Website redevelopment at the State Library of Victoria

‘Heading two’ on this keyline.Arial 26 pts

Heading twoArial 26 pts

Heading threeArial 20 pts

‘Title’on this keyline.Arial Bold 36 pts

Planning the new web order

Kelly Gardiner, Web Services Manager

(extension 7408)




SLV status quo

• SLV web site last redeveloped 2004

• Catalogues, databases, applications all separate

• Vicnet redevelopment underway

• Legacy sites: A Place Called Victoria

• Partner sites: Victorians at War

• User focused sites: inside a dog, Your Treasures

• New sites: Mirror of the World, Learning zone




Issues & opportunities

• Our needs have changed• Users’ needs have changed – and so have their expectations (who’s sick of hearing about Google?)• The web has changed and changes every day• Our site structures are getting creaky• User experience varies across our sites and applications• We spend a lot of time making things to compensate• We’ve got a million ideas.




Web Strategy objectives

The State Library of Victoria’s web sites will:• Be user-centred• Provide relevant, accurate, high quality, verifiable

and objective information• Be efficient and sustainable• Support a sense of community• Reflect the Library’s slv21 vision• Be creative, dynamic, and content rich• Be reliable, secure and adaptable• Raise awareness of the Library’s collections and

services• Meet Government legal requirements.




The web goes wild

• The new web can deliver content and services dynamically – free of data source or system constraints

• It’s about real networking: drawing information from disparate sources and providing it in entirely new ways or places

• Data flows where it’s needed

• We can adapt to users’ workflows, rather than forcing them to work around us




What are our users’ tasks?

•Find

•Analyse

•Annotate

•Publish

•Comment

•Cite

•Bookmark/note

•Learn

•Organise

•Visit

•Collect/copy

•Collaborate

•Teach

•Share

•Explore

•Register

•Read

•Describe/review

•Organise

•Compare

•Enjoy




What can we do better than anyone else?

• We can tell the story of Victoria• We have sensational collections• We support research• We answer questions• We teach – and help others teach • We are part of Victoria’s cultural and community life• We know a lot about books, maps, pictures, manuscripts (and arts, and history, and Australiana, and newspapers, and genealogy, and…)• We’re digitising fantastic stuff all day every day




How do we bring tasks & web together?

• Figure out who’s in our key user groups• Identify their goals and tasks• Match our services & information to people’s tasks & interests: offer real benefits• Get information and services to them, when and where they need them• Better reflect and project our collections, events, programs and resources• Match our online offering to our specialist collections• Integrate and co-ordinate our efforts • Provide many pathways into the same resources • Engage our users and communities




But seriously… how?

• Treat content, data, catalogue records – everything – as modules that can be used and re-used• New information architecture (SLV and Vicnet)• Offer a seamless and painless user experience• Provide engagement opportunities (simple – like tags, and complex – like research communities)• Provide content that’s personalised, customised, timely and dynamic• Solve registration, sign-in issues• Allow access to all SLV resources from any site• Focus on key content areas• Provide smart search across sites and catalogues




Possible content areas

• Victorian stories and history• Books and ideas• Family history• Schools and kids• Research & resources• Community information (Vicnet)




SLV gatewayFamily history

A Place Called Victoria

Learning zone

Books & ideas

Research & resources

Resource guides

History guides eg Goldfields

insideadog

Reading Vic

User book groups

Blogs (eg Read Alert)

Book care & conservation

Author events

New Acquisitions

Research skills

History guides eg Settlement

Primary/Secondary areas

Teachers notes

School programmes

Teacher PD

Genealogy index access

Family history events

Blog

Resource guides

Gov Gazette access

Database/indexes

Catalogues

Library services

Treasures

Programs/Fellowships

Events & exhibitions

Foundation

News

Regional history spotlights

Timelines

About/Collections

Our community(Vicnet)

Links

Community sites

Computer help

ISP products

Training

Partner sites

Wikitoria

What’s on

Your Treasures

Mirror of the World

Research communities

My research




Process

• Workshops – general and specific• Stakeholder and specialist input• Training• Industry research• User research• Iterative development• Test prototypes and models with users• Roll out tools and content over time




Discussion

• What can we do better than anyone else?• Gateway concept – what do you think?• Which gateways? Should we look at others? (Delve down into one if you want)• What core elements should users always see?

Website redevelopment at the State Library of Victoria

Technology

Transcript of Website redevelopment at the State Library of Victoria