Upper Arlington Library Website Proposal

Overview

The Upper Arlington Public Library is more than just a comprehensive resource for research and entertainment. Our community library is also a resource for families to get information about the community through bulletins and local periodicals. The UAlibrary.org website has done a good job of providing this information as well and provides library users with several convenience features which are greatly appreciated. 

With this infrastructure, both physical and virtual, it is now time for the library to take the next step – being a resource which provides our community with a center. While discussions move forward about making the main library a physical center for the community, linked in as part of the Northam Hub, the UAlibrary.org website can be the virtual center for our city. The website will be the heart of the information used to provide outreach to residents and visitors alike, attracting new residents and business to the area through its comprehensive tools.

These online tools don’t need to be locked away into the cubicles which hold workstations. Using new technologies we can free them to interact with users throughout the library as well as continuing to provide more traditional forms of access. This document is intended to inspire possibilities and look to the future where the library is firmly established as the central community partner.

This document is organized based on implementation scenarios; trying to provide options for phased implementation. The ultimate goal is total integration of all of the discussed scenarios.

• 1. Website Layout – Ideas to improve upon the current layout of UAlibrary.org.
• 2. New Functionality Using Standard Tools – Proposed uses of standard Open Source tools and components which will increase relevant content and patron services.
• 3. Beyond Traditional Access – Suggestions of new technology uses and new ways that patrons might interact with the library both onsite and remotely.
• 4. Conclusion – Tying it all together.

Website Layout

The current website layout presents a great deal of information in a very flat structure. Moving forward with the website it will have more of a visual orientation and dynamically develop content in relation to the content surrounding it. This will increase the relevancy of the information while cutting back on the amount of information displayed.

When patrons look at the home page of the current website they are presented with a set of dislocated menus along with blocks of general news in the primary page frame. Below a listing of location addresses and phone numbers yet another menu style appears. Clicking through any of these menus generally ends up with a flat list of links which require some level of prior content understanding to navigate.

A more useful scenario would be a well patterned home page that welcomes the patron with some simple options and a mixture of timely news. Selecting any of these items then leads to a combination of content and a tighter list of resources sorted by relevance. The current layout expects patrons to have an understanding of what research system will be most useful to them while this new method would steer patrons to the most appropriate resource. For direct connection to specific research systems a site map with direct links will be provided off of each page.

To achieve this functionality within the website the layout will need to be standardized and outside materials will, in some cases, need to be reformatted to fit into the scheme. This can be achieved through standardized templates and use of a content management system. A secondary component of this that will need to be considered during development is not only the ADA considerations but also cell phone and other small screen devices that reformat pages and are becoming very widely used.

All of the above proposals can be implemented by redesigning the website using the currently available resources along with some level of reengineering of the interfaces. Use of a CMS backend such as Drupal makes it easy to maintain resources and design across the whole site.

New Functionality Using Standard Tools

Patrons using the website have a number of tasks they are able to accomplish without interaction with live staff. This removes workload from staff and provides patrons with the convenience of off hour and remote administration of their accounts.  The currently available tasks are very useful and should be expanded to provide an even greater workforce savings to staff as well as improved service to patrons.

Use of a Live Chat system from the website will give patrons access to reference librarians in real time as if they were on queue physically at the library. Chat sessions like this tend to be concise as the patron doesn’t want to take any more time to get a resolution than does the reference librarian. Unlike email, which is also concise, the patron is able to get an immediate response and there is not the issue of assigning librarians to the task of ensuring that email exchanges eventually come to a resolution. Email exchanges sometimes hit roadblocks such as spam filters, email server routing issues and human error.

Front end hosting of audio and video resources from library hosted discussions, meetings and artistic events would allow patrons who miss an event to see either a condensed or complete recording after the fact. Through the use of free content upload sites such as Youtube.com Itunes.com or Utterz.com the library could easily provide these uploads without building in expensive infrastructure, yet by using design elements on the UAlibrary.org site the content would be provided seamlessly for patrons without taking them away from the library’s site.

Librarian and Historical Society Members could make use of blog technologies to exploit low circulation materials, art, and historical archives to create interest in these resources. Issues such as the redevelopment of the Northam Park Hub have certainly been discussed several times in the past and this blog could take an issue like that and provide a connection between historical documents, relevant circulation materials and the current issues at hand. Allowing comments on these blog entries would allow residents to further discuss the issues and would create a place to build community. The library would maintain control over the comments section allowing a level of moderation when necessary.

Similarly a Wiki forum would be a welcome addition to allow patrons the ability to expand on the current knowledge about and history of Upper Arlington. The Wiki would accept patron and staff input alike giving the community as a whole an information repository.

