5 Library Website Designs Worth Talking About

A friend of mine is in the initial stages of a website redesign. Her team is looking at a handful of other library homepages to begin their discussions. She sent me the list and they are all decent, but none really seemed aspirational. In my attempt to be like Cramer, here are five that I suggested. These are the sites that inspire me.

• UNC – Chapel Hill
  I have been a fan of UNC’s website for several years. It has recently changed a little, but the core design is still there. It is a little busy, but I really like it.  Icons work for me.
• Brown
  Personally, I’m not so into this design… but students love it. I’ve tested it in focus groups as well as in a usability class and the students all gravitate toward this layout. It just seems to work. I had a friend at another college test it as well with the same result. There is something we can all learn here.
• Buffalo
  I discovered this site not too long ago—I believe they just completed the design this summer. I like the composition—it’s simple yet warm. I do suggest scaling the big image a bit so I don’t have to scroll down. Also, I’d like to see tabs in the area with “news & alerts” maybe something like else, like “events” or whatever. But overall this one has good style.
• Indiana
  IU is quickly becoming one of my favorite libraries. Their marketing is inventive and I just have good vibes about them. Their site is different than most library homepages—at first I didn’t get it, but it grows on you. I look forward to testing it on students in the Spring. It’s weird, but go with it—talk it out.
• Oregon
  I have mixed feeling about Oregon’s site. I love the tabbed search bar and the twitter-like news ticker, but I don’t like the bottom half columns. I feel the top part is well produced, but then it just becomes a bit lackluster. Like a song with a great melody but no catchy chorus. Good potential though

Ok, so there you have it. Those are five designs that I find interesting.  Please share others with me.  What are some academic library sites that I’m missing? What else should I be looking at? Where are the creative, slick, imaginative designs?

Comments

[JennieD]

Brian,
Can you share why the students gravitate to the Brown design? I can't see anything that stands out as special functionally, organizationally or visually.

Thanks!

[stevenb]

I think I see why you like these sites. They all - to different extents but I see a commonality - emphasize what the library is doing (re: news, events, etc) over searching and connecting to content. Not exactly promoting the library instead of content - but moving in that direction. I hope to share with you in a few weeks the draft of an essay related to this topic.

[Brian Mathews]

Student liked the navigation.. the "easy to find what I need" response. Even though it's the same layout many of us use, it just works. Look at Oregon, they both use the classic 4 column menu, but Brown is tighter and cleaner. As I ask, Brown doesn't wow me, but maybe students aren't looking for wow.. they just want to find what they need.

[Annie]

I'm rather proud the library site that we put together with our Web Development guys: www.uvu.edu/library

[Dana DeFebbo]

We are in the process of redesigning our library website and this post offers some great inspiration. We have been looking at a lot of library websites lately looking for ideas and one that I am partial to is Ithaca's Library website:

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/

I also like Brown's website for its cleanliness. I guess I am more along the lines of the student response since I use our website every day, I'd rather have functionality over glitz and glam.

[Andrew]

Dear Brian, & esteemed readers:

Many thanks for the mention of the UO Libraries site in this list. If you want to learn more about our process, take a look at this presentation. It's two for the price of one, as you will also learn about the process Willamette University used for their excellent website. Don't hesitate to contact me if you're interested in more detail. Thanks again & best wishes,
Andrew Bonamici
Associate University Librarian, Instructional Services (& chair of library webdev team)
University of Oregon Libraries
bonamici[at]uoregon[dot]edu

[Bryan P. Carson]

One feature I find especially good on UNC's site is the "Web Site Redesign Guide". There are always a couple of very vocal users who email their complaints at just the slightest change in a website. I wonder how how many of those could be solved by the Redesign Guide feature.

[Amanda]

This is one of my favorite designs, and I believe almost three years old at this point in time, but still terribly fresh in my eyes: the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Clean, nifty AJAX-y news, clear organization, elegant design scheme.

[Jeff Paul Internet Millions]

Now this is very interesting, impressive and never thought of. In simple words well done for providing creative information.

[Sullivan Web Development]

I don't think I've ever looked at a library web site and said wow, not only is it attractive but also usable. Most are quite generic looking and even harder to use. I appreciate the list, will be sure to check them out further in depth for inspiration.

Berkshire County Web Design

[Tania Cagney]

I liked IU's website design the most because it's not jam-packed and that there's a balanced mix of links and text. I just wish that the image banner changes every five seconds or so, featuring several photos of the library itself. The website of the Ohio State University Libraries is also good in my opinion because it's very simple, and I fancy the drop-down menu.

[Lawrence Spring]

Since I started living here in Guelph, I got so interested in web design, not just for my site but for other people as well. I also like IU's design because it's more different from the other designs and it is also used by my friends in Waterloo. Web design is one of the key factors in making a site successful.

[Regan Marye]

A lot of PR firm's websites and Advertising agencies' websites are pretty cool. Some are simple but some really stand out. Animations are really engaging and making you dig for more of their pages. Some transitions also spice up the page that makes it more interesting.