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Designing a New Library Website

This guide is intended to document the process of the 2018 library website redesign.

Where We Started

Library homepage

 

The Library had the first campus website back in 1996. Over the years, ownership of the Library's website transitioned to the Marketing and Communication department. In 2017, the library website was brought into line with the current university design. We also no longer had a Web Content Coordinator for the University. 

Problems quickly began to crop up. While I had the authority to edit and create content, I could not modify the layout. This led to several workarounds, such a double menus. 

In 2018, the University hired a new head of Marketing and Communication. In the Library's initial meeting, I proposed transitioning the Library's website to a new platform which would provide more autonomy.

This is the result of that effort.  

How We Moved Forward

Once we had approval to go forward with the project, I began by thinking about what the website needed to be sucessful.

Survey of Students - February 2015 Survey of Librarians - March 2018
Must be able to: Must be able to:
  • find resources on your topic
  • help students get resources they need simply
Important features: Important features:
  • citation help
  • chat with librarians
  • hours and closings
  • EDS search box
  • LibGuides

In February 2018, I began tracking patron behavior on the Library's website. These are the most popular pages over the last 6 months.

Page Unique Page views
Library homepage 8227
Hours & Closings 583
Staff Directory 285
Database List 176
About 172
Off-Campus Access 137
LibGuides 115
Yearbooks 54
Refworks 40
Citation Help 26