How Glenview Public Library Drove Patron Visibility, Engagement, and Accessibility Growth

Glenview Public Library leverages technology to appeal to and engage each new generation of library patrons. From a powerful library card that facilitates access to the internet hotspots, ebooks, content, and research material from 70+ online databases to cutting-edge 3D printing and laser-engraving tools to 1,200+ programs for people of all ages and backgrounds, Glenview Public Library works to support the needs of the growing and increasingly diverse Glenview community.

Connecting patrons to the library’s services and resources is a critical priority, regardless of whether the patron is seeking the library’s support in person or online. To elevate its online presence, Glenview Public Library leveraged BiblioCommons’ suite of products to deliver an intuitive and delightful experience for its online patrons. After subscribing to BiblioCommons, Glenview Public Library increased physical and digital item circulation by 8%.

“Our patrons expect intuitive and thoughtful online experiences from the other organizations and companies they’re interacting with, and they expect and deserve that from their public library as well. A lot of thought and a lot of resources need to go into that, and I want other libraries to know that this isn’t an area where you’d want to skimp and save. There needs to be an investment in the library’s online presence.” 

Lindsey Dorfman, Executive Director of Glenview Public Library

See the video on how Glenview Public Library used BiblioCommons' suite of products to make their virtual library at the same level as the beautiful, well-resourced, and welcoming physical experience.

Objectives

The COVID environment served as a catalyst for Glenview Public Library’s digital transformation. With a change in how patrons will engage with their library, Glenview Public Library looked to build a strong digital presence. A robust website wasn’t just a feature the library wanted, but a vital resource that Glenview’s residents needed.

If Glenview Public Library didn’t invest enough in its website and wider digital experience, then it’d fail being as effective as it needed to be for its patrons. It wouldn’t have a strong enough impact on the community and, worse, it wouldn’t be there at a time or place (i.e., online) where the community needed it the most. The library wanted the Glenview community to know that it would always be there to support its needs, be it at its physical location or online. Glenview Public Library didn’t view its digital investment as a lofty aspiration or luxury, but an urgent responsibility.

“We’re not a private organization. We’re not in the business of making a profit. But we are in the business of making an impact. It’s our job to use the resources the community gives us as effectively as possible so that we can have the greatest
impact on our community as possible. And we needed a
new website to have the greatest impact possible.” 

Lindsey Dorfman, Executive Director of Glenview Public Library

Solutions

Glenview Public Library worked to provide its patrons the best online experience possible because it’s what the community, which invested in their public library, deserved. Before implementing the technology, the library focused on making internal changes to better position itself to drive a strong digital presence. This included rebranding and reorganizing each department to free up staff capacity to generate time, energy, and inspiration to leverage the powerful tools they were aiming to add.

When evaluating solutions on the market, Glenview Public Library found that BiblioCore and BiblioWeb perfectly fit the bill. BiblioCore delivers a robust discovery layer that makes it easy for patrons to find the books and resources they want without sifting through pages of unrelated results.

In tandem, the tight integration between BiblioCore and BiblioWeb connects the catalog to blog posts, event pages, and other website content. This integration unlocks efficiencies for library staff, like making it easier for them to showcase books and other items in blog posts and events pages. Likewise, the added versatility unlocks new opportunities for promotion and messaging for the library.

In fact, this all came together for Glenview Public Library this June during Pride Month. The local children’s museum wanted to promote relevant books to celebrate and support Pride Month. Right away, Glenview Public Library sent booklists about Pride to the museum’s members. If not for BiblioCommons, the library staff would’ve struggled to quickly produce such lists, especially in the intuitive and accessible formats that BiblioCommons’ suite of products offers.

Not long after the museum reached out to Glenview Public Library, a patron emailed the library inquiring what the library planned for Pride Month. Interestingly, the library’s communications department created a blog post about Pride Month, discussing how Glenview Public Library raised the Pride flag (and the flag’s significance) and its upcoming art installations and other displays. The library director just had to send the one blog post, and in turn, the patron lauded Glenview Public Library for being a leader in inclusivity.

The director sent out the same URL to a local newspaper, which in turn, used the blog post to write their report on the library’s Pride Month activities. Using BiblioEmail, Glenview Public Library readily formatted and sent the same information to its patrons. Overall, it wouldn’t have been easy to mobilize and respond to the community in such depth without leveraging BiblioCore, BiblioWeb, and BiblioEmail together. The library is now looking forward to replicating this impact on its other areas of interest, such as intellectual freedom, Disability Pride Month, and reversing censorship.

