Web Laboratory: Redesign as an Opportunity for Experimentation Heather Cook Reference Librarian Bergen Community College Yolanda Sheppard Web Master/ Technical Assistant Bergen Community College VALE/NJ ACRL/NJLA CUS Users’ Conference Thursday January 5, 2012
The Committee Formed Spring 2011 Diverse Group: ▫Dean of Library and Assistant Dean ▫Web Master ▫Innovative Interfaces Specialist ▫Metadata/Cataloging Librarian ▫Reference Librarian
Website Vision Statement The Library website will: Be accessible to all users, on all browsers, from all devices Provide access to all Library resources and services Adhere to the Bergen Community College website guidelines
Website Design Goals Navigation ▫All information within one click of the home page Easy to update and maintain ▫All pages reviewed/Updated every 6 months Every unique piece of information exists only once, but may appear many times
The Process What’s being done right now? ▫In Libraries and beyond Functionality at the center Major Concerns: ▫1. Navigation ▫2. Database subject sorting ▫3. Editing existing pages/Layout of home page Applied innovations and ideas from test website to current website
The Product Launched October pages down to 35 Improved current website with problem solving ideas from the test website In the cloud: ▫Formsite, Libguides, Drupal, Google Calendar, Google Forms Link from the Library’s home page
Collaboration Before Meeting with IT Faculty Department chair Alternatives to SharePoint Suggested tools ▫Drupal (ex. ▫Microsoft Expression Web After Suggested some tweaks: ▫Fonts ▫Links to pages outside of site Plans to ask next semesters’ Web Design class to give feedback
Drupal Host Gator Drupal Gardens Web Hosting Application Hosting – Drupal VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server) Easy and Affordable
Feedback Google Docs Forms- used to gather feedbackGoogle Docs Forms Link to feedback on test website Feedback received: ▫Suggestions, clarifications, confusing items, language issues, navigation
Where is the “My Library Account” link? -Faculty/Staff I like how everything is easier to access. -Student Database access should have its own box, not just a tab. -Faculty /Staff And perhaps the search for databases could be by keyword rather than subject? -Faculty/Staff I don’t think its much different from the former, but it’s a nice touch. -Student
Looking Toward the Future Keep in test phase and work on suggestions Useful exercise for editing, updating and finding solutions ‘outside of the box’ for the current website
Questions? Yolanda Sheppard Heather Cook