Beta Version of New Website Ready for Staff Testing
Starting today, we're asking staff to try out and provide feedback on a beta version of torontopubliclibrary.ca.
In order to keep you informed and to get your ongoing feedback, we’ve created this staff blog. For an overview of the site, project timelines, and other relevant info, see the 'Key Information' links on this blog.
The link to the beta site is posted below. But wait! Before you check it out, please read the following.
We’re especially looking for your feedback on Search. The new search engine is indexing the catalogue bib records, programs and events database, virtual reference library links, websites, branches, web pages and other TPL sites – all together! Try using the site to find answers to real questions that come up at the reference desk.
The website is still in development, so some aspects are incomplete (e.g. no content on some pages or sections, links that don’t work yet, some visual design and labels that need to be finalized).
‘Your Account’ and ‘Place Hold’ integration is also still in development. At this point, the site includes partial integration as we continue to work on it.
Fixes and updates are happening regularly, so keep checking back with the site and this blog to see what’s new. We’ll let you know by email and @tpl when major updates have occurred as well.
Please use this blog to provide feedback, discuss and share your thoughts with us. To submit feedback, provide your thoughts in the blog comments, or you can also send an email to the Web Team (webteam@torontopubliclibrary.ca).
When you’ll get a response:
We’ll do our best to respond directly to feedback, depending on the volume we receive. Look for regular blog updates and comments that will provide a consolidated response to feedback provided.
Ready to test the new site? Here you go! http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca
75 thoughts on “Beta Version of New Website Ready for Staff Testing”
Very excited to check this out. Only I can’t subscribe via RSS. Is this because of the login/password?
Hi Jennifer, that is probably the reason – we’ll take a look tomorrow and see if we can do anything about that.
Thanks,
Dara
BTW everyone – Place Hold buttons will (hopefully!) show up tomorrow. As we were moving the site over we realized a mistake that caused them not to appear on the beta site – this will be fixed in the morning.
After a quick look, I have to say that I’m…cautiously optimistic! The Search functionality looks good, and I especially like the way programs/events can appear in search results, as well as materials.
The “share” feature in catalogue records is pretty nifty too.
Looking forward to really putting it through its paces.
Rats! no place hold this morning — honestly, it’s not a big deal and we will be able to resolve it quickly. We’ll keep you posted.
very cool I couldn’t FIND MY WAY back to the home page when I was doing a quick surf through the site – is that a fix that is coming? I’m really excited about the branch pages – once they have photos esp.
Hi Magdalena,
We looked at a bunch of major websites and found that many use their logo as the primary means to return to the homepage and do not include a persistent “home” link or button. Some examples:
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Barnes & Noble.com
The Globe & Mail.com
Home Depot.ca
BBC.co.uk
ESPN.com
Best Buy.com
Future Shop.ca
Canadian Tire.ca
TD Canada Trust.com
Scotiabank.com
Britannica.com (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
TVOkids.com
CBC Kids.ca
Discovery Channel.ca
Twitter.com
Digg.com
iTunes.com
IMDB.com
We decided to follow these examples in the hope that everyone will figure out pretty quickly that clicking the TPL logo returns you to the homepage. We’ll be interested to hear more staff feedback on this issue during the beta.
Sandra
My comments after the first brief test of searching:
– I did a search, then limited to programs. A number of clicks are required to get back to the initial results. Could we have a “return to Main results” option?
– List of books needs considerable compression if the customer will be able to print it or even to scroll to locate titles. Can we put the covers directly beside, not above, the titles? I know this is an iBistro limitation but will the Book List option ever become available?
– I limited my search in the Advanced option to English but I’m still getting results for the other languages
– need a simple title/author/subject search option as the default. This was a complaint when both HIP and iBistro were introduced. I don’t want to wade through all of the keyword results when I know exactly what I want
The main search area next to the TPL logo needs to be better highlighted or even move below the “Find Your Way” banner. People are naturally drawn to the banner due to its scrolling and graphical nature. Also, with the search window being the same color as the background, the search area is not very apparen’t on the first glance.
