Building a library Web site Strategies for success

March 2011 132 At the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries, we kicked off a Web site redesign project in late January 2010 and launched our new site in mid-August. We started our project the way most of us had seen it happen before—with a committee of 15 people. In the first meeting of that group, at least two people told horror stories about prior redesigns, and warned that we should establish some ground rules for conflict resolution up-front. We were determined that this did not have to be a tedious and contentious process and began to strategize about how to keep it positive while still moving quickly. Before beginning any design or development, we decided to determine the scope of the project, outline goals and objections, and articulate a clear vision. The existing Web site had grown up organically through the years, and there was a strong desire to create a fresh, modern, and welcoming Web presence, with a clear personality brand for the library. The libraries also wanted to highlight its core search tools and support the most common research and course-related tasks. The last major redesign had been done in 2005. The previous information architecture divided the site into six very limiting categories of library-related homepage links. More than 27 subsites had evolved their own internal navigation systems, siloed content, and in some cases, distinct visual designs. Our users had also become dependent on more than 15 popular Web-based applications that were not integrated visually or functionally with the site. Redesigning a site of this scale and scope is no small feat. However, during the seven-month process, we documented a series of best practices that helped make our redesign run smoothly and efficiently. The following are project management techniques and organizational factors that we feel led to a successful project and a positive process that was even fun at times. These strategies for success could apply to any library Web project, from major redesigns to mobile product development to digital library initiatives. 1. Make redesign an organizationwide priority. Rather than jumping right in to speculation about navigation or talk-