Beta Site Feedback Summary
The comments have been quite positive especially related to the great improvements to search. Below please find a summary of the feedback.
Customers commented that they liked:
- The better search engine – able to find what they are looking for
- Enhancements to new titles lists (sorting)
- Place hold being a smoother process because you get logged in once you place your first hold
- Easy to use and navigate
- More contemporary and up-to-date in terms of features and look and feel
- Back button working
- Faceted searching – the ability to further narrow search from the results page
- Wish lists & borrowing history
- Remember me option – ability to remain signed in
- More friendly interface for mobile devices
- Better integration of a user's default branch into search and display
- Online purchase request form
- Various Your Account enhancements around updating profile detail (email address, default branch, notification preferences etc.)
- Pre-due email notification
- Online password/card number recovery
- Hours & Locations layout and performance
- Easier access to new titles lists
- Scrolling banner (already removed)
- Session time-out warning messages and page flow
- Improvements to search for TPL web page content
- Chinese title display
- Making the circulating / reference item filters more prominent
- Online PIN recovery
Launch & Training
The full launch is scheduled to happen by the end of April. Please note that there is no plan to remove access to the web catalogue (iBistro). It will remain active and will be linked to the new site for those who prefer to use it.
We will be working through the issues above as well as completing the Programming section over the next several weeks. We will communicate to the public about the retirement of the old site in the middle of April.
At this time all the training sessions are full thank you to those of you who have signed up. We'll be adding some more sessions so stay tuned. If you can't make it to training we encourage you to look at the website and contact the web team with any comments or questions.
41 thoughts on “Beta Site Feedback Summary”
I tried searching the History of Medicine, at the Toronto Reference Library. I limited my search to books, and to English. I obtained 856 hits. The second hit was a description of Medical Ceramics at a Scienc/Medicine Museum.
I was unable to locate a ‘reference structure’ – a list of subjects such as
Medicine – History
Medicine – History – 14th century
Medicine – History – Encyclopedias
I am the Health Medicine Selector at TRL.
In order to do reference service and book selection I need more subject information and structured reference to provide good reference service and comprehensive Collection Development.
Will the final version provide more subject access than is on the Beta?
Thanks,
Elizabeth McRae
Librarian, Business, Science and Tech
TRL
If a search a periodical, eg Journal of Canadian Studies, I can find the record okay. But when I click the “also check the old catalogue record for more details about serials holdings” link in the record, it takes me back to the main Find your way page, instead of linking me to the record for Journal of Canadian Studies in the old catalogue.
Please use the term library catalogue on the home page…find your way is insulting the user’s intelligence.
Jessica Crawford
High Park Branch
I suggest that the two documents tbat Joanne Lombardo sent to Everyone about using OverDrive be included on the FYW to Downloads and eBooks. They are very clear, much easier to use than the “help” provided by OverDrive. I have been handing them out to users who need them (without staff phone numbers, of course!)
After searching for programs using “Find Programs By:” (on the Programs, Classes, & Exhibits page), the date limiters on the results page don’t seem to be working. For example, if I select CS, LHS, and SA under Branch, then tick “All Children” for Age there are 44 results. When I apply any of the date limiters across the top of the results page, it reloads with the exact same number of programs whether they fell within the specified limit or not. I tested this with several different searches and each time the date limits were ineffective.
Where can we find the listing for locations of Multilingual resources on the new catlogue?
Hi all, just wondering if you plan to direct customers to the Telephone renewal line (416-395-5505), as well as Answerline, as indicated in “How do I renew items? section. Thanks, Michal
Hi, I was at the Intro to the Beta Site workshop on April 9/10. I may remember incorrectly, but I thought it was mentioned that an improvement had been made on placing holds, namely: The system will now tell you early on in the process if your holds list is maxed out. I tried to place a hold on my constantly maxed out list, and it was just like in iBistro, i.e. I went through several steps before being slapped with the ultimate disappointment. I there a plan to change this? Thanks
Re Logging into one’s account: Sometimes one’s account screen summary comes up straightaway (yay) ; sometimes the TPL home page appears, which leaves one wondering whether he/she has actually logged in (frowny face). Not only is this 2nd scenario confusing, but the arbitrariness of the resulting screen is especially so. Also, my own preference would be for the cursor to be blinking in the “Library Card No.” field. Why else would I have clicked on “Sign In”? Thanks for listening.