Example:
http://ca.msn.com/
http://ca.yahoo.com/?p=us
http://www.amazon.com/
Also the site display differently on various browser.
Hi Norma, we are pretty confident in the keyword search and we have a lot of flexibiliy in terms of making it work even better. I know that historically our catalogues haven’t done well in this regard but in this new site if you put in a title you are getting very good results – some of my favourites searches are
the road
once
milk
shakespeare in love
These are all awful keyword searches in ibistro but in the new site they’re great.
We still have some work to do on Author searches but the filters on the search results (e.g. Books or Fiction) are very useful in eliminating unwanted results.
Our hope is that people will treat our search like they treat the search on any retail site. It is important to remember that the catalogue isn’t going anywhere and that this new site will sit beside it so if a customer is comfortable or prefers the old catalogue they can still use it.
By list of books I think you mean search results – the images are beside and not on top of them – perhaps we have a problem with browser compatibility. I’ll email you because I would like a screen shot of what you are seeing.
Language searches from Advanced Search – probably a bug we’ll check it out.
Thanks!
Place hold buttons are now appearing and yes they should work.
Good point thanks Ben – we certainly don’t want the search box to be lost on the home page. We will continue to monitor feedback on this.
We know we have some browser compatibility issues – what browsers are you using? If you have a moment can you send screen shots to webteam@torontopubliclibrary.ca to illustrate the problems you are seeing.
A lot of library jargon is very confusing to non librarians. “hold shelf”, “in transit” “holdings” …. is it possible to use clear language or at least explain the jargon in a footnote.
I searched for various works of fiction, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Don Quixote”, and I noticed that the results are not listed in chronological order. Is there is way to arrange that?
Also, some searches using AND worked well, whereas others displayed items with no relevance. For example, I searched for “homeless and canada” and the results had nothing to do with the topic, whereas “homeless in canada” worked out fine. I haven’t tested any other Boolean operators and will experiment with AND a bit more, but thought I might mention it.
Otherwise, I REALLY like the appearance of the homepage. The “Hours and locations” section is impressive. The only major change I would like to see is a more prominent TPL logo.
That information is being produced in real time from iBistro. At this point we’re taking the labels as is. Great suggestion about footnotes.
I’ve briefly explored the site and so far I’m impressed, especially with the “cleaner” look of the web site. I do have one suggestion, however. I was exploring the Oakville Public Library’s website and at the top of the web page they have a simple keyword search box with the caption “Find books, music, movies, and more”. I think a phrase like that is more catchy than “Books, Video, Research and more”. Maybe something like “Books, CDs, DVDs and more”
There is a date sort above the search results. Date means, publication date in this context. Is that what you mean by chronological order? The default order for results is “best match”. Interesting that you didn’t see it, we’ll have to do more usability testing on that.
‘and’ is a stop word. To boolean, and yes you can use it, you will need to use the correct syntax – we’ll post something about that so those who want to use it will be able to.
The good news is that this search engine wants you to use plain language – it is built for that. So I recommend that you start with plain language (like you search in Google) and then if you really can’t find the type of content you’re looking for you can flex your boolean muscles…. 🙂
We started there – I think our first label was
“Find books, video, music & more…”
But when we did usability testing we discovered that it didn’t resonate with folks who were looking for research materials or articles.
That section represents our entire collection (recreational content and research and historical content) We needed to somehow make sure that it communicated both sides of what we do…
Good point though, maybe we’ve made it too generic and unrepresentative of recreational material.
Labelling is so hard. For examples Movies isn’t accurate because we have TV shows, documentaries and instructional videos. DVDs, isn’t either because we have VHS and Downloadable videos too.
We’ll need to have a think about this one. Thanks for your feedback.
I, too, like the cleaner look. Suggestion: some typeface looks faint (i.e. bottom of home page) and may be difficult for some patrons to read.
Thanks Jennfier!
Can we separate subjects to display each subject in a separate row?
If a record has multiple subjects they all seem jumbled together, separated only by a comma
Example :
Subjects: Canada–Emigration and immigration–Political aspects., Canada–Foreign relations–1945-, Canada–Politics and government–21st century., Multiculturalism–Canada
Good point, Veronika. We haven’t finished the layout and styles for the item detail page. We’ll work on making the subject headings easier to read – I think you’re right that they need line breaks between them.
