Introducing New Navigation Across nypl.org by Frank MigliorelliOctober 13, 2015

For those of you who have commented about logging in, please see the October 23, 2015 post "We're Listening: Log In Feature Added to Website Navigation"

nypl.org as it appears today

This week, we’ll be unveiling a new feature across the NYPL website: redesigned navigation menus that will improve the overall organization of the site and help you find what you're looking for more easily. This feature will help you move throughout the site with more control and understanding of where you are and discover new content in each area of nypl.org.

The new menus are called “mega-menus”—drop-down menus that incorporate icons and text, offering better organized layouts, and a visual design that presents all information at once with no scrolling. They’ve become very commonplace on the web, and complex sites like nypl.org can create a much more pleasant experience for visitors with a well designed navigation strategy that incorporates the use of mega-menus.

Our new navigation menus were designed by Ricardo Galvez, NYPL’s Digital Experience Designer, and Jinu Yang of Second Story, our partner design firm from Portland, Oregon. The development and programming of the feature was led by Rafael Hernandez.

See below to get a preview of the visual design being released this week, as well as a few helpful tips for familiarizing yourself with the new navigation. If you have any questions, comments, ideas or feedback, feel free to reach out to me and my team through this form. We’ll read every message!

Navigation Sections 

Browse

Browse is where you'll find our catalog, staff recommendations, and more, bringing you together with our expert staff.
 

Learn

Learn highlights classes, educational resources, and information. Kids, teens, and adults can easily find programs and resources that fit their specific needs, while parents and teachers will discover invaluable materials for the classroom and beyond.
 

Attend

Attend  highlights exhibits and events throughout the Library system. Here you'll be able to deftly explore the latest LIVE at the NYPL events, book clubs, exhibitions, and more, right at your fingertips.
 

Research

Research is your gateway to collections, tips, our classic catalog, and important information about the vast resources available at NYPL. 
 

Find Us

Find Us integrates our location information and spotlights activities at branches and research sites. You can easily locate your desired branch while discovering what programs, classes, and projects are happening in one quick click.
 

Give

Give spotlights opportunities for membership, financial support for the Library, and volunteering. Here you'll learn about various ways to support the Library.
 

Get Help

Get Help allows you to effortlessly find the help you need, whether it's about managing your library card or a reference question for Ask NYPL. Get Help is your one-stop-shop when you have questions, comments, or concerns.
 

Helpful Tips

Where is the catalog?

You'll find our catalog in the first navigation section, Browse, labeled as Books/Music/DVDs.

How do I log in / sign in so that I can see my holds, pay fines, etc.?

Under Browse there is a menu feature that links to MyNYPL, your account. Alternatively, click Books/Music/DVDs in that same navigation section to go to our catalog and log in to your account from there.

Where is the Classic Catalog?

Under Research there is a menu feature links to our Research Catalog, which was previously known as Classic Catalog. Another way to access the Research Catalog is by clicking Collections in the Research section and then clicking Research Catalog.

How do I search your website?

Click the blue magnifying glass, then click your cursor on top of the text that says "What would you like to find?" Type your search term, then hit enter. 

View all posts by Frank Migliorelli

Comments

Patron-generated content represents the views and interpretations of the patron, not necessarily those of The New York Public Library. For more information see NYPL's Website Terms and Conditions.

Mobile app for new layout

Submitted by Judith (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 10:05am

I downloaded the revised app for the iPhone yesterday. It fails to load. I have an iPhone 5s. The opening screen, which is as far as I get, is good looking.

iphone app-

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:08pm

Hi Judith- We are in the process of transferring to a new catalog system this weekend- By accident, the iTunes store published the new version of the app, which won't be active until Monday. We've turned off access to the app until the catalog transition is complete. Please try again on Monday, and let me know how it turns out. fm

Your app is more pathetic

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 2:29pm

Your app is more pathetic than the website. Neither of them work. Screw this stupid "bag" ...!

iPhone 5s-- new app and website down

Submitted by Dave V (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:52pm

So no login or search in this updated app that YOU asked us to download today.... And the previous app is completely blank as if the information stored was sucked into a great library vacuum!! So NYPL the greatest library in the world.. Where is the data? Why was this launch so difficult? Where is my working app that lets me SIGN in on second page rather just sitting there with the progress bar stuck at 70%. This relaunch is a waste of time and effort for your patrons so tell us what we do next -- stop making us guess when thing will work!!

AWFUL WEBSITE AND APP

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 11:38pm

This new site is complete and utter crap. And the app is no longer functioning either. Remember when the library was about providing books and other media to tax paying patrons. Well no longer.. .It's all about blogs and podcasts. So while you may no longer be able the check out books, you can read about them on the blogs and listen to people talk about them on podcasts. But they failed to take into account the very purpose of a library. Oh what's that noise I hear? Oh... just our taxpayers money being flushed down the toilet in order hire some inept 'digital director' or some crap like that. And then they have the nerve to put messages all over the site asking for donations. This site is a mess and whoever is in charge of this should be fired and should not be working in this field. I'm quite certain he/she has never even seen a website.

iPhone 5s-- new app and website down

Submitted by Dave V (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:52pm

So no login or search in this updated app that YOU asked us to download today.... And the previous app is completely blank as if the information stored was sucked into a great library vacuum!! So NYPL the greatest library in the world.. Where is the data? Why was this launch so difficult? Where is my working app that lets me SIGN in on second page rather just sitting there with the progress bar stuck at 70%. This relaunch is a waste of time and effort for your patrons so tell us what we do next -- stop making us guess when thing will work!!

