CMS 4.1 Template Migration Begins Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning we will be moving a few sites to the new CMS 4.1 template:
- The library website (content at https://gvsu.edu/library)
- Scholarly Communications
- Knowledge Market
- Curriculum Materials
- Special Collections and University Archives
The former “Instruction” website (then called “Services for Faculty and Staff”) has been moved into the regular library website. All the old URLs have been redirected, and any links in LibGuides have been updated to the new pages.
Updates to Scholarly Communications, the Knowledge Market, and Curriculum Materials sites will be strictly visual. I’ll be updating header images this week to take advantage of the extended width of the new template, but no organizational changes will happen on these sites.
A few things are changing on the main library website. (The content changes have already been made - except those that require the new template):
- The search header will have links to our most commonly-used search tools. You will be able to access these tools from any page that has the search header, not just the homepage. (The links have been removed from the homepage for this reason.)
- The hours will now displayed in the header as well, on all pages. (And so have been removed from the homepage.)
- The links under the “My Account” column on the homepage will be moved into the navigation menu so they are accessible from anywhere. This is to address a common question on how to “log into my library account.” We’ve found that users don’t really seem to care that there are lots of different logins.
- The other common links used from the homepage will be been moved to a quick links bar below the ads and twitter feed: Group Study Rooms, Computer Availability, Course Reserve, and Printing, Scanning, and Copying (a new page).
- This means that there will no longer be links to Document Delivery and Renewing Books Online on the homepage. These links were rarely used: in the past 7 years, the Document Delivery link was clicked just over 5,000 times. The Course Reserves link, which was right next to it, has been clicked over 120,000 times over the same period. (Most folks get to Document Delivery from a search tool.) You can still easily access these items by visiting “My Account.” (Document Delivery is also in the Services menu.)
- We now have the ACRL Diversity Alliance logo in the footer
- I am putting together a new editorial calendar for web ads to highlight services and tools we offer, e.g. Document Delivery, Citation Tools, One-on-One Consultations, Exhibits, Events, the Knowledge Market, etc. The goal is to have content set up through the end of my sabbatical (after Fall semester) so we don’t just show the same two ads for four months.
- The Find Materials, Services, and About pages have been slightly reorganized: * Find Materials now has a data set search tool
- Services includes landing pages for specific audiences: Students, Distance Learners, Faculty & Staff, and Alumni & Visitors. The categories have changed slightly, too.
- Library Labs is no longer linked from the page. The target audience for these tools is Library staff, so I’ll probably look to move the content into LINK.
- About now has a section for Administration (with more to come, I believe). The (2-year out of date) Library by the Numbers, SAILS, and LibQual+ reports have been moved to an Assessment page.
You can see a rough draft live in your browser by visiting the staging server. PLEASE NOTE: most of the links do not work. The hours are not correct. The ads are probably wrong. I am aware of that. It’s just a mockup. They will work on the live site. ;)
The Web Team will start moving the template over in the morning, and we hope to have everything switched over by noon. Tomorrow morning things might be partway the old template and partway the new template for a bit. This won’t affect any other system, like LibGuides or Summon or the Catalog.
I made a few other changes around the web today:
- Jenna, Dawn, Erin, Samantha, and Jason’s directory entries were updated with their new information. I also updated all the web pages with their names that I could find.
- The Knowledge Market’s “Getting Started” LibGuide has been retired. Since content creators all must take annual accessibility training, it wasn’t sustainable to have our research consultants spend time on accessibility training in order to edit the guide. It also needs significant updating in order to be brought up to current accessibility requirements. The guide is Unpublished, so you can access it by logging into LibGuides. (Links on other guides have been removed.)
Later this week I’ll start working on the next stage of the template update: the Library Catalog, EZProxy, and 360 Link. More details to follow! (See the whole schedule.) We’ll also be working on some usability testing. Let me know if you have any questions!