I am trying to search for the history of medicine. No matter how I try I can’t locate a useful list. My first search gave me 1.384 hits or 1237 books. Subsequent hits were not useful. I don’t want books by Publication date but by date of content coverage. I don’t want books by Depak Chopra, etc. I am unable to locate a list of subject headings, eg. Medicine – History; Medicine – History – Time period; Medicine – History – Country. I am the Health and Medicine selector for TRL. I am not able to use the beta version for my reference or selection area.
PermaLink, or new version thereof, seems to have disappeared today.
The Photo of Jane Dundas branch in Hours and Locations is outdated. This branch reopened in February 2008 with a stunning new look!! PLEASE update photo.
Advanced search doesn’t provide a way of entering the call number provided by a patron so that staff can check the location of the item. If you type the call number into the main search box on the home page it doesn’t find the matching record.
It’s coming – just not quite done yet!
Hi Michal,
Good point – we need to add that. Thanks!
Hi Kaila,
Unfortunately, no, that is an improvement we have not been able to make. The only significant enhancement to the place hold process is that now entering your barcode and PIN to place a hold logs you in, so you won’t be prompted to enter them again when you place a second hold.
We haven’t been able to make any major changes to the account functionality in this go-round, but we hope to be able to tackle some of those issues after the launch of the new website.
Hi Kaila,
The new website has two different links: Your Account and Sign In.
The Sign In link signs you in. You can use it from any page in the site. You will be asked to enter your barcode and PIN and then returned to whatever page you were on when you clicked the link. Once you have signed in, you will be able to place holds, use licensed databases, or check your account without being prompted to sign in again. This link is also an indicator of your current status: if you have not signed in, the link says “Sign In”; after you sign in, the link says “Sign Out.”
The Your Account link is (no kidding…) a link to your account. If you have already signed in, it goes straight to the account page. If you haven’t signed in, you’ll be prompted to sign in and then taken to the account page.
The two links are a change from what we’ve had in the past. We hope people will figure it out and get used to it, since a lot of other websites are set up in a similar way.
Hi Elizabeth,
If you want to browse an alphabetical list of subject headings, you need to use the old catalogue. The old catalogue isn’t going away – it’s linked from the homepage and advanced search page on the new site.
Hi Sue,
I’ve passed your comment on to the Marketing & Communications Department. Thanks.
Hi Kathryn,
Call number searching isn’t possible on the new website. You’ll have to continue using the old catalogue for that.
Hi Raimo,
Oops! That’s a bug. We need to fix it. Thanks.
Would you consider using English as a default language for searching books in the Catalogue?
I tried searching the History of Medicine, at the Toronto Reference Library. I limited my search to books, and to English. I obtained 856 hits. The second hit was a description of Medical Ceramics at a Scienc/Medicine Museum. I was unable to locate a ‘reference structure’ – a list of subjects such as Medicine – History Medicine – History – 14th century Medicine – History – Encyclopedias I am the Health Medicine Selector at TRL. In order to do reference service and book selection I need more subject information and structured reference to provide good reference service and comprehensive Collection Development. Will the final version provide more subject access than is on the Beta? Thanks, Elizabeth McRae
Hi there, Just leaving some feedback as our librarian is too shy to do so. We noticed that on the Beta site, while trying to find locations of the multi-lingual collections, Greek has been left out… As a patron had asked us where else can’they find Greek materials. Thanks!
tpl.ca is GREAT! Buy why not just use it as a domain forward or re-direct to torontopubliclibrary.ca? Saves you a lot of time / work. I’m curious to see how many people would actually type tpl.ca/ and then a sub-domain, rather than just surf/click once tpl.ca redirects you.
Hi, will the “Recommended Websites” page replace the VRL?
After searching for the closest branch to Birchmount and Eglinton, the results list in alphabetical order. Comparing to the map, the closest branch actually displays way down the list of the 13 branches that display. Other sites that provide such a service display locations by proximity rather than in alphabetical order, so one would assume this would work the same way. The display does not even indicate the distance from the intersection given so that the user could see which location is closest.
Various staff are wondering where we can find the information for the public and ourselves for the MAP Passes. Comments from the public have not been encouraging…..
