The Jasper-Dubois County Public Library's website is designed to be more user-friendly.

By LEANN BURKE
lburke@dcherald.com

JASPER — Visitors to the library’s website today will notice a few changes.

Monday evening, the Jasper-Dubois County Public Library — which includes the Jasper, Dubois, Birdseye and Ferdinand branches — launched a newly designed website in an effort to modernize its online presence. The new site uses a new web address, http://www.jdcpl.us.

“It was time,” Library Experience Manager Jordan Schuetter said of the site.

The new website is designed to be more user-friendly. The homepage of the new version is also less crowded.

“We’re excited,” Schuetter said.

The library system hired Red Pixel Studios of Owensboro, Kentucky, to design the website. Throughout the process, library staff worked closely with designers to determine which features to keep on the site and how to organize the pages. The process involved looking at website data to see which features patrons used most often and making those more accessible. It also meant eliminating some of the links and buttons which filled the homepage on the old version of the website. Many of the changes came from feedback staff heard from patrons who said it could be difficult to find what they wanted on the website.

“We just came up with the philosophy that less is more,” Schuetter said.

In the new version, some frequently used features and often searched information have moved to the home page, including information about how to volunteer and about the Friends of the Library groups. Before, Schuetter said, patrons had to dig for that information.

The new site also comes with a few new features, including a newsfeed on the homepage that will feature short articles and other media about the libraries. When the libraries reopen to the public, there will also be a way for patrons to reserve meeting rooms online. Right now, library staff is still figuring out which program to use to run that feature.

Although the new design is cleaner, the fresh look does not eliminate any features from the old site. Patrons can still log in to their library accounts, reserve materials, access the library’s databases and view and sign up for library programs.

“The main difference is it’s cleaner,” Schuetter said. “It’s more modern looking.”