Beta Website: latest developments in response to customer feedback
Many thanks to all who have sent us your comments about the beta version of the new Toronto Public Library website. The site has been available to the public for a few months now, and we continue to get valuable feedback every day. Here’s an update on what we’ve been doing and what’s next.
What We’ve Done in the Past Few Weeks
Session timeout: Customers told us that once they’re logged in to the site, they don’t want to be automatically logged out too quickly, especially if this results in losing their place in the site. We’ve introduced a warning so you can now refresh your session and stay logged in. It’s not working perfectly yet, but we hope it’s a step in the right direction. Your feedback on this feature is welcome.
RSS feeds for new titles lists: New titles lists are constantly changing, so this is a great way to keep up to date.
Improved performance: We continue to monitor performance and make adjustments as needed.
Improvements to Hours & Locations: changes to layout and functionality have made the page faster to load and easier to use.
What We’re Planning to Do in the Near Future
Complete unfinished areas of the site, including access to online articles and databases, information about library services, and help pages.
Add more categories of award winners lists in the Books section.
Add a search box to the account page.
Future Projects
Some things customers have told us they’d like to see that will take more time to accomplish:
• A “wish list” feature
• A “Remember Me” option when signing in
• Personalizing search results to indicate which items you already have on hold
• Email reminders of item due dates
• A mobile version of the site
• An online purchase request form
• Online registration and fine payment
Pretty soon we will begin the transition from old site to new. This will start with customers being given the option of selecting the beta site as their default home page for the Toronto Public Library. Once they make their choice, every time they access www.torontopubliclibrary.ca they will be automatically directed to the beta site. This gradual implementation of the site will allow us to more effectively monitor performance as well as to fine-tune the content as we go along. Our goal is to get as many people using the new site as possible before we retire the old home page and site from public view. Eventually, the old home page will disappear and users will not be given a choice about which to use – that's when the fun begins!
If you haven’t done so yet, take a look at the beta website now and tell us what you think.
4 thoughts on “Beta Website: latest developments in response to customer feedback”
1. As a staff member, I love the uncluttered appearance of beta, especially in the program search, BUT it would be far more useful if the results came up in “descending” order rather than “best match”: the patrons want to see what’s next right away, not do a sort.
2. I hope you’ll retain the “Collections” feature of the old site? That’s what makes TPL unique!
I would love to have zoom for the Google Maps in the branch profiles. The other day, I had to go to the regular Google Maps in order to be able to show a patron exactly where a branch was. Otherwise that component of the website functions well. Nice to see our programs and events featured on our page.
Hi Frances,
Currently you can zoom on the map on the Hours & Locations landing page but not on the individual branch pages. It’s something we hope to be able to fix in the future.
Margot
The program listings for ONGOING programs look odd — we might see a listing such as English Conversation Circle, Dec 2010, or something like that (because it’s ongoing from October – December), which is misleading.
Is there a way to list ongoing programs properly eg. Tuesdays, from Oct 1 – Dec 31. Or for services, such as the Newcomer Information Desks – include their weekly timetables ?