Hi Elizabeth,
Not sure I’m understanding you correctly – do you mean pre-limiting the search to English so that no non-English records would be retrieved in search results?
Hi Elizabeth,
We do not currently have plans to introduce structured subject searching (e.g., an alphabetical browse list of subject headings) to the new website. The old catalogue will continue to be available for people who want to browse subject and author headings or search by call number.
It is actually easy to find MAP passes through keyword search. However if a user wants to browse, its website location isn’t where I would look first – in Using the library, borrowing materials. A very small sample (two of us!) in our branch think that Programs, Classes & Exhibits should have a link to this page as well.
http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/using-the-library/borrowing-materials/map.jsp
Whoops! Rereading my comment and I wasn’t clear.
MAP passes are in the section Using the library and in the subsection Borrowing Materials.
I suggest a link to this page from Programs, Classes & Exhibits. Some people would think of “museums” and arts passes as events or exhibits.
However keyword *is* king in the new website and it is easy to find MAP passes by the keyword search. Staff at LS are happy about that and are using it.
Would really like to see the years of the publication displayed, as it does in iBistro. Otherwise, it will be difficult to know whether a branch has the edition you want. In iBistro, several years are together in this one record.
Hi Michal,
I assume you’re referring to serial publications (magazines, journals, etc.). We were not able to display the holdings for serials in the new website due to the size of the holdings information, which can include lists of thousands of issues for popular titles.
There is a link to the iBistro record just above the holdings area, which you can use to view the holdings as listed in iBistro.
I am told that a special task group is being formed to look into possible improvements to the ways we track and display serial holdings. I hope we’ll be able to make some improvements in the not-too-distant future.
Patron was looking for a citizenship test that he could do at home. Did a search for a test on the new site and sure enough what I wanted was first on the list. I know it would have taken me 10 times longer to find the same thing through the old homepage/VRL.
Love the changes to Hours & Locations!
Glad that when I put my address, only the map shows with nearby branches, not a full alphabetized list of branches. Also glad that it doesn’t matter whether I can enter my postal code with or without a space (M1M 1M1 or M1M1M1).
Like the new A-Z list of branches. My colleague liked the highlighted “today’s hours”.
Nice that OS and ME who share our building (LS) have their own colour – makes it easier to see my branch info.
Glad to see events and blog postings starting to come through on branch pages.
Good work, guys!
I would like to have in “Newest Titles”, separate sections for Adult and Children’s Non-Fiction, and within them: Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Science, etc. as is currently the case in iBistro
http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/books-video-music/books/newest-titles.jsp
Small but important bug relating to electronic items and faceting by branch. e-items appear as having holdings at *all* branches, rather than none, which I believe is more correct. Example: http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/search.jsp?N=&Ns=p_pub_date_sort&Nso=0&Ntt=krug+catalogue In this result set, 5 of the 7 items are located at TRL, while 2 of them are available online. Perhaps consider adding “online” or “e-resource” or something similar as a “branch/location” facet? Or alternatively remove branches that don’t have a physical item.
Hi Judith,
That’s a good point. We will improve the presentation of the new titles lists.
Hello IT staff: I know that you have been working extremely hard to get this site up and running but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bring back the facility to do booklists. It was one of the most helpful aspects of the old HIP catalogue and PAC. I do at least one booklist per day and literally spend hours cutting and pasting on to a Word file and then trying to clean it up. With the new version, the subject headings end up before the record information plus repetition of information and there is a huge margin for error transcribing, re-arranging, deleting and so forth. And if you try to copy from the “print” page, it’s even worse! To add to this situation, we have a number of shelf locations and materials behind the desk. It was much easier to print a booklist with the correct locations identified on the list which our users, mainly students and City staff, could keep as often they would come to the library more than once to finish their research. Beware, I will hound you with this forever! For the most part I do like the site and I love the fact that you can use the arrow key again! That “go back” key was a pain in the drain, as they say. Looking forward to the programs and events set-up as well. Thanks, Cynthia Fisher Urban Affairs Library 7-7256
Hi Cynthia,
Our customers agree with you 100%! List-making functionality is the most commonly requested new feature for the site. It’s good to be reminded that adding this feature would benefit staff as well as customers. I hope it’s something we’ll be able to work on once the new website has been launched. Many thanks for your feedback.