Short & definitely very sweet – tpl.ca now available for your convenience
We're taking a very brief hiatus from beta testing posts to share something we hope you will all appreciate. I'm not entirely sure how many times I type torontopubliclibrary.ca a day or the number of unique and interesting typo'd versions that have flown off my finger tips, but I'm sure you will agree it is a difficult string of text to pull off quickly and accurately.
So we've made a small and easy change to help all of us.
tpl.ca is now an alias for torontopubliclibrary.ca.
This means you can'type:
- tpl.ca – for the home page
- tpl.ca/branches – for the locations & hours page
- tpl.ca/catalogue – for the current web catalogue
- tpl.ca/ramp – for the Teen site
- tpl.ca/kidsspace – for the Kids site
It's not fully implemented, so if you email us, you still have to type out the full torontopubliclibrary.ca in the email address. As well, not every sub-site is working yet (e.g. historicity.tpl.ca doesn't work yet). Over time, we'll work on expanding the alias to work more broadly, but we think you'll agree that this new shorter url access to our main website will make your TPL life (and ours!) a little easier.
26 thoughts on “Short & definitely very sweet – tpl.ca now available for your convenience”
typo in url in first bullet “tpl.ca – for the home page” – link is to tplCOMMAca
(and hey, didya hear Catherine Raine talk about her Toronto Library Blog on CBC Metro Morning yesterday? http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/2010/03/15/
typo in url in first bullet “tpl.ca – for the home page” – link is to tplCOMMAca
(and hey, didya hear Catherine Raine talk about her Toronto Library Blog on CBC Metro Morning yesterday? http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/2010/03/15/
Sweet indeed! My fingers thank you.
Sweet indeed! My fingers thank you.
I am amazed there aren’t any caucasian children on your website – I see brown, chinese, etc – is this politically correct gone overboard.
Last time I checked tpl was for all cultures,not just minorities – a shame.
I am amazed there aren’t any caucasian children on your website – I see brown, chinese, etc – is this politically correct gone overboard.
Last time I checked tpl was for all cultures,not just minorities – a shame.
tpl.ca is good. I hadn’t used the website for a year… forgot the original URL. Without thinking I typed tpl.ca and… voila!
So thanks.
And the beta site is very usable & smooth from what I see.
tpl.ca is good. I hadn’t used the website for a year… forgot the original URL. Without thinking I typed tpl.ca and… voila!
So thanks.
And the beta site is very usable & smooth from what I see.
I went to the “Meeting Rooms” tab of Toronto Reference Library page http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMLIB018&R=LIB018 to find info on booking a study room. When I called the number, they told me to call the branch directly. I thought I was calling the branch directly, but turns out it is a central service. Some clarification needs to be made and the additional number for study room booking needs to be added.
Thank you!
Connie
I went to the “Meeting Rooms” tab of Toronto Reference Library page http://beta.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMLIB018&R=LIB018 to find info on booking a study room. When I called the number, they told me to call the branch directly. I thought I was calling the branch directly, but turns out it is a central service. Some clarification needs to be made and the additional number for study room booking needs to be added.
Thank you!
Connie
Agreed in principle about the photos, even if this particular blog entry hardly seems like the place to bring it up, and I’m sure even the photography is still a work in progress. I see caucasian seniors among the photos, but no caucasian young people. The other ethnicities represented are fine–that’s what I love most about the TPL; that it caters to so many vibrant and unique cultures–but the use of photos (stock or otherwise) on the site needs to be better balanced. In effect: photos of BOTH caucasian youth AND minority adults should be featured in the rotation, to more accurately reflect the mix of cultures that actually use the library. Love the new site overall, though.
Agreed in principle about the photos, even if this particular blog entry hardly seems like the place to bring it up, and I’m sure even the photography is still a work in progress. I see caucasian seniors among the photos, but no caucasian young people. The other ethnicities represented are fine–that’s what I love most about the TPL; that it caters to so many vibrant and unique cultures–but the use of photos (stock or otherwise) on the site needs to be better balanced. In effect: photos of BOTH caucasian youth AND minority adults should be featured in the rotation, to more accurately reflect the mix of cultures that actually use the library. Love the new site overall, though.
Something else I’d like to see:
WISHLISTS!
Similar to the wishlist available at retail sites like Amazon.ca/com, I’d love for the library to have such a feature for those of us who’d like to keep a list of items (from AVAILABLE library stock) that we’re interested in signing out AT SOME POINT, but without those items going directly to the processing queue. This would then allow users to move items to the signout queue when they’re ready to do so, rather than having to remember the name of the item (if they can!), search it all over again, and add it to the queue.
So, instead of just a “Place Hold” button under every listing, there would also be a “Add to Wishlist”-type button. Not sure “wishlist” is the ideal name, as it sounds better suited to items we HOPE the library stocks some day but currently doesn’t. My thinking is that this would simply be a way for users to maintain a list of stuff they’re interested in but not ready to sign out just yet. When they are, they can move said items from the wishlist to the hold queue.
Just two more cents . . .
