[Web4lib] new library website

[Kate Pitcher]

Hi Kristen,

Our library at SUNY Geneseo launched our newly redesigned library website 
during the summer break.  We decided to do it on August 4th, a Friday, at 
4:15pm.  Here were a few reasons:

1.  We waited until the last of two summer sessions were over at the 
college.
2.  Decided to launch on a Friday afternoon/evening, when most of the campus 
staff should not be affected.  Most campus non-teaching faculty and staff 
work an 8-4 schedule, M-Fri, during the summer months.
3.  We also wanted to do it early enough in August to give the library 
faculty and staff enough time to become familiar with the site before 
classes started.
4.  Give us time to fix bugs before faculty and students get back to campus.

About a month and a half before launch we posted a message on our old page 
to notify our web audiences that we would be launching our newly redesigned 
site in early August.  We kept it purposely vague as to the date to give us 
the flexibility of changing the launch if any problems were encountered. 
Right alongside the message, we posted a thumbnail image of the new site.
A week before the launch, we posted another message, with announcing 
possible disruptions of service while we moved over to the new site.  We 
gave a 2-hour window in case we encountered problems.
At the same time, I sent an email to all the campus listservs (for faculty, 
staff, etc.) to notify those concerned about the launch date and the 
possible disruptions in web services.   We also included an image of the new 
website to give the campus a preview of what was to come, but didn't provide 
a link to the new site.

I believe it worked rather well.  We launched with a minimum disruption of 
service and broken links, errors, etc.
http://library.geneseo.edu


Kate


*******************************************************************
Katherine E. Pitcher
Reference/Instruction & Web Development Librarian
Milne Library
SUNY at Geneseo
(585) 245-5064
pitcher at geneseo.edu
http://www.geneseo.edu/~pitcher
*******************************************************************



From: "DeVoe, Kristen" <DevoeK at cofc.edu>
To: <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:45 PM
Subject: [Web4lib] new library website


Hello,

I'm interested in learning about other libraries experiences introducing
redesigned academic library websites.  Did you wait until a break
between semesters?  Did you release the new site in the middle of a
semester? Over a fall break or spring break?  Did you provide a link to
the new site on the old site before releasing to get user feedback,
introduce users to the new look, and troubleshoot?
Any insight into this process would be appreciated.  Feel free to
respond off-list if you prefer.

Thanks!

Kristen DeVoe


Kristen E. DeVoe
Electronic Resources Librarian
Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library
College of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina 29424
Phone: (843) 953-6671
Email: devoek at cofc.edu






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