Self Help becomes DIY

What????? In the Research & Databases area of the website, one of the Browse facets used to be named Self Help. A staff person thought that we would be providing psychology-related databases (and possibly an eCouch!). Lo and behold, we place databases there such as:

• Auto Repair Reference Center
• Health ebooks
• BYKI - online language learning
• Morningstar
• Consumer Reports
• Learning Express Library

So, we have changed the name and it is now referred to as DIY. Do you think this is more descriptive of the offerings? Are you a regular user of any of these databases?

Research & Databases Page

The Research & Databases page provides a feature story highlighting some aspect of the business or nonfiction collection. In the carousel boxes, we have books and databases featured. When you click in the left Browse box, you are taken to a list view of databases. We have fixed or at least made a positive change on this page. When you now click on a title, you are taken to another page. Unfortunately it does not provide you any more information than what was on your previous page. The good news is that there is a Connect Now button so that you can enter the database.

This is one of the functions of our content management system whereby a title is clickable. A small change, but a positive one nonetheless!

Contact Us link changes

were made today in response to our new Answer Squad service. In order to consolidate the various ways the public can contact us, a new Contact Us page was created. Links in some pages (such as Interlibrary Loan and Using Computers) now go to the new page instead of to the How are we doing page.

With the new Answer Squad service, patrons can type in their questions to see if an answer is already in the system or they can text us with questions at 303-720-7832.

Russian Page Changes

Today, with the magic of code and talented staff changes were made to the Russian page:

• you now see a graphic for the feature story instead of image and text. This falls more in line with other interior page looks. The feature story link goes to a list of Russian titles recently received.
• the top carousel has 2 links. unless you can read Russian you won't know that the first one says Coming Soon and the 2nd link says Katya Recommends.
• on the Coming Soon page, there is a list of facets on the left which are relevant subject headings. As new titles are added, this list will grow.

Changes were made to improve the backend work of providing new titles for Russian-speaking patrons. We now have the ability to pull in material covers, too, which were previously unaccessible to us.

Computer class handouts online

This was completed a couple of months ago but forgotten about. You now have the ability to download our computer class handouts! On the Programs & Classes page, click on Adults in the Browse box to find the link. As of this writing there is only one handout, for Picasa, available. But, look in the future for more of these treasures!

Did You See?

On the Books, Movies, Music, OnDemand and Research & Business pages we have made a large change. You now see the feature story presented graphically. From the screenshot you see here, the Celebrate Children's Poetry is an example.

In keeping with the theme of the site, this design change was made to better fit with the look of the page.

Hope you enjoy!

Research & Databases Update

Today changes were made to the Research & Databases page. The top carousel/box now has a header which is a nice description of what you will find contained in this box. Thanx to our Communications Department for helping us with the name! Next to the title you will see a link called "business" and a link called "databases"

The "business" link takes you to a list of recent titles and further navigation to business resources available from ALD. Find the link to Suzanne Kaller's business blog or Kathleen Rainwater's twitter. Access business databases and find titles in our catalog.

We hope these changes are useful for the businessperson to find and access our rich array of business resources.