Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• September 2005 TPL rolled out a new web site and “OneSearch@TPL” branded Webfeat

• http://www.tacomapubliclibrary.org

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• 17,000 e-mails

sent to patrons

• home page spotlight

• all staff training

• “branding”

OneSearch@TacomaPublicLibrary

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• former version a-z list and a-z by topics

• no federated searching

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• Dedicated page via Webfeat

• category breakdown + a-to-z list

• wikipedia, etc.

• short, meaningful descriptions for each

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• local history files

• catalog results in database results

• “Library card not required”

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• “category” organizes by subject or coverage

• includes non-keyword databases

• native mode option

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• image, special links, special content features depending on underlying database

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• database links “embedded” in web site

• “in the spotlight” featured database rotators

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• databases mixed in with topical or subject areas along with useful web sites and resources

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• common color palette

• marc record links

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• Remote access proxy with links to “free” databases

• help

• barcode entry normalization

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

What we did “right”?

• Dedicated online database page

• Leveraged databases from all over the web site

• Categorized our resources, and described what each one covered

• Added local and free resources

• Featured database spotlights

• Effort at having consistent design elements

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

What we did “less right”?

• No real usability testing

• Still too much librarian terminology

• budget cuts made the branding and publicity inconsistent

• staff cuts made database training difficult

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

Measurable Results?

• Total Searches increases by the nature of federated searching multiplier

• Looked at “full” record display click-thru’s

• Webfeat proxy access makes separating in-house and remote use more difficult

• Your mileage will vary

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

• Looked at fulltext displays/click-thru’s

• Gale: up 725% August 2005-August 2006

• Newsbank: up 64% August 2005-August 2006

• Ebsco: up 118% August 2005-August 2006

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library

Thank you

Lare Mischo

Tacoma Public Library

lmischo@tpl.lib.wa.us

Increasing the Use of Online Products (C101)Case study: Tacoma Public Library