Toronto Public Library’s Beta Website Invites Your Comments

As one of the most heavily used public libraries in North America, the Toronto Public Library is an important institution in the library community. I often use the Library’s resources online and visit branches and always feel good about my experiences. Recently, I started following TPL’s announcements on Facebook just to see how the institution is making its presence felt in that area. It was through Facebook that I learned that TPL is launching a new website which you can know see in beta. I’ve taken a screenshot below to preserve what it looked like in March 2010:

I see several interesting contrasts with TPL’s current website. The overall size of the site is bigger; it goes “over the fold” in my browser. It strikes me as a much more intense Web experience compared with the current site, but absolutely nothing wrong with that. I also see a much greater emphasis on events; you can see that Globe & Mail writer Margaret Wente has a talk at TPL in April and that the library is participating in an event called “Keep Toronto Toronto Reading Festival.” The centre block of the site – which highlights new items in the collections including children’s fiction – reminds me of the University of Toronto Library website that also highlights recent items. Overall, the site’s design looks like it will be more dynamic and there is a higher chance of seeing new and interesting information here every time I come to visit. Access to the collections, catalogue and other library programs is still clear to me. The site is friendly and I would have to give it high marks. You can read about the planning and thinking behind the redesign on the TPL’s Web Team blog. The Web Team is to be commended for their extensive communication and efforts to consult with users in this process.

On a different note, I also came across some statistics on TPL’s performance in 2009 and the data is impressive. For anybody that thinks that public libraries are losing popularity or are failing to deliver the services and collections people want, these kind of statistics really counter that way of thinking. According to a January 19, 2010 press release, the Toronto Public Library had a record year of usage in 2009:

• The number of materials borrowed (over 31 million) jumped by 5 percent over 2008
• People visited the library’s 99 branches 17.5 million times, up 8.5% from last year
• eTitles (including eBooks, eAudiobooks and music files) were borrowed 88% more than in 2008
• In-branch computer use increased by 11.5%

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