Cuba Circulating Library – Serving the community since 1872

Shauna Comes, Library Assistant, inherited the Cuba website from a previous builder. Like many people in the STLS region, she was new to website management and building. When asked how she found working on WordPress, she said:

WordPress, for me, has been fairly easy and user-friendly. There have only been a few things so far that I wasn’t sure how to do, and Al Oliveras was very helpful in giving concise instructions on how to do those things, such as adding a new subpage and having it show up in the menus.

When you visit Cuba’s website, on a virtual tour of our region, you might notice two things that make Cuba unique: theme choice and content.

Remember back to Jennifer’s advice from Wayland last week: take some time to choose the theme that fits your local needs. Cuba did just that, and have a website that is content rich without being overwhelming on the front page.

Why did Cuba choose to include the content they have? “The library tries to share information about many of the things that patrons might want to know or might be looking for when they go to our website.” This includes events, services, digital collections and resources, and features. Shauna posts reading lists and new titles as well as photos from community events held at the library. She tries to add at least one thing to the website once a week. This might be as simple as adding an event to the calendar or as complicated as putting up a featured list of new titles.

I think that the transparency is important, as far as letting the community know the library’s policies, sharing the annual report, and letting them know who library board members are and when the meetings are. I think it is important to share with the community on a regular basis what is being added to the collection, and what events the library is planning for their entertainment and education. As many ways as there are that you can share information and services with the community and reach your patrons, I think that you should take advantage of them.

Shauna wrote a lot of tips and tricks for website management. To read the full interview, visit http://learn.stls.org/website-wednesday-cuba-interview. Did you know that you could subscribe to the Learning Portal to get training announcements? Simply visit and look for the “Subscribe” box on the left side bar toward the bottom.
All my best,

Margo

Margo Gustina, Member Services Consultant
Southern Tier Library System
Follow me on Twitter: @MargoGustina