Thunder Bay Library launch redesigned website

Libraries need to remain relevant in today’s Google-world, said the Thunder Bay Public Library’s head of virtual services.

"The website is just essential for us to provide library service these days," said Joanna Aegard. "It’s easy to go to Google and find the answer to a fact…We need to make it as easy as possible for people to get to our databases and our information that we pay for (in order for) people to access what they can’t find on Google."

To meet that growing need, the Thunder Bay Public Library launched their revamped website Tuesday morning at Waverley Resource Library.

Two years in the making, the new site is bright and colourful and along with the main section there is also a Kids’ Space and Teen Zone, said Aegard. He added that the library conducted a usability audit on their former site and talked to people in the community to find out what needed to be changed.

"We took a good look at how people were using our old website and we used that information to develop a new one," she said.

New additions to the site are a link at the top of every page to log onto the site with a library card as well as accessibility features like a text-only button and a font re-size tool.

It’s also easier to navigate, said chief librarian and CEO of TBPL Gina La Force, adding making the site as user-friendly as possible was a priority.

The Kids’ Space and Teen Zone are areas the library staff was particularly excited about. La Force said the teen section is a first for the library.

"It has an incredible amount of information," she said. "It’s got health and wellness information, homework help, good reads and teens are avid readers."

And with the popularity of novels like the Twilight series, the site has a gothic novel section, which the head of the children and youth services department Angela Meady used to sneak in some titles other than the popular vampire series.

The feedback so far has been nothing but praise, La Force said.

"They love it," she said. "It’s early days yet and of course we may have to tweak a few tings here and there, but there’s been very positive feedback."