I hope the photograph of the Albert Campbell Library can be updated. The photo there now gives little indication of the look of the building, the sign being the only true indicator that the branch is there. A large tree hides most of the facade of the building. A photo taken further south and pointed at the builiding on a northwest angle would have been much better for the public to recognize.
I have been going to this branch for years and would barely recognize the branch from this photo.
Thanks for allowing my imput.
I like it a lot except the scrolling pictures make me dizzy.
Firefox, on the main page the most noticeable difference is the “using the library” link in the cyan bar on top. In Firefox it is shifted to the left, and its much closer in spacing compare to the other links in the cyan bar. Beyond that, there are few items that are slightly shifted higher or lower, but it doesn’t have any visual impact.
Under the section “Using the Library”, in the subsection “Borrowing Materials – FAQs” is the question, “How Do I Renew Items?”. The answer indicates contacting Answerline or your local library. But it does not include the phone renewal phone number.
Also, can I suggest a little change in wording: including “in-person or by phone” as in “contacting Answerline or your local library in-person or by phone”. I have found through experience that most customers associate contacting with phoning and if we want to encourage the public to visit our branches, this may be a way to help by providing a previously unconsidered option.
There’s a lot to look at, and it’s fairly easy to navigate.
One of the questions we are always asked is about renting space.
On the new website it’s under “Using the Library”
Could it be separated out under a heading “Room Rentals”?
I think that is self explantory and easier to find.
Thanks,
Ellen
I find the new site very busy and confusing. The scrolling pictures are very distracting and make me dizzy. I find the searching problematic since most of my reference work involves helping people to find music. A single search box does not work for music materials because of the variety of formats. Currently, there are a number of limits provided on the first screen of the catalogue as part of the keyword function. In the beta version those are only available as part of the advanced search. That means that every music search is an advanced search. I doubt patrons will be able to figure that out on their own.
searched “car”
found “type” & “language” links FANTASTIC
patrons will really love the function check box of “items I can’take out the library”
However, “related internet links”…what’s that all about?…it looks trivial and unecessary.
Keep up the phenomenal work. Site looks like it’s been cleaned up.
1] This site has barely readable typefonts.
2] Where is the French Version?
3] It show be easy to navigate.
As a long time user I would like to see on six large buttons on the first page directing you to the area that you want more information about.
a] Catalogue b] Events c] New To Toronto d] Help e] Kids Space f] Teen time
From each of these hot buttons, you would be able to move quickly into more detailded subdivisions.
The site as it is is cluttered.
The Typefont is to small for Seniors and many people who wear glasses.
And I forgot to mention this. I have depth perception problems and i find that the leading between each line is far to small and the words swim together and I can’t always read them. the use of light blue is another problem as it fades out on me.
Hi Webteam,
I have a customer who wants to find out how to look for all the DVDs in TPL by title.
He said that the current search function does not work.
I tried the new beta system, but I still not able to see any titles just by typing in ‘Adult DVD’, let alone seeing the DVD list in alpha. order.
Please let me know how I can find all the DVDs in TPL by title so that I can let him know.
Hi Leo,
There is a trick for this on the new website: do a blank search (just click the search button without entering any keywords). Then choose Videos and then DVD from the “Type” refinement menu on the left. You can sort the list by title or date using the sort options above the search results.
Thanks for your feedback.
We just tried typing the word score into the search box along with the other info and it worked. It also worked for CD but we couldn’t add the branch successfully, either as TRL or as Toronto Reference Library.
Hi Lee,
The new site’s approach to searching is different from what we’re used to in the library catalogue. Instead of choosing your limits up-front, the idea is to refine your results AFTER doing a keyword search. This is what’s known as “faceted searching.” Part of the philosophy behind it is that it makes it much less likely that you will end up with zero results.
If you do a general keyword search, you can use the “Type” menu on the left to limit results to Music, and then to a specific format.
