Welcome to the web team blog.
Welcome to the Web Team's first blog post. In this blog we'll talk with you about what the Toronto Public Library is doing and planning online. This includes our library catalogue, websites, and all our online and interactive services. We know that by talking with you we'll learn more about what you want and expect and we're excited to engage with you in this important conversation.
This blog will have contributors from all facets of our web team and will cover many topics including design, usability, accessibility, technology and the Internet at large. We want to be open and accountable to you, our customers. It’s OK to criticize the library’s website in your comments and ask challenging questions. We also welcome suggestions for topics you think this blog should cover.
Comments provided will be read before a decision is made about whether or not to publish them. We want to include as many comments as possible, but we won't publish comments that are abusive, offensive, or way off-topic.
It's worth noting that leaving a comment on this blog does not replace or represent the Library's official customer service. To make an official request, comment or complaint, please use the online form or call Answerline at 416-393-7131.
And so with out further ado, we're now open for discussion! What do you have to say?
18 thoughts on “Welcome to the web team blog.”
Why are your iterations so slow?
Why is it when you click on “Your Account” above (and on the TPL’s main site) you aren’t taken to your account after you log in — but rather to the search page?
Can I please get a view into my holds that I missed picking up and were sent back (i.e when they sit on the hold shelf for more than 7 days). The old system had it, the new doesn’t.
It’s rare when it happens — but when it does I’m left clueless as to what I missed — was it something I just put on, or something that had been on hold for a year.
When dealing with suspended holds, decent logic regarding the handling of the dates would be nice.
I managed to learn the NEVER trick from a staff member during checkout and that’s how I do it now to get around the frustration. Maybe just put that trick front and center on the page in the interim for others.
Hi Chris,
I’m glad you found the blog! Thanks for your comments.
We’re going to post an update about work on the library catalogue next week. Stay tuned!
Sandra
It would great if you could expose your search interface URLs. This enables people to easily access your catalogue via Web sites like Wikipedia, Amazon, and Goodreads.
The old catalogue did this, but now it seems like the interface is using “POST” and the URLs are very opaque. The main requirement is something an external client can insert an ISBN into.
Secondly, have you considered integration with WorldCat?
Hi Neil,
The new catalogue is session-based, but you can create a persistent URL by stripping out the session string. To build an ISBN search, use the syntax http://catalogue.torontopubliclibrary.ca/uhtbin/cgisirsi/
x/0/0/5/3?searchdata1=[ISBN].
E.g.:
http://catalogue.torontopubliclibrary.ca/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5/3?searchdata1=0316156116
The answer to your second question is a bit more involved – it might be a good topic for a future post.
Thanks for your comment.
Sandra
I would also like to see the reinstatement of being able to view one’s holds that were not picked up within the allotted time frame.
Wonderful resource, but the user interface could be improved. For example:
What is ‘Top’? It doesn’t seem to do anything.
Why does the ‘edit hold’ page have an ‘edit hold’ button? We’re already on the ‘edit hold’ page. It should be ‘Accept’ (Put another way, ‘edit hold’ means ‘go to the edit hold page’ *and* ‘accept changes’ which is confusing.
Why can’t I return from the ‘edit hold’ page? I can return from the previous page.
And so on..
These things could be found by testing on naive users.
Peter
Peter, thanks for your comment – you may be interested in helping us with our Beta Test – you can participate by emailing us at webteam@torontopubliclibrary.ca.
Thanks,
Dara
Good to see an ISBN based URL… perhaps I’ll get around to updating my old greasemonkey script which let you know the status of an item in the library when viewing amazon:
http://chrisnolan.ca/ID/627
I sent a note way back to some email addy @ the library but never heard — what’s your stance privacy policy wise with serving all the cover art off of a 3rd party host?
That host’s logs will have way too much information about what I’m searching for than I’m comfortable with so I’ve blocked with with AdBlock Plus from ever making the requests.
Hi Chris,
Syndetic Solutions, the third-party site that provides the book covers that appear in the TPL catalogue, does not have access to information about individual TPL customers. Their server logs would only ever include requests coming from Toronto Public Library servers, not TPL users. The requests are not associated with an individual’s library account or any other identifying characteristic. There is no way the files requested could ever be linked to searches performed by a specific TPL user.
Hope that helps.
Sandra
Whoops, mea culpa re the above – my initial response was wrong. While it’s true that this third-party site would never be able to get information about your TPL customer account, their server logs may have a record of which IP addresses sent requests for particular book covers.
I’ll try to get a bit more information about this and get back to you.
why doesn’t it hold books for more than a week? i think it should hold books for around 8 to 10 days because some people don’t have time to pick it up in 5 days. please change this.
The improvements are wonderful! Here are a few things I’ve noticed. When you click Title Begins With, the cursor is automatically in the field, ready for input. Not so for Author or Subject Heading. Unfortunately, this was true on the old system, too.
The one kind of search I haven’t yet figured out how to do is to search for subjects to see items in a subject. I wanted ot find some architecture subjects and got a mix of systems and building architecture. To search by call number for this purpose was exhausting …
Thanks so much for the missed holds. But I don’t think the old system didn’t count filled holds against the 50 allowed.
the tabbed views work very well. But if you can’t make it an option for a user to put them all one page, perhaps you could create a Print button that would print just checkouts and holds. People could see it altogether even if they didn’t print.
Thanks for all the good work.
Ronnie
Yes Chris, PLEASE update your greasemonkey script for TPL and amazon!
In the section where they list languages by branch.
There is no Greek Language listed