DIY Web Design for a Small Academic Library

4/21/2021

2 Comments

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Kelsey Molseed, Randolph College

2 Comments

Monique Clark

4/22/2021 04:44:52 pm

First, I'm really excited to see my alma mater represented here (RMWC Class of 2006!)

I *love* the idea of using Springshare CMS as a library website. I wish we could do this at my institution, but there are a lot more restrictions in place. Since the Web Designer position was vacant, were there additional stakeholders outside of the library that you had to consult and if so, what justifications did you use for the changes?

Kelsey Molseed link

4/25/2021 09:36:08 am

It's awesome that the first comment here is from an alum! Thanks for your comment and question.

I wonder if you remember the library's old website? This was the first time the website was majorly updated since the early 00s, so the justification was basically that it was time, and most of campus just sort of agreed. Also, I had just finished my first year working at Randolph and it was a project I'd been interested since I started, and my boss and colleagues had been supportive of the idea.

While we didn't have all the resources of a larger institution, we did have more freedom in some ways. We used the college logo and official colors from the Office of College Relations branding guidelines, and their office approved the site before we launched. Also, conveniently, the college Web Designer position was filled shortly before the fall semester started and just as we had finished building most of the site and were preparing to launch. The new Web Designer looked over the whole site for us to clean up the HTML and make some final improvements. Campus feedback on the new site has been very positive!

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Poster Session 2021