This summer (2013) we are planning a complete overhaul of the Library’s website. We intend to adopt the University’s current website design, and must therefore host our content on SitePublisher. At the same time, we intend to move most – if not all – of our user-support content to LibGuides. These are major changes and, coming on top of the introduction of the access & discovery layer, the decision to make them has not been taken lightly. However, there are a number of factors that make this an opportune moment to change:
- Our move to SitePublisher, the new content management system (CMS), and therefore the University’s new website design is long overdue.
- However, our website is so large that migrating content is too big a job for us to cope with.
- Furthermore, maintaining a website in SitePublisher such as ours is at the moment would take a considerable amount of ongoing work.
- And the SitePublisher website will not allow us to provide the information and services to our users that we’d like.
- The SitePublisher website is, however, very good as a marketing/promotional tool – and this is an area that the Library needs to develop considerably.
- LibGuides offers a platform for us to host our user-support content.
- It is easy for us to develop and maintain our content.
- It is easy for staff, students and visitors to use.
- It allows us to add integrate content and Web 2.0 technologies that SitePublisher cannot.
What Will it Mean for Library Staff?
Firstly, there’s no way of avoiding it: we’ll have yet another new system to learn. But those of us on the implementation side of things will do our best to help you as much as possible.
Secondly, and far more importantly, we’ll have to completely re-think the way that our support information is provided. I won’t pretend that this will be easy, and I don’t have all the answers now at the beginning of the project, but I do think it’s absolutely necessary.
