The Sidney branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library may be under renovation, but in the meantime users on the Peninsula will have a brand new website to help them navigate all the system has to offer.
Launching Nov. 30, VIRL.bc.ca is more user-friendly, particularly on mobile devices, where communications director David Carson says an increasing number of users are accessing the site.
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VIRL last designed and launched a website in 2011.
“Since that time we’ve brought in a number of digital resources,” Carson says. “The old site wasn’t as robust in its ability to promote and encourage discoverability.”
Although digital, the new site will also make navigating the physical collection easier, and provide access to streaming movies and TV, downloading music, as well as utilizing language resources and e-learning through Lynda.com.
“One of the things we really tried to do with the website is update the layout and the structure and push those digital resources front and centre,” Carson says, adding for members in Sidney the new site will make accessing library services much easier for them during branch renovations.
The goal, he explains, is to provide existing users with tools they may not have known were available, as well as attracting and retaining a new crop of library users.
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VIRL branches are conscious of staying on top of the changing digital landscape, Carson notes, to provide the best of what is on offer.
“We always look at our website as our 40th branch,” he says.
The Vancouver Island Regional Library is the fifth largest library system in B.C. serving more than 430,000 people in 39 branches since it opened in 1936.