We also have a Music landing page where you can start a search that’s pre-limited to music:
http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/endecaApp/pages/books-video-music/music/index.jsp?N=37908
The site looks great, but where is the multicultural section or links?
Hi Anna, the newcomer section will host a lot of that content and if you go to the Books, video research & more section there is a “Material in Your Language” link on the left side where multi-cultural info is accessible in addition to the ability to search for materials in other languages. Right now there is one language page developed but we intend to list about 40 languages.
In addition to this ‘Languages’ are integrated throughout the site. You can navigate our branch by language collections, filter search results by language and next year we’ll be introducing Chinese (simplified and traditional) and French homepages.
The site is in beta and that means that feedback will help us make changes that are deemed important by those who are testing it and providing input so if others comment on this being a large gap we will definitely make adjustments.
Hi Dara,
I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a “did you mean” feature (a la Google) for misspelled words, is there?
Hi Jennifer, there is a “did you mean” feature and spell checking.
Here are two links to demonstrate it – let me know if you can’t see it.
Did you mean? – http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/endecaApp/pages/search.jsp?Ntt=rubgy
Spell correction – http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/endecaApp/pages/search.jsp?Ntt=harrry+potter
We’ll write something about how these work in a post next week.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for the feedback, the site responds to browser increase decrease settings and additionally there is an option to change the font size under “Display Options” that is saved to the user’s computer.
There are a number of accessibility settings. Not all are fully functioning yet but they will include:
Font Size
Font Spacing
No Images
Colour settings including a setting for High Contrast
In terms of the leading, that is something we can look at.
Thanks for your feedback.
Hi Anne,
Regarding readability, we’re continuing to monitor this and will adjust based on feedback – thanks for pointing this out.
The French homepage is coming next year.
Thanks for your feedback.
HI MM,
The related internet links is the VRL content. It works pretty well for non-fiction (e.g. http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/endecaApp/pages/search.jsp?Ntt=buying+a+car )
We have some work to do if it is to work for fiction type searches.
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks Elaine, we’ll pass your suggestion on to M&C who are coordinating the photography of branches.
A few people of comment on this and we’ll continue to monitor – thanks for your input.
Hi,
I really, really have trouble reading the blue fonts.
How can I show a library patron information on the website if I can’t read it.
Next good book? I want the Catalogue to say Catalogue. I want to be able to see it as soon as I enter the webpage. I do not want it to be a one line description which could mean just about anything. Next book to read; could be a book list; a suggestion of what tpl staffers like etc. It does not make me think – aha – this is the library Catalogue. Again. Tiny Print and the use of blue.
Searched for Topham Park from the main page – is this a phrase or boolean search? Anyway, I was very pleased not only to get one book result, but also three internet sites – Hooray, finally these are easily accessible!
However, the email for the book result did not work.
Barbara Myrvold
I like it! I can search from the main page! And I’m especially pleased that related programs appear in search results.
(I also like that I have the option to stop the scrolling image on the homepage.)
q: I notice that the program listings on the homepage now appear in reverse chronological order – is that a permanent thing, or just a temporary placeholder? I think it would be best if the programs happening soonest were at the top of the list.
Another Q: I notice there are no pictures for programs in the search results right now. Will they eventually feed in automatically?
Finally, wondering if there’s any way to include links to subpages of the site in search results – e.g. if I search for “Farsi books”, could a link appear in the search results directing me to the “search for books in your own language” page?
Thanks – and congratulations; this is a huge improvement.
Hi Wendy,
The program listing order on the homepage is something we need to fix. You’re right that chronological order would make the most sense.
Programs will have pictures in the search results once we add the images. (And we’re planning to have a default image that looks nicer than the current one…)
And yes, links to subpages of the site will be part of search results. You can already get some web page results for your search, although they currently come from the old version of the site.
Thanks for your comments.
Searched for Attolia as a word I remembered in a title of a series. I know the next in the series does not have Attolia in the title so I was just trying to find the author’s name.
I know that the facets are for the current results list. But I might think that it is actually a related search and use it to find all the works by Megan Whalen Turner. There are 10. It is only when I go to a full record display and then click on the author that I get the results I wanted and find the next title in the series.
