A more interactive PPL

The digital presence of PPL is one of the three “environments”, along with our physical facilities and soon to come bookmobile, which we need to master.  Each environment has its own unique set of dynamics and user experiences.  It is no secret that our current website is …. Well, to find the right word … packed.  It is hard to navigate and, although there are plenty of great resources on the site, it doesn’t do a good job helping us serve our many different users.

In the next two months, we will be finishing some projects that have been months in the making which will radically change our digital profile and how we will relate to our users.  Several new platforms will be unveiled that will make it easier for us to connect with our users, expand library collections and make it easier to find information.  In June our new website will be rolled out.  We have been working with VONT, a local web marketing firm, for over a year to integrate social media, such as Facebook, more effectively within our site and to incorporate new tools, such as BiblioCommons.

 

BiblioCommons will provide a new library catalog experience, allowing users and staff to share lists of items and provide much better access to our collections.  Finally this spring our digital collections will begin to utilize the Digital Commons platform.  You will be able to use search engines to explore collections such as Maine News Index, Children’s Theater of Maine, Portland Press Herald Still Film Negatives, Maine Jewish Oral History Projects, Casco Bay Weekly and many more.

We are very grateful to the Sam L. Cohen Foundation for their support toward these projects.