Bridging the gap between libraries and online discovery
VALA2024 CONCURRENT SESSION 11
Thursday 11th July 2024, 2.30-3.00pm
Zak Eichenbaum
- System Admin & IT Support Officer
- Public Libraries Victoria
Presentation
Abstract
Libraries in Victoria (and globally) have adapted their offerings to suit the changing times and wants of the general public. However, the public seem almost entirely unaware of this shift in focus from physical books alone. Furthermore, where this information is available, it seems to be limited to only in branch or online at the Library Service’s (or associated council’s) own website. In response to the gap that was identified, Public Libraries Victoria undertook a process of gathering information on Library Services offerings from all public Library Services in Victoria. This information was then passed on to a developer to design a website to consolidate this information into one central repository. Furthermore, the data was all Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tagged to enable search engines to better return this site in its search results. It is hoped that this will enable the public to both more easily find information on what the libraries around them offer and where to obtain it. It is also hoped that this will shift the public perception on what libraries do by returning this page in results even when the user may not be looking for a library or traditional library content.
Biography
Zak Eichenbaum from Public Libraries Victoria is the staff member spearheading much of the IT development in the organisation. He comes from IT consulting rather than a traditional library background and has over 15 years of experience translating IT advancements into real world environments. Despite only recently having been exposed to the world of libraries, he has drunk the ‘kool-aid’ and is now a strong advocate for libraries and the benefits they bring to their communities.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International.