Newport Beach Public Library Launches Revamped Website

The next time you log onto the Newport Beach Public Library's website, you will notice design changes and new features to help you navigate the site more efficiently.

After being in the works for about three years, the library launched its new website at the beginning of February. Genesis Hansen, the library's reference and Web services coordinator, said through customer surveys and usability testing library staff was able to pinpoint areas of the old website that needed to be upgraded.

"We really focused on making it easier for customers to search for and find information, even if they’re not regular users of the site," Hansen explained. "For customers who were familiar with the old site, the same information is still available. But new users to the site can search and find what they need without having to know their way around."

The website now has a search box that appears on every page of the website so that customers can search the catalog or website from anywhere in the site. In addition, the new navigation bar incorporates the most frequently used links including books and children and has additional links in the drop-down menus.

Resident Melanie Reese, who surfs the library's website from Starbucks in Corona del Mar, says the new features has made toggling back and forth from one section to the next much easier to do.

"Before I had a hard time navigating back and forth from one page to the other because I'd go to a page then I'd get lost on how to get back to where I was," Reese said. "It seems simpler now and I really like the sleek new look."

Some of the new features:

• A simplified navigation bar.
• Better integration of library catalog, with catalog search on every page of the website.
• Easy to see contact information for library departments has been streamlined into one contact form. Customers can choose the department if they know it, but there’s also a “not sure” option so that the onus for directing the request to the right person is on staff and not customers.
• Hours & Location information are available on the homepage so people can see at a glance which branches are open and during what times.

In addition to the revamped website, the library recently added 1,000 e-books to be used with an Amazon Kindle or Kindle reading app to its collection of digital books. The e-books can be downloaded for up to two weeks with no late fees.

Hansen says additional features will be added to the new website down the road.