I have been thinking a great deal about our Library website.  While we didn’t have an official celebration to mark the site’s first year anniversary, this doesn’t distract from the impact the new site has had and continues to have, on our user community.

Let’s journey back to December 2012 for a moment when a “sneak peek” announcement was posted on our blog. Our goal at that time was to deliver an aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate site.  We understood from our user community that a transition period would be important so our marketing plan included running both sites for a fixed period of time, providing opportunities for our users to trial the new site and ask us questions concerning the new layout and search functionality.  This also proved to be a good opportunity to receive additional feedback. On Thursday, Jan 31, 2013, we transitioned to the new site and we have not looked back since.  Continue reading →

Weather-wise, it will be good to say good-bye to February.  However the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics has certainly, for me, been a wonderful distraction. Starting with the opening ceremonies, a three-hour event which highlighted Russian culture as seen through the eyes of a young girl, followed by the 3,000 or so athletes who marched into the arena behind their team mate bearing their country’s flag. Whether you were impressed with the dancing bobsledders from Jamaica, the smiling faces of the Canadians, or shorts-wearing athletes from Bermuda (wouldn’t be my choice of outerwear but I do get the connection), you definitely felt the excitement streaming through the TV. Continue reading →