Summary
New website features, and how we got here!
In our digital age, a library’s website is like another branch of the library. If you’re someone who mostly reads digitally through the Libby app, this might even be the library ‘branch’ you visit most often. We want our website to feel just as welcoming and easy to navigate as our brick-and-mortar branches – we hope you like what we’ve done with the place!
New Features
We want our website to be as user-friendly as possible, so we added a few things:
- Events Calendar: this calendar can be viewed as a list, or by week or month. You can also filter the events by choosing things like “Adult Crafts” or “Local History” to quickly find the type of event you’re looking for.
- Online Registration: if an event requires registration, you can now register online. We know that not everyone can call us to register during open hours – we hope this makes it easier for busy families to register for upcoming events!
- Curated Collections: we have a lot of unique items in our collections, but it can be difficult to search for these through our online catalogue. We’ve collected some of our most popular items for you to discover on our Borrowing Page: here you’ll find our kits and other unique items.
- Library Blog: we know that the digital world is changing and not everyone is on social media – so our blog guarantees you can quickly find library news and insights, regardless of what the algorithm does this week. If you already subscribe to Top Shelf, you’ll find each month’s blog featured there so you never miss a post.
You’ll also find new accessibility features on our site, and a design that changes to suit whatever device you’re using. We hope that this makes it easy to find what you need!
How We Got Here
Creating a new website is no small feat, and we had lots of help. Because we wanted this new site to be as user-friendly as possible, we contacted Centennial College’s Interactive Media Management Program and recruited two student interns for the summer of 2024: Liz and Mandy already had experience designing websites, but their internship focused on how to make websites as user-friendly as possible. It was a perfect match with BPL.
We had several Brightonians volunteer their time to be interviewed by Liz and Mandy, so they could get a sense of how our community uses the library and our website. Then, our students set to work researching and designing something that would be cost-effective but also pleasant to use. As we discussed and tested the design, Liz told us “I had no ideas libraries did so much!” We hope this new, digital branch makes it easy for you to find out more about your library.