I am excited to be writing this month’s Director’s Reflection to share with our user community the forthcoming launch of the new and improved Library website. In fact, we wanted to present a sneak peek at the beta site before we switched over. As of today, Thursday, December 20, you’ll be able to view the beta site. We have also placed a link to this site from the Library’s homepage.
Everyone on staff has worked hard on this project and will continue to work hard in order to offer the best virtual entrance to the content and services we provide. Our goal was to deliver an aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate site and based on preliminary feedback – we have definitely accomplished what we set out to do!
Over the past two years we have reached out to our users via website satisfaction surveys, focus group sessions, one-on-one discussions, department presentations, and usability activities to gather the right information for our website redesign project. The outcome of this work has been positive, as we have learned a great deal from our clinicians, nurses, researchers, students, and administrative staff about their information needs and how to integrate the Library website in their workflow. Both small and large improvements to the site were made. We also have been able to outline future needs, which can be addressed as technology improves.
Our last site redesign took place in 2006 and this redesign has incorporated many of the repeat comments shared by our constituents. We want our users to have an early access preview so that they have time to explore the new site as well as provide additional comments by completing this brief user survey. We really want to know how we did! Our official launch is scheduled for Thursday, January 31, 2013.
In closing, I would like to share a few aspects of the site redesign which include:
- a responsive website design approach to address the growing use of mobile devices. We can no longer assume that the Library website is only viewed on a desktop monitor so we considered the most popular devices used (iPhone, iPad, Android) and built the site to adapt to these mobile devices,
- a complete makeover with multiple routes to access key services and fewer clicks to our top resources/content,
- navigational improvements with the implementation of a new search and discovery tool called Summon,
- better visibility of social media (our Blog and Twitter account) as well as our customized LibGuides and Synapse.
Should you have any questions regarding our beta site or our forthcoming Library website launch, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Happy Holidays!
Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services