Running the Digital Branch

Maintaining a library website is as important as its initial development. In this issue of Library Technology Reports King draws from his team's four-year experience running the acclaimed digital branch of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL). From website tweaks to staffing issues, King outlines recommended strategies and workflow plans for continually meeting library users' needs and effectively highlighting library programs and services, including Ways to engage library users in conversations about books, movies, and other materials A detailed listing of what data TSCPL tracks and the tools they use for the website, blogs, and social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and FourSquare Their team's approach to efficiently maintaining 24 blogs and six social media accounts Tips for using rotating banner ads to draw attention to website content, a technique which brought in 3,000+ page views for a post about the new library catalog Reasons behind the decision to migrate to the WordPress content management system (CMS) How gathering customer feedback led to more effective location for their My Account link The lessons learned by King and his team at TSCPL can help any library sharpen their presence on the Web while efficiently maintaining library website operations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Author David Lee King is the digital branch and services manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, where he plans for, implements, and experiments with emerging technology trends. He speaks internationally about emerging trends, website usability and management, digital experience planning, and managing tech staff. A Library Journal ""Mover and Shaker"" for 2008, David writes the American Libraries column "Outside/In" with Michael Porter and maintains a blog at www.davidleeking.com.