Further along the blog idea would be to host technology classes, particularly for seniors and “non-native” technology curious patrons. WordPress, Blogger, and other companies offer free hosting of these blogs. The library could take advantage of this off server hosting and integrate a front end to these as yet another way to connect patrons to their library through the online community. The building of this sort of content can then be linked by the library when it is relevant or might have broader interest to other patrons and library staff. The initial classes might be supported through a group that has been meeting for several months now under the title of Columbus Social Media Café which has discussed this very type of project. Another possibility would be granting students community service hours by teaching these types of courses, using a predefined study plan.

The current online circulation catalog is functional but rudimentary. The database which supports this system obviously has a great deal of information in it which means that it would remain very useful to an updated delivery system. Much like the stacks themselves where books drop in circulation because they are packed in without a chance for ‘advertising themselves’ the online catalog could provide more visual cues to attract patrons. Using a randomizing algorithm various catalog items could be displayed using updated icons and png’s. This algorithm could also be set to randomize based on particular subsets depending on what keywords are on any given web page. This could be used like a sort of advertisement of materials which would thus increase circulation of otherwise long forgotten items.

As a final bid for bringing together community through the library a calendaring system could be implemented which gives all recognized community organizations an opportunity to plug into a central calendar system, hosted by the library; providing a linkable widget for external websites to display the information pertinent to them. For instance the UA Arts organization would post their events to the calendar. On the library website this would be added to a master schedule including all other groups’ events. Patrons could customize their view of the calendar on the library website to only show events hosted by groups they had interest in; they could also setup email or txt alerts if desired. The UA Arts site would show a version of this calendar as well which would present only the events that the UA Arts admin felt were relevant to its site visitors. However, the UA Arts site visitors could link through the calendar to the master calendar at the library. This would not only be another way to bring patrons to the library’s site but also a way to better deal with event scheduling between the 50+ community organizations (not to mention library, school and city schedules). Being considered a neutral entity for organizations the library is the perfect resource for hosting such information.

Beyond Traditional Access

In the future the library will take advantage of non-traditional online data transactions between patrons, outside organizations and staff. These will be non-traditional in both physical access and in the data driver and data repurposing.

Touch screens positioned throughout the library would give quick access to data sources and due to their thin profile would easily fit in the stacks. The redesign of the catalog database would allow fast, easy access on handheld devices like cell phones, wifi enabled PDA’s and similar devices. The catalog could then be tied into a map of the library which would act like a beacon locator, directing patrons to the specific placement of the resource they desire. Video screens placed in communal areas throughout the building could use the randomizing algorithms to provide “face time” for a wider variety of resources, the goal being to increase the circulation of these resources.

Providing access to library data sources to outside organizations would allow for interesting Google mash-ups of information which could provide the library with greater analytical data. An example of this might be the mapping of resource movement between the main and branch locations or the UA Library and partnering libraries. This mapping might provide information which shows where cost may be cut or where greater exchanges might occur. Mash-up opportunities often drive inspiration while protecting the original data. The opportunity to access the data to use for a mash-up has the effect of attracting positive attention to the data source, in this case the library website.

Live broadcasting of library events can provide patrons who are unable to attend but have access to a browser the opportunity to be a part of the event that they would’ve otherwise missed. This would be a fantastic outreach opportunity for the library, reaching both busy families and the elderly with transportation issues.

Finally a media lab would allow the library to provide classroom space to educate patrons in new technology and provide students a place to complete either school assigned media studies work or personal projects. These projects, based on certain merits, might then be hosted on the library website as a boon to the library’s content and a reward to the creator for building content relevant and useful to the community. The lab could be physically located so that a more relaxed and creative feel is incorporated in it yet the associated noise would be contained for consideration to patrons completing research and reflection in other parts of the library.

Conclusion

This document’s intent is to inspire and draw out some conversations about the future direction of the library, specifically relating to the UALibrary.org website. As Upper Arlington faces the challenges of the future our community will rely more and more on the exchange of knowledge and ideas to keep a competitive edge. This knowledge exchange is historically the role that libraries have played in the community. By using innovation the library can insure it will remain well positioned as the primary partner and resource for the community into the future.

Opening this knowledge exchange to the world beyond our physical community will start conversations. While this is considered a form of 21^st century marketing the reality is that these dialogues are much more like that of two strangers meeting for the first time, eventually becoming friends. This free exchange will be a venue for Upper Arlington to showcase its most precious resource, its educated and thoughtful residents, its premier community asset – the library, and the wonderful collaborations that bind the community together as one.