Technology |
Upload: | chris-bulin |
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Library Website Redesign
Redesigning the Romulus and Lincoln Park Public Library Websites
History of the Project
• Leah was hired as an unpaid library intern in Romulus.
• With minimal web design experience she volunteered to help improve the site.
• Small changes turned into big changes until the site was completely redone.
• The Romulus director emailed other directors in the area explaining the intern's success.
• Other local libraries reached out to UMSI students for help.
Original Romulus Website
New Romulus Website
Original Lincoln Park Website
Site Goals & User Concerns
GoalsCreate more dynamic contentBetter Information ArchitectureAllow more user interaction with the site.Make an online community
User ConcernsAbility to easily update siteTime commitment to site:Who will write
the blogs, how much content needs to be written?
Is there enough content?
New Lincoln Park Development Website
Budget & Time Commitment
• Public libraries generally have very small budgets.
• Unpaid interns are a huge resource.
• Rebuilding a website is a huge time commitment.
• Finding the right tools and resources is the key to success.
Content Management Systems
• WordPress (http://wordpress.org/)
• Drupal (http://drupal.org/)
• Joomla (http://www.joomla.org/)
• Plone (http://plone.org/)
• ModX (http://modx.com/)
• Weebly (http://www.weebly.com/)
Library website examples (except ModX and Weebly) courtesy of Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki (http://www.libsuccess.org/Content_Management_Systems_(CMS))
WordPress
Drupal
Joomla
Plone
ModX
Weebly
Community & Social Media
• Patrons expecting more from library websites
• Pew Internet Report on Libraries in the Digital Age (2013), "[Patrons] said that even finding and reserving books could be overly complicated, and others said that the interfaces seem outdated"
• Branding for consistency & recognition
"Let the library be the George Takei of your community.“ – Ben Bizzle
Thank you
Questions?