New Library Website Means Fewer Woes For Users

By Nancy K. Crevier

Frustration for both users and the library staff over the C.H. Booth Library’s biblio.org is history now that the library’s new website, chboothlibrary.org, is up and running. Newtown resident and web designer Peter Bjorknas, with input from librarians Kim Weber and Brenda McKinley, created chboothlibrary.org, a process that took nearly a year. Mr Bjorknas has designed many websites for businesses in the United States, as well as in his native Finland and Sweden. He has also worked extensively with museums.

“There are a lot of tools available today to create a site, but we felt we needed a professional to create a really good website,” said Ms McKinley. “What was magic to us was that Peter could hear what we said and put it into this beautiful site,” said Ms McKinley.

“The new website is a clearer, more structured site,” said Mr Bjorknas. “We tried to get a domain name that is easy to remember, and I think that this one makes sense. [The new site] is optimized better for all of the browsers. The old site had a lot of technical issues, and Mac users couldn’t easily use the links on the old site.” Mac users will see exactly what PC users see when they access the site, he said. What they will find, he hopes, will be pleasing to the eye and a site that is a pleasure to navigate.

Ms Weber and Ms McKinley are pleased with the panoramic photograph of the C.H. Booth Library interior highlighting the top of the home page and an easy to follow sidebar of links to areas within the website framing the left hand side, and they believe that users will be equally smitten by the attractive site.

While chboothlibrary.org uses much newer technology than what was available when the biblio.org site was initiated almost ten years ago, it is not what would be considered a high tech design. That was a conscious decision, explained Ms McKinley. “We realize that many of our users have older computers, for one thing. We don’t need to be a flashy site. We need to be a usable site.”

When users access the new site, what Mr Bjorknas and the library staff hope that what they will appreciate the clean look to the pages. “Readability is my first concern,” said Mr Bjorknas. For that reason, he elected to use a white background with bold, clear text. Wavy, patterned backgrounds can be very distracting, he said, and take away from a design. Web design, said Mr Bjorknas, is about user interface and having a sense of design. “It’s about getting every element into the right proportion on the page,” he said.

One of the problems with the old website, Ms Weber said, was its inability to support online forms and registrations. “When new firewalls had to be put up, it caused some more problems. For example, for a short while people had been able to apply there for library cards, but then that ability disappeared.”

The chboothlibrary.org site means that forms and registrations will be readily available to patrons online, she said. “We are very excited about this site,” said Ms Weber. “There are links to our calendar, and from there users can access more information about each individual event; exhibits will be listed, as will our collections. There is a town link and people can renew books and reserve books online.” Another great feature is the potential that now exists to notify library patrons directly via e-mail of events, said Ms Weber. Even the Booth Boutique can be viewed online, with photographs of the fundraising items taken by Mr Bjorknas.

“Right now, you can’t order those things online, but it will be possible to see what we offer,” said Ms Weber. “The site is easier and better than the old site. You can access anything you could before, and more.”

C.H. Booth librarians will update the content on a regular basis and Mr Bjorknas will remain available to make web changes as they are needed. “A website is like an organism,” said Ms McKinley. “It needs constant attention, so it’s good to have Peter here in town to work with us.”

A link at biblio.org/chbooth will redirect users to the new website for several months, Ms McKinley said. “This is just a wonderful thing for our library,” she added.