Lawrence Public Library Creates a Robust and Elegant Website to Match its Stunning Physical Library

Lawrence Public Library went through a renovation and staff increase, leading to a growth of new programming for patrons. To deliver that delightful in-person experience to those online, the library launched BiblioCore, BiblioWeb, and BiblioEvents. As the library added new items and programs, the team used the BiblioCommons suite of products to ensure that its patrons are informed and engaged, be it in person or online. 

Objectives

When Lawrence Public Library underwent a renovation and added an extra one-third of staff to their pool of talent, they immediately saw an increase in their programming and the variety of services they could provide their patrons. Their team had a lot of ideas they wanted to share with the community, but they felt their website wasn’t positioned to evolve at the rapid speed at which the physical space and the services at the library were growing.

The website felt antiquated, and the platform powering the backend was outdated. It was clear that their site no longer served its population well. It was also important to have a website that could connect to the catalog and events calendar as a means to better highlight all of the available services and programs, and more easily repurpose content across their online spaces. They needed a content management tool and website builder that could work well for their size and continue to grow with them.

Solutions

By powering its website with BiblioWeb, Lawrence Public Library is now able to dynamically repurpose content across different webpages without repeatedly copying and pasting text or reactively resizing images to fit different use cases and device sizes. Whether it’s a new blog, a list of recommended titles, or recent events, library staff can now more easily and collaboratively provide fresh content for visitors to discover each time they visit the website.

It was imperative for the library to have a web builder that required little design investment and as minimal effort as possible, yet flexible enough to customize to the library brand to communicate everything the staff wanted to share. BiblioWeb comes with many webpage layout templates that contain drag and drop modules which don’t require having to start a page from scratch. However, in many cases, Lawrence Public Library likes to build webpages that are unique to them, and with BiblioWeb, there are no limits to the breath of creativity and customization they can apply. They can design entirely custom pages to match the needs of their patrons and community in the city of Lawrence.

The old website platform had numerous security concerns. With BiblioWeb, the IT team at Lawrence Public Library benefits from having a turnkey service where the website is always taken care of. Frequent updates and enhancements, plus a dedicated BiblioTeam that oversees servers and monitors security, ensures that all library and patron data is safe.

“I love that BiblioWeb gives us the opportunity to live
online the way it feels to visit the building.” 

Heather Kearns, Marketing Coordinator at Lawrence Public Library

Results

Though a small team, the staff at Lawrence Public Library are able to leave a big impression on their patrons through BiblioWeb. Now, they have tools available to them to create rich content to drive their growing roster of programs. It’s easy for the team to channel their great ideas into tangible benefits for library patrons and, in turn, create a consistent, high-quality experience for patrons across both their physical and digital spaces.

Even as Lawrence Public Library continues to add to its programming, the website is no longer a bottleneck preventing the team from letting the community know. The BiblioWeb environment is fully approachable; anyone on the library team, no matter their skill level, can build a rich and informative page. They can quickly stand up a page using pre-built templates or, when the time and skills are available, build their own look.

The team at Lawrence Public Library also leveraged the tightly bound integration between BiblioWeb and BiblioCore to push the catalog to the front of the web experience. Just as a patron who walks into the library finds curated stands, an online visitor will get the same curated lists right from the homepage. The library also added BiblioEvents, so now they can drive synergy across their collections, website, and events or programming. For example, they can tell patrons about an upcoming program from the website while also giving them a curated list of books to go along with that particular event.

“Having a professional website that connects to the catalog and the events calendar is really appealing to us. With BiblioWeb, you can be a small team and shine, or you can be a larger team and customize your webpages. The flexibility is incredibly useful.”

Heather Kearns, Marketing Coordinator at Lawrence Public Library

Future

Lawrence Public Library subscribed to BiblioCommons’ suite of products to carry the amazing changes they made in the physical space to their digital space. They wanted to show the local community how much their library has grown and evolved, and to experience those changes from wherever they are, be on site or on the website.

As the library continues to evolve, so will its online experience. The advantage of working with BiblioCommons is that the library doesn’t have to carry the burden of evolving the website on its own. Instead, the BiblioCommons team is constantly iterating on BiblioCore, BiblioWeb, and BiblioEvents with improvements, optimizations, and new features. As Lawrence Public Library is evolving, its website will be intuitive and delightful for patrons as it’ll stay on the cutting edge in terms of user experience, accessibility and security.