As people lean on the web for more of their daily lives, it has become critical for libraries to extend their strong in-person experiences to digital spaces. From the ability to browse a collection and borrow an item to connecting with the library and more, every part of the experience needs to carry over online..

Marketers are in the driving seat of bringing their library’s vision to life by steering the messaging, reaching out to the community, creating pathways for the library’s voice and personality to rise to the top, and, not least, cementing the library as an important part of people’s lives.

According to user experience professionals, inclusivity is at the heart of making digital platforms useful, usable, and enjoyable for users of any identity, background, or experience.

There’s a lot more to digital accessibility than technical compliance with standards. It’s a mindset, where you become aware of people’s unique abilities and changing needs.

Library websites need to work hard because libraries do so much for their communities. You want to engage your visitors, grow the number of card-carrying patrons, increase the lending of your collection, and expand participation in all your community services.

Colors are an excellent way to convey emotion and create a unique personality for your brand. Using the right combination of colors takes a little planning. For example, if your library logo is navy blue and red, the same colors can be used on the website where appropriate, but there are some scenarios you would want.

Getting started with accessibility standards and compliance can feel overwhelming. You may feel the need to make major changes, even doing a total reboot or rebuild.

Here’s a question for you: Have you ever been frustrated by an assemble-it-yourself furniture project? The instructions are supposed to be easy to follow, but you find yourself begging a friend to help or hiring someone to do it for you—or worse yet, abandoning the project altogether and returning the item.

Have you tried to navigate a stroller over a curb and then attempted to open a heavy door to get inside a store? (Did we mention your child is also crying and demanding lunch?) And, it’s raining.

People have got so many choices when it comes to looking for information. Google, Wikipedia, YouTube are certainly go-to sources, but libraries are very much still sought-after destinations for people.