Summary of Findings
About the Library
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 212
Much of what's here is content that needs to be on the website, but doesn't need to be front and center. The page about the Library Advisory Commission, for example, can go into the footer.
Get Help
Average views of a page in this section per month - 152
There’s a lot about communicating with the library that could be consolidated into a “keep in touch” page.
Accessibility pages (Guide to services & materials for persons with disabilities and Extended Services for Patrons with Disabilities) are dismal and should be rewritten. They are cold and clinical and do nothing to make patrons with disabilities feel welcome. As a person with a disability, reading this makes me feel the library wants me to stay away. Edit this text for readability, and add some measure of warmth.
Government Resources
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 14
This is the least used section of OPL’s website. It’s difficult to find, the content is long and dense, and it’s unclear who the information is intended for or why it’s on OPL’s site.
OPL is required to have some government information on its website because it is a federal repository library. Apart from that, the written content seems well-intentioned but like OPL is stepping out of its depth--other sites do a much better job collecting and presenting information on health and job searching, for example. Reduce this content to the minimum required and contain it on a single page.
History of OPL
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 28
This is sweet, but very little used. It’s also not typical to have on a library’s website, so there isn’t really precedent to keep it.
How to Use - Borrow Books
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 525
This is all necessary information, but the text is too long and a little too difficult to read. Simplify the language and make these into FAQs.
How to Use - Borrow Nontraditional
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 342
342 average views is a little misleading for this section. Really, it’s all Discover and Go (museum passes), which gets 1,243 views per month. Backpacks and bikes get about 30 each.
OPL does so much with bikes that a custom page to highlight everything seems warranted, and perhaps would bring more attention to the items listed here. According to staff, the items are used, just not discovered through the website. Let’s make them discoverable!
How to Use - Borrow Tech
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 124
Theory: people who need to borrow devices are likely to need help with them. They are also unlikely to find information about them on OPL’s website because they have to borrow a device from OPL to access the internet in the first place! Statistically, they’re also more likely to be English learners or have lower literacy skills. Let’s make these pages highly readable.
How to Use - Digital Services
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 2,083
Here’s a heavy hitter. OPL’s online library gets a lot of use--and this is just the traffic through the website! Presumably, even more people are accessing materials directly from the apps OPL supports. Definitely make this prominent.
How to Use - During COVID
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 5,490
It’s unclear how much of an impact COVID will have on OPL’s services in Fall 2021, when the website is projected to launch. If it is still needed, OPL can create a custom or standard page with a description of modifications to service.
However, an important tool for future maintenance will be documentation of pages that contain temporary information modifications. There’s so much incorrect information buried through OPL’s website now it would be difficult to track it all down, and the rapid changes that have been part of COVID life have made keeping things up to date all but impossible… unless you know what needs updating and where it all is. We recommend OPL maintain a content inventory with a listing of all pages and track major modifications, especially time-limited ones.
How to Use - Social Services
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 134
Despite the popularity of tax help and Lawyers in the Library, these pages have low traffic. The services are here to stay, so let’s see if we can get them some more.
How to Use - Space
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 262
Most of what’s here will be fine with simplified text. If meeting rooms are unavailable when the website is scheduled to launch, save these for later.
How to Use - Use Tech Onsite
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 915
Combined with Borrow Tech (above).
Kids
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 132
It’s too bad this page gets so little traffic. Our interviews with kids suggest it doesn’t offer much to attract or keep them. One comment we heard over and over: “where are the books?” (This wasn’t exclusive to the Kids’ page, but the kids said it out loud most often.) BiblioCommons’ carousels and staff lists will offer more direct inroads to the books, which will be a big improvement. OPL could also focus on reducing reading levels (average reading level is 9th grade, range is from 4th to 14th grade).
Risky business: the Kids page is one that has a lot of “lists of links” pages. It was in user testing with kids and teens that we discovered something scary: several subjects did not realize they’d left the library’s website (one teen, one child, and one parent watching with the child) when they clicked on a link. A young person on a game website who assumed they were still on the library’s website could get into some unsafe situations if they applied the level of trust that’s appropriate for the library. Since these are difficult and time consuming to keep up to date anyway, we recommend removing this content.
Locations and Hours
Average monthly views of a page in this section - 1,371
BiblioCommons automatically creates very basic location and hours pages. Here’s an example:
...And here’s an example of a “stretch goal” for OPL:
Seattle Public Library - Ballard Branch
AAMLO will want a page more like Ballard Branch on implementation, since that location is unique and also a museum. OHC may want one too.
Eventually, a page like this for each location would give them more online presence, helping users feel more connected. At least one user we interviewed mentioned feeling little connection to his home branch while it was closed during the pandemic, and an online presence with photos would have helped.
Another good idea for accessibility: mimic the social stories Multnomah County Library offers of their branches. Pati Morán (MLK) worked on them and may be helpful. These will make visiting much easier for people who are neurodiverse in many ways.
Example:
OPL and Schools
Average views per month of a page in this section - 30
See Kids.
OPL in the Community
Average views per month of a page in this section - 66
There’s nothing on OPL’s website about the outreach staff do in the community. There should be! An “OPL Out and About” page could talk about different outreach efforts (like the bike library), offer some stats, and provide contact/booking info.
Policies
Average views per month of a page in this section - 342
These aren’t much fun, but must be on the website. They can be linked from a Policies page in the footer navigation.
Research Guides
Average views per month of a page in this section - 50
Most of what’s here likely reflects an older model of OPL’s library service and staffing. For example, OPL used to employ a Business Reference Librarian, and that’s probably the origin story of the Business Information Online page. However, the page as is and the links it provides are frightening and absolutely not up to the standards of an information institution.
Whatever importance these resource guides may have had at once point, they do not have it anymore. They are out of date and most contain dead links. They represent topics on which OPL staff do not have expertise (with one exception). OPL’s collections do not support the topics in a deep and abiding way.
The exception to all of this is Family History and Genealogy. OPL assists with genealogy research (though there are a *lot* of parameters on that help - might want to re-think that as it comes across very unfriendly), subscribes to genealogy databases, and offers family history workshops. This page also gets the most traffic of any in this section.
Teens
Average views of a page in this section per month - 116
“Welcome to the TeenZone” - is the TeenZone the website, the physical place, or all? It’s unclear.
Aside from the home page, no teen pages appear to have been edited for COVID. Many invite users to visit while all physical spaces are closed.
Where most of the site has too few images, Teen pages have almost too many and they are too small. Exceptions are the TeenZone location pages--only Dimond has pictures, and those do not have any people. Pictures with people in them would bring life to those pages.