The same thing happens with subjects. Search for Astronomy. Cosmology is one of the faceted subjects, 204 records. But when I do a search for Cosmology as a subject search in iBistro to find all titles with this subject there are 604. So the user is missing 400 titles that are actually on the subject Cosmology.
Shouldn’t the facets allow a user to expand results to other topics as they find useful keywords as well as to refine search results? Text explaining that the left panel is for refining and reducing the number of hits not expanding your search to related facets might be useful. Authors and Subjects in particular might be treated as related searches rather than refinements. The other facets make more sense as refinements only.
M 🙂
P.S. I’ll send some screens shots to the webteam email address.
Leo, Sandra’s trick works in the current catalogue as well. Leave the Keyword search filed empty and choose DVD from the Format list. Click SEARCH. Then use the Sort options at the top of the results list.
Hi Marcia,
We’re going to do a blog post about faceted searching that may help address the points you raise. Stay tuned.
That moving “find your way” gives me a headache and makes me dizzy.Why should I have to pause it? Also, when I scroll over the links below, I find the effect quite jarring.
Way too much information on each page, I can hardly be bothered going through it!
The catalogue search, while conviniently located and large, is not apparen’t enough for people. “Search” is too general for people. They need the words CATALOGUE in big bold letters and in RED!
Why is this website so complicated?
Is this site more complicated and maze like than the old one?
The display options only make it worse!
I will play around some more. Happy that things are being made better and that you are working very hard on a new look for TPL.
Thanks for all your hard work on this project. It’s probably going to take me a little while to fully explore everything and I apologize in advance if I end up sending in too much “feedback.”
One of my initial concerns is that when we do a search, it seems like we have to scroll down very far (forever….) before we get to the actual, individual hits or results. I could see that some customers might not have patience for this aspect. I thought that one way around this might be to have some of the first categories as drop-down type menus. For example, “Publication Year,” “Language” and “Library Branch” especially could be drop-down menus. Alternatively, the boxes for these categories could show the first line, and then below it say “More…”
E.g., Language
English
More…
I was also wondering about the order of the results because I did a search for “Stephen King,” and then limited it to “Items I can’take out of the library.” (I think I must have done some other limits because now I can’t replicate the results I had gotten.) However, the results had been sorted by “Best Match,” and “The Colorado Kid” showed up twice with 9 other titles between them. One was a book and the other was an audiobook…. I think my point is that I’m not sure how the “Best Match” really works.
Hi Tara,
I’m not sure what you mean by having to scroll down a long way to see search results. We have some issues with the way the site displays in certain browsers, and I’m wondering if maybe that explains what you’re seeing.
Your question about “Best Match” is a good one, since this is one of the new site’s most significant features. By default, search results display in descending order based on relevance. The search engine uses complex algorithms to calculate relevance, but we are able to configure some of the logic behind it. One of our strategies was to take into account the number of copies of an item, on the assumption that the library has bought more copies of an item because a lot of people want it and are likely to search for it. This could explain your example – there are more copies of the book version of “The Colorado Kid” than the audiobook version. There may be other differences between the two records that have an impact as well.
As you can see, “best match” is complex (Endeca, our search engine vendor, calls it their “secret sauce”). We will continue to tweak our relevance strategies, and we welcome examples of search results that you think could be improved.
What is the difference between MY ACCOUNT and ‘sign in’ if it takes the user to the same page?
Maybe this part of the site is still under construction…
In the beta site > Find Your Way to Adult Literacy >
It lists the branches that have literacy offices and they are linked to the main page for that branch. I think it might be still be helpful to include more info like the main telephone number for the Adult Literacy Programs. There seems to be a lot more info on the current site (some of which I suspect is just being moved?)
Hi Tara,
Yep, we’re still in the process of building the Adult Literacy section and moving content over from the old site.
On another search for Stephen King….I was wondering how “Plaques in the City of Toronto” is a “Related Internet Link?” Thanks again.
Ooh, yeah, that’s not a good result, is it? We need to develop some additional logic to make the related Internet links more relevant for different kinds of searches – particularly searches involving fiction and authors. Thanks for giving us a good example!
