Is it time to update your Library site?

When I was appointed to my school nearly 7 years ago, as the Curriculum Leader : Library and Information Services, the Library portal was accessed via our SharePoint LMS - Learning Management System. SharePoint has continued to work well for us as a secure place to store, organise, share and access information but the Library Staff knew that the interface to the Library Site was starting to look tired and uninspiring.

We had two options:
1. Convert to LibGuides
2. Rebuild our Library site

Because we had invested so much time in building up our Pathfinders and CMD on our own site which is free, as opposed to the ongoing costs associated with a subscription to LibGuides, we decided on Option 2!

Our Pathfinders are helpful guides that have been prepared for students by the Library team to assist with assignment tasks. They provide a pathway to help students navigate the research process by providing links to reputable and authoritative websites, recommended readings contained in the CMD, and helpful hints on how to search our library catalogue and databases.

Our CMD or Course Materials Database contains electronic copies of recommended readings selected by teachers. The readings on the CMD can include:

• Journal articles
• Book chapters
• Book excerpts 
• Web pages
• Web articles

Full bibliographic details are provided on the front page of each​ CMD article.


On the front page of our new Library site we decided to group these two types of resources together under the heading of "Assignments." It took a year of planning and valuable input from our ICT Officer - Design to create a new interface which uses 12 icons to take users to the following areas.

1. Oliver Library Catalogue
2. Other Library Catalogues
3. Digital Footprint
4. ClickView online
5. Assignments
6. Databases and E-Resources
7. Referencing
8. Research Tools
9. Reading @ MSM
10. Overdrive
11. Library Blogs
12. About Us

This mammoth project was co-ordinated by our Library Technician with input from all members of the Library Team. We have had very positive feedback about the new Library Site since its launch, from both staff and students. It is now a professional looking Content Management site which allows us to easily curate, manage and share resources with our users.