In the last academic year, staff at Duke, NCSU and UNC Libraries redesigned their web presence to create more modern and user-centered sites. Staff at each institution had the same fundamental goal -- improve their website for their researchers -- but each approached the significant undertaking from a different perspective, incorporating research, communication strategies and assessment techniques most appropriate for their libraries and clientele. During this session, staff closely involved with the website redesigns at Duke, NCSU and UNC Libraries will describe their redesign process, the key changes they implemented, and their plans to maintain reliable, current and user-focused websites.

1. Responsive approaches:
Redesigning websites for Duke, NCSU & UNC Libraries
Emily Daly, Head of Assessment & User Experience, Duke University Libraries
Charlie Morris, User Experience Development Librarian, NCSU Libraries
Kim Vassiliadis, Head of User Experience, UNC Libraries
TRLN Annual Meeting | July 23, 2014

2. By the numbers
DUKE NCSU UNC
CMS Drupal Drupal WordPress
Timeframe Oct 12 - Jan 13 Nov 13 - May 14 Oct 12 - Aug 13
Consultants In-house + 1
content editor
In-house In-house
Content Editors 70+ 84 70+
# of Pages 910 (down from
4000+ pages)
1,617 nodes 360 (down from
30,000+ pages)

3. Responsive Update:
Scoped for Design

4. Before

5. What our needs were
● Responsive Web Design
● Flat design
● User interface templates
○ brand

6. Minimalist approach
● not a redesign
● phased approach is okay
● “Getting Real”
see http://gettingreal.37signals.com

7. Minimize disruption
boiling a frog

9. Addressing content
● address content in later phase
● content inventory to keep
track of all pages and apps in
terms of design

10. Desktop

11. Mobile

12. Some other bits
● Moved to git and GitHub
● Implemented Capistrano v3 for fail-safe
deployments
● Wrote our own Drupal theme for
Foundation 5
● Actively soliciting feedback now
● Kept bits of the old m.lib site that made
sense

13. Next
● Structuring content
● Workflows
● Updating remaining “classic” interfaces
● Information architecture

14. UNC Intro slide here!
Website Redesign:
From the Ground Up

15. ● 30,000 manually coded files
● No real content oversight
● Organizational focused, not user focused
Why a Redesign?

16. RIP
1998 - 2013

17. From This...

18. To This!

19. Goal 1: Discovery
Users know where to start to conduct research or find information about the libraries and they are able to
successfully find the research materials or information they need.
Goal 2: Access
Users can easily access library materials, including books, journals, articles, DVDs, Special Collections, and
digital collections.
* Access to Branches as open/available physical locations
Goal 3: Services
Users can easily find information about library resources, services and expertise available.
Goal 4: Branding
Users view the Libraries as knowledgeable, reliable, helpful, consistent, welcoming, professional, and
approachable
Goal 5: Device neutrality
Users can interact with the website on whatever device they use
User-Centered Website Goals

20. Worked with ALL content owners
Content Inventory

21. ● Wish List
● Usability
User Feedback

22. Since Launch

23. Future Plans
● Content Audits
● User Testing
● Constant Care & Feeding

24. Website Overhaul:
A collaborative endeavor

25. Why redesign?

26. Project tenets
● User-centered
● Collaborative
● Transparent
● Iterative
● In-house
● Grounded in research, strategy & planning

27. Vision & Values

28. Research, research, research
●

29. Information Architecture
Credit: Murray Thompson

30. Time for content

31. Launch!

32. Assess, refine, repeat

33. What’s ahead

34. Thanks for
listening!
Emily Daly, emily.daly@duke.edu
Charlie Morris, cdmorris@ncsu.edu
Kim Vassiliadis, kimv@email.unc.edu