About the Library
Mission, Vision & Values
News, Blogs & Publications
Library Board
History of Toronto Public Library
Jobs at the Library
Doing Business with the Library
OR
Support Your Library
TPL Foundation
Volunteering
Friends of the Library
I just noticed that the order of the links that are located at the top left of screens like “About the Library” and “Support Your Library,” is different than the order of the links at the bottom of the page. (And some of the phrasing is also different.) Are they meant to be the same?
Hi all,
looks really fabulous, from what I can’tell so far! It’s difficult to try all kinds of searches, of course, without examples. I do have a concern that there is no option (say a drop-down menu) for limiting one’s search to “title” and “author” in particular. This may be a problem when we are trying to browse through a long list to find a title (when the customer may have an error in the title, for example).
Good work!
I’ve just realized that you sort results by title, author (and date), so this does certainly help. I still think it might be a good idea to have this option right off the bat.
Hi Lina,
We haven’t finished implementing these functions yet. Once they’re working properly, “Sign In” will just sign you in – after entering your barcode and PIN, you will return to wherever you were on the site (e.g., the homepage, a search results page, etc.). “Your Account” will take you to the account page (prompting you to sign in first if you haven’t already done so). We currently have both “Sign In” and “Your Account” links in iBistro, so this is not new.
I really like the new ability to search by program types and then it lists the branches with that program. I always found it hard with the What’s On and the old website to find the libraries offering a specific program (ie Knitting)
The work terminal I’m on still has only Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0. I’ll call I.T. about updating it. But you’re still working on how the site displays in different versions/browsers to satisfy all our customers, right?
Thanks again!
There are definitely some display problems in Internet Explorer 6. We’ve optimized the site for Firefox 3 and IE7 so far. We will be making some more adjustments for other browsers/versions, but (as you may have read on sites like this – http://mashable.com/2009/07/16/ie6-must-die/) IE6 doesn’t comply with modern web standards, and there’s only so much developers can do to support it without compromising the experience for users with up-to-date browsers.
a) Internet sites
It is wonderful to have internet sites included in search results, but could you make it clear that, in some cases, what is displayed on the right side of the screen (“Related Internet Links”) may only be limited results – (is there is a limit of ten?) and that more internet sites may be included in the full results. For example, a search for “Don Mills” internet sites gave 30 results; meanwhile only 10 sites are listed in “Related Internet Sites”
b) History section on branch information
I suggest that the date of an event be at placed at the beginning of the description for the item, rather than in the middle, which I find confusing.
Will we be able to sort the new books by Author?; the current search by title is not very usefull.
Hi Anne,
We’ve received plenty of customer comments about the existing new items lists in iBistro, which, as you point out, can’t be sorted by anything other than the default title sort.
On the new website, the default sort for new items lists is by date added to the catalogue (newest to oldest), but you can also change the sort order to author or title. Check it out:
http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/pages/books-video-music/new-items.jsp?category=Adult%20Fiction
Hi Dara and team,
I see Wendy asked the same question on Nov 2, but I’ll add my vote for expansion of the “Link to Page” functionality.
In the new catalogue the Link to Page function appears to replace the Permalink function in iBistro, which is great. However, I do not seem to be able to link to search results (i.e. a page of all the books by an author).
I have been using the permalink function for blog posts and found the flexibility very useful.
Cheers,
Dawn
I’m interested in the new catalogue’s ability to pull up the many Internet sites that librarians have selected for the VRL. Indeed, when I went to advanced search, isolated on ‘Internet site’ and did a few searches [‘Ireland and genelogy’ and ‘Scotland amd genealogy’], I got impressive results. However, when I tried to bring up anything past the first 10 sites, I just got the first 10 again. Is there a way to get past the first page?
Hi David,
Use the website pagination tool at the top or bottom right on the results page. For the search with many results (genealogy Ireland), you can decide how many results you see at a time (Results per page dropdown menu at the bottom of the results page).
Frances: No matter which page I try to bring up for genealogy + Ireland, the first 10 results pop up again. In other words, if I select page 2, 3 or 4, page 1 still comes up.