Evolution of The LCC Website
View snapshots of the LCC Library website after each redesign – 2002 to today
Website Redesign Accomplishments (May 2011)
Redesigned Library Homepage and Header/Footer
• Added custom search engine so patrons can search library website rather than college website
• Added widget to allow patrons to search for books, articles, or reserve items homepage
• Created space on homepage to highlight resources and library news, such as database outages
Improved Information Architecture
• Reorganized content into five sections: Find Information, Services, For You, About, Help
• Created multiple access points to the catalog and databases: Find Articles/Find Books, Research Guides, Research Databases page header
• Eliminated pages – 256 pages (excluding LINKS) 95 pages on website, 10 pages on LibGuides
• Made Research Help Now 24/7 more prominent on Ask a Librarian webpage.
• Reorganized FAQ: How do I? to reflect the most frequently asked questions at the library. Questions on this page point to other pages on the website for easier maintenance.
Standardized Content/Language
• Created template to match college’s overall design and to standardize content pages.
• Incorporated library hours into header of every page.
• Changed header/footer on Serials Solutions pages to make them look like the Library website, e.g. MultiSearch, Electronic Journals and Books
• Simplified language used on website, e.g. ILL Borrowing from Other Libraries, Databases Research Databases (Articles). Use language patrons know to teach them new vocabulary.
• Checked to make sure that all pages validate and use clean code.
• Created style guide to set standards for naming pages, files, visual appearance, etc.
• Edited pages to follow standards for “writing for the web” outlined in the style guide.
• Broke up long pages to make information easier to find, e.g. Borrowing Services, Fines and Fees, Request an Item, Renew Items, Course Reserves
Created New Content
• Developed audience specific pages for faculty and students.
• Library Instruction page explains goals and guidelines for instruction sessions.
• New and Trial Databases page publicizes new databases to faculty and elicits feedback.
• Computers and software pages let patrons know what technology is available in the library.
• Library Liaisons webpage promotes liaison program & gives staff a place to put info for liaison areas.
Increased Interactivity and Added Visual Elements
• Made web 2.0 tools more visible on website, such as Camtasia tutorials, LibGuides.
• Promoted social networking presence on Students, and Contact Us pages (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube).
• Added visual elements to website – e.g. images in header, images on internal pages
• Added icons from the Catalog on instructional pages wherever possible, e.g. Finding Multimedia.
• Incorporated changing content across the website, e.g. What We’re Reading on staff directory, new books on Find Books page, Library Blog on homepage.
Readability Tests
Part of the goal of the redesign was to make the website more accessible to both beginning and advanced library users. We worked hard to eliminate unnecessary words and library lingo from the content. Below are the results of online readability tests of the Library website. They show that most pages are at an intermediate reading level and require between a 6th and 10th grade reading level to understand.
| Gunning Fog Index – a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content | 10.78 |
| Flesch Reading Ease – The result is an index number that rates the text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. Authors are encouraged to aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70 | 54.72 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade – a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content | 6.18 |
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