The countdown has begun! We are two weeks away from some big changes happening to the Libraries’ public website as well as the switch to the new staff website!

Here is a reminder of some of the changes that are coming the week of May 16:

Public site:

1. Services: We will be replacing “Community” with “Services” in the global navigation. Under Services, we will highlight the services that the Libraries provide- removing them from the departments pages where they have been described previously, and bring them to the surface where they are much easier for our users to find!  Services will be grouped into categories that have been identified by user testing, including:
   • Borrow and Renew
   • Course Reserves
   • Rooms and Spaces
   • Technology and Equipment
   • Adaptive Technology
   • Research Help
   • Guides and Tutorials
   • Instruction and Classroom Support
   • Research Data Services
   • ScholarSphere
2. About: “About” will remain in the global navigation, though the organization will change.  This section will be categorized more intuitively into the following areas:
   • Libraries
   • Staff and Department Directory
   • Jobs
   • News and Events
   • Awards and Scholarships
   • Giving to the Libraries
   • Strategic Planning and Initiatives
   • Collections
   • Message from the Dean
   • Organization at a Glance
3. Public vs. staff: In an effort to move and separate pages that are for our own internal use and information, many pages will move to the staff site (more about the staff site below). Departments will all have their directory information available publicly, but much of the information that currently resides in the current department area will be moved to Services, if it is for our users, or to the Staff Site, if it is for our own faculty and staff.
4. Staff Directory: We will have a new staff and department directory that is faster and provides a much more robust search!

The biggest change with the new staff site is the fact that we have completely separated it from the public site. The staff site is a place for all of our faculty and staff to add information for their own library or department use and for others within the Libraries. The site is only accessible to those working in the Libraries.

Staff site stakeholders identified two key elements as most important on the staff site: a search box that works well and a customized dashboard. We are happy to be providing both with the new staff site! You will be able to create your own list of favorites on the home page or dashboard of the Staff Site, so the pages and tools you use are immediately and easily available to you. And the new SOLR search index will provide a robust search for all Staff Site content to make things much more easily discoverable.

We are excited about the changes coming to both the public and staff sites and to be improving the user experience for both our internal and external users! Look for a preview of the staff site and the changes to the public site coming shortly; we look forward to hearing from all of you! Please send your questions and feedback via the Website Feedback link at the bottom of every page on the Libraries website.

Thank you for your support as we continue to make our site better for all of our users!

– submitted by Binky Lush,
on behalf of the Web Implementation and Management Team and the Development Team