“We chose BiblioCore and BiblioWeb because it’s the only tool on the market that does what it does. There are a lot of discovery layers out there that we looked at, but BiblioCore is certainly
the best discovery layer on the market. And there’s certainly
no other product that integrates with the website as well
as BiblioWeb. We also use BiblioEmail as well.” 

Lindsey Dorfman, Executive Director of Glenview Public Library

Results

Glenview Public Library set three focus areas for its 2023 Strategic Plan: engagement, visibility, and access. Since leveraging BiblioCommons’ suite of products, the library concluded that it achieved its goals across all three areas.

Patron Engagement

BiblioCore helped Glenview Public Library to deliver an online catalog experience that empowers patrons to properly leverage their library’s collection. Not only is it easier for them to find what they want through robust and accurate search capabilities, but they can also discover new things based on their interests. In addition, patrons also rate and review books, build and share their own reading lists, and more. Glenview’s patrons are becoming more active users of the library website and, in a way, are also invested in curating and leaving their impact on the collection. This puts Glenview Public Library at the top of their minds.

Visibility

The tight integration between the catalog and website empowers the library staff to share their story more effectively. They can rapidly produce unique and exciting content that tells their stories, showcases the collections and more. The technology (e.g., integrating booklists to pages) helps the library promote its programs and activities to Glenview’s key stakeholders, from patrons to local groups to media and beyond.

Access

The strong catalog experience respects the patron’s time by delivering only relevant results. It saves them from sifting through pages of irrelevant items, shows item availability, and offers the ability to place holds on both physical and digital versions. It’s an intuitive and powerful experience that aligns with what users see from other leading web platforms, like ecommerce and media websites.

Overall, both library staff and patrons are responding to BiblioCommons positively. Having used the new catalog and website, Glenview Public Library’s patrons have left nothing but positive feedback. The catalog search experience delivers what they expect while providing pathways to discover new books or media based on their interests. They’re now leveraging more of their library’s collections.

“BiblioCore has helped us enhance the way our patrons engage the library because it has offered them so many more avenues of discovery, be it through the book lists curated by our librarians or when they’re searching. For example, when they’re searching for a book and that book may not be in, they can scroll down and see a number of lists from other libraries across the nation that the book may be part of; so you can find other similar items with similar themes, and many more avenues of discovery.”

Lindsey Dorfman, Executive Director of Glenview Public Library

The ability to rate and review items also empowers Glenview Public Library’s patrons to engage each other by creating their own content and building the online community. This gives the patrons a sense that they’re not just visiting a website, but rather a thriving platform to find and talk about interesting books and other media. In many ways, the library successfully carried the delightful experiences of its physical space to the digital space, thus giving patrons a consistent experience wherever they might visit.

Glenview Public Library staff are leveraging BiblioCore and BiblioWeb to drive efficiencies and unlock their creative and marketing edge. The library reorganized its staff to free up more of their time and resources to invest in learning the new tools and using them to drive more awareness and patron engagement. For example, the team rapidly creates reading and program lists in response to events and campaigns (e.g., Pride Month) to drive the community’s attention and interest. In turn, the communications team is reusing those same assets to engage key stakeholders in Glenview, such as local media.

Future

Glenview Public Library lauded the support BiblioCommons provided for implementing BiblioCore and BiblioWeb. It’s one thing to sign onto a new web project, but it’s quite another to mobilize internal teams, communicate to all stakeholders, train staff and users alike, and smoothly shift to a new environment.

For example, BiblioCommons took the lead in carrying out a necessary stress test of the online catalog. It directly reached out to the ILS vendor on behalf of the library while also setting up an accelerated project to build a connector from the ground up. The connector was built, implemented, and approved within just three weeks of initiating the project. The BiblioCommons team’s rapid mobilization and delivery kept the Glenview Public Library project on track, but without burdening the library staff with issues they weren’t familiar with nor equipped to handle. Instead, the library staff could focus on their patrons.

Glenview Public Library is looking forward to leveraging the BiblioCommons team to introduce new ideas and innovation to their digital experience. It’s also actively working to fully leverage the tools already at its disposal. For example, the library is working on a comprehensive, cross-departmental strategy to drive collaboration and discover new forms of engaging patrons in memorable ways.

“BiblioCore was the right choice for us because of the integration between BiblioCore and BiblioWeb. We were easily able to pull booklists and promote our materials through the website, and that was huge for us. Also, the way we were able to integrate our programs and share those through email. No other product is
like that. We also know that BiblioCore and BiblioWeb are
being used by some of the top libraries across the country.
Our community here in Glenview really invest a lot in the library,
and our thought was that they deserve the best. We wanted
to give them the best online digital experience on the
market, that’s what BiblioCommons provided us.”

Lindsey Dorfman, Executive Director of Glenview Public Library