Upcoming Libraries website changes

by Binky Lush, on behalf of WIMT (Web Implementation Management Team)

As you all know, we will be rolling out the new Libraries homepage and top level pages (About, Research, Community and Ask) on December 21! We wanted to offer you a preview and point out some of the changes you can expect.

Design
Our new pages will be more in line with the overall University web look and feel, complying with the Penn State Strategic Communications’ recommendations. The style and color palette are updated, and the new pages are fully responsive, meaning that they work equally well on any device, from mobile phone to large screen desktop.

  • My Accounts and Renew Books are still in the header, though higher up and to the left of the search box.
  • The “Ask A Librarian” widget will look different, but will function exactly the same way.

Homepage

  • Search Box – The search box on the homepage is more prominent and visually simplified. The tabs and functionality will remain the same with the exception of the site search, which has an improved relevancy ranking and will search across both the Drupal and CQ platforms.
  • Featured Image – Replacing the news carousel on the home page will be a large image behind the search box, and a caption with a link to further information.

Guides
With our guides now migrated into LibGuides, we’ve developed a new Library Guides page, for easier guides access and discoverability.

Alerts
The new pages will include an updated alerts system with varying levels of alerts and the ability to close the alert once it has been viewed by the user. As we transition from CQ to Drupal, alerts will be posted in both systems.

Hours and Locations
Until January 4, the Hours and Locations link on every page will go to the CQ hours page (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/hours.html). We have all of the hours listed here through Jan 4.
After Jan 4, with our new hours in place, the Hours and Locations link will go to the new hours page in Drupal. This is also an easy way to navigate library locations (replacing the “change library” link in CQ).

IP Redirects at campuses
Currently, on Libraries’ managed public workstations, when a user goes to the Libraries’ homepage, we default to the campus-specific libraries homepage. For example, if a user is on a Libraries’ managed public machine in the Altoona Library and goes to libraries.psu.edu, the Altoona Libraries homepage will be delivered. Because of the necessary redirects in running CQ and Drupal in parallel, the campus specific IP redirects will not take place as we make the switch to Drupal. This means that all campus workstations will default to the general Libraries homepage.

Preview the site here: https://ul01qa.libraries.psu.edu/ (Note: You will need to be on the Penn State network to view)

We will be doing testing, as well as minor tweaks and bug fixes, until December 21, so you will see small changes taking place over the next week in the preview.

We’d love your feedback, which can be submitted here or via the Website Help link in the new page footer.