Something else I’d like to see:
WISHLISTS!
Similar to the wishlist available at retail sites like Amazon.ca/com, I’d love for the library to have such a feature for those of us who’d like to keep a list of items (from AVAILABLE library stock) that we’re interested in signing out AT SOME POINT, but without those items going directly to the processing queue. This would then allow users to move items to the signout queue when they’re ready to do so, rather than having to remember the name of the item (if they can!), search it all over again, and add it to the queue.
So, instead of just a “Place Hold” button under every listing, there would also be a “Add to Wishlist”-type button. Not sure “wishlist” is the ideal name, as it sounds better suited to items we HOPE the library stocks some day but currently doesn’t. My thinking is that this would simply be a way for users to maintain a list of stuff they’re interested in but not ready to sign out just yet. When they are, they can move said items from the wishlist to the hold queue.
Just two more cents . . .
For the boolean search, since it’s main advantage over the more commonly easy-to-use multiple blank form search is that you can’type quickly in one go, without mouse (and especially useful in the case of certain disabilities that make mouse usage a problem), there should be the possibility to use abbreviations for keyword categories, with the keyword parsed and recognized as WHATEVER is typed before the semicolon, backwards up to the space preceding that bunch of letters.
So it should be allowed to use
Subject: french language
as well as
Su: french language.
Au for Author, etc. And whoever can’t remember abbreviations can still use the full word, while those who can remember can save time typing.
Again, this would be convenient for typists, fast and slow, but it is especially useful and time saving for those with more severe disabilities that make typing a pain. Not for many, but for some, being spared the pressing of 4 or 5 keys is a great convenience.
And anyway, I’m a fast typist myself and I would still like to be able to put an abbreviation. If I’m not mistaken, it WAS possible to use keyword abbreviations for boolean searching in the old, in-library or by telnet, text interface catalogue.
For the boolean search, since it’s main advantage over the more commonly easy-to-use multiple blank form search is that you can’type quickly in one go, without mouse (and especially useful in the case of certain disabilities that make mouse usage a problem), there should be the possibility to use abbreviations for keyword categories, with the keyword parsed and recognized as WHATEVER is typed before the semicolon, backwards up to the space preceding that bunch of letters.
So it should be allowed to use
Subject: french language
as well as
Su: french language.
Au for Author, etc. And whoever can’t remember abbreviations can still use the full word, while those who can remember can save time typing.
Again, this would be convenient for typists, fast and slow, but it is especially useful and time saving for those with more severe disabilities that make typing a pain. Not for many, but for some, being spared the pressing of 4 or 5 keys is a great convenience.
And anyway, I’m a fast typist myself and I would still like to be able to put an abbreviation. If I’m not mistaken, it WAS possible to use keyword abbreviations for boolean searching in the old, in-library or by telnet, text interface catalogue.
Kudos and thanks a million for the absolutely brilliant redesign! Adding simple, easy-to-remember URLs save a lot of time on slow connections.
It’s a bit strange to see a web design team get so many things right. Elegant layout, readable text, pleasing colours, etc. Keep up the good work.
Kudos and thanks a million for the absolutely brilliant redesign! Adding simple, easy-to-remember URLs save a lot of time on slow connections.
It’s a bit strange to see a web design team get so many things right. Elegant layout, readable text, pleasing colours, etc. Keep up the good work.
I love all the little touches about the redesign: highlighting the current day in the list of location hours, showing the number of holds in search results, sharing options on the side…
About the only things that could make me love it more would be the ability to place holds on multiple items from the search results page (like the checkboxes for renewing items, maybe?), or failing that, an AJAX-y no-refresh hold that lets me place the hold right in line with the search results. That way, I don’t have to keep re-finding my place in the list. =)
Awesome stuff!
I love all the little touches about the redesign: highlighting the current day in the list of location hours, showing the number of holds in search results, sharing options on the side…
About the only things that could make me love it more would be the ability to place holds on multiple items from the search results page (like the checkboxes for renewing items, maybe?), or failing that, an AJAX-y no-refresh hold that lets me place the hold right in line with the search results. That way, I don’t have to keep re-finding my place in the list. =)
Awesome stuff!
I’d love to see “customers who borrowed this book, also borrowed this” feature that Amazon has. I want to be suggested other books.
I’d love to see “customers who borrowed this book, also borrowed this” feature that Amazon has. I want to be suggested other books.
Rex, regarding wishlists, what I generally do is put the item on hold, then make it inactive. Then when I’m running low on books I just make a few items active again, and voila! You can keep items on your hold list for up to 2 years, which is generally long enough for me to either read the book or decide I’m not that interested.
Rex, regarding wishlists, what I generally do is put the item on hold, then make it inactive. Then when I’m running low on books I just make a few items active again, and voila! You can keep items on your hold list for up to 2 years, which is generally long enough for me to either read the book or decide I’m not that interested.
If you’re going to be politically correct, then using “brown” to describe a race isn’t.
If you’re going to be politically correct, then using “brown” to describe a race isn’t.