New Library Home Screen And Catalog

Submitted by Andy Rivera (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:19pm

I Honestly Think As A patron Of The New York Public Library Since I was A Child I Honeslty Believe Who Ever Is In Charge Of Changing The Format Of The Library Catalog Did A Bad Job I Cant Seem To Log Into MY Account And Be Able To Pay Online Through A Debit Card I Hoope You Guys Listen To This Feedback And Take It Into Consideration Because Us As Patrons Should Be Considered First When Changing The Way The Library Works I Honestly Am Not Pleased With The Outcome And Hope Next Time We Be Better !!! Thank You

I agree... this has to be the

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 8:42am

I agree... this has to be the worst website redesign ever! It DOES NOT WORK!

It's not just your phone...

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 2:25pm

It's not just your phone... doesn't work on iPhone 5 either. Even after the second update.

Account

Submitted by Ashley (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 10:34am

The menus are nice. But....why change the way we sign into our accounts? Now we have to enter the whole barcode number? It was so much more convenient with usernames. And what happened to the for later shelf on my account? I had a lot of things saved there to look at later. So disappointed.

Thanks- Actually, you will be

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:05pm

Thanks- Actually, you will be able to use your username. We're transitioning to a new catalog on Monday, and you will be able to use either barcode or username. Let me know if you have any other questions. fm

sorry

Submitted by Ashley (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 10:36am

disregard last comment. Sorry.

ok.

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:23pm

disregarded- ;-). fm

Browse

Submitted by Michael (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 11:14am

Can you put the browse field at the top of the page like it used to be. It's the primary reason I, and I'm guessing a lot of other people, come to the website.

Browse field

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:22pm

Michael- Thanks for the comment - We are trying to create a less cluttered header, and tested this out with a number of visitors. It definitely is a different way of organizing the information, and as we roll out the structure of the new homepage we'll be making adjustments and changes based on user feedback. Do me a favor- try this menu structure out for a week or so, and let me know if you do or don't follow the organization of the site better-This is a big change in the overall site design, and it definitely might cause some confusion to some people. We're definitely open to making changes and tweaking the design. Thanks-fm

pathetic

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 8:44am

No one comes to the website to read the stupid blogs. Have you noticed that no one is really commenting on any of them except for the ones pertaining to the new website. That's cause people use the website to search for items, place items on hold, keep track of items in progress... yet those functions no longer work. EPIC FAIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

website change

Submitted by EW (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 12:38pm

Please restore the previous version. This is disorganized to the point of uselessness. Thank you.

EW-The new design is

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:26pm

EW-The new design is definitely different than the previous version. We're in the process of making the site less cluttered and hierarchical, so the organization of the menus is much more organized and simplified than the previous version. Give the menus a chance, and explore them over the next week. If they still don't make sense, or if you have some suggestions, please pass them on - we're listening- thanks-fm

Placing books on hold

Submitted by Sally (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:05am

How in gods name can I simply log on, put the name of the book, pick it and put it on hold for my account? I cannot figure this simple thing out. By the way, new web design is horrible and not user friendly at all. Old site much, much, better.

Revised Website

Submitted by Margo (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 4:24pm

NOTHING WORKS! I suggest EVERYONE flood the president's in-box with personal letters delineating all the problems being encountered with this website redesign.

Previous comments

Submitted by JR (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:50pm

I have to agree with the previous comments from EW. I liked the old design MUCH better. Before I could go straight to the Home Page and Log In to MyNYPL. I wouldn't mind a few small tweaks here and there. But now that it has been so drastically changed, it's time-consuming and nerve-wrecking to try to find out where everything is. I'm of the school of thought that if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

EPIC FAILURE! After trying to

Submitted by EW (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 7:12pm

EPIC FAILURE! After trying to grow into this during the past several days I have arrived at the same conclusion as another user. This disaster screams that the library must be flush with money to throw away making work for some very incompetent website designers.

+1

Submitted by Paul S (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:48pm

This.

New catalog site is terrible

Submitted by EMJ (not verified) on October 27, 2015 - 10:32am

why on earth did you ditch bibliocommons? it was easy to navigate, quick to use, organized information in a useful way. now you have this new catalog which is 1.ugly; 2. lacking in functionality; 3. hard to read. things i can no longer do (Not an exhaustive list): group my holds so i only see the ones that aren't frozen. order my holds by how soon i should get them and easily see which ones are in transit, ready, etc. (am i 1 on the list, or 37 - this was the default on bibliocommons and is unavailable now); manage th egroup of items that are due soonest. oh yeah, and report bugs/problems. that used to be one click on the catalog page. no longer.

EMJ- Thanks for your feedback

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 27, 2015 - 11:55am

EMJ- Thanks for your feedback. We know that many patrons want more flexibility on how the catalog sorts. We've raised these issues with the catalog software company and are working on how the sort features function. Some of these changes will take some time to implement, but we definitely will be changing the current sorting options. Thanks for your patience on this-fm

I have to ask - -did anyone

Submitted by EMJ (not verified) on October 27, 2015 - 5:57pm

I have to ask - -did anyone at all look at how patrons actually used the online catalog, and were any users (not staff) involved in developing the new site? because you stripped out a ton of functionality and seem to be surprised people want it back, aside from making the online catalog just plain ugly and hard to see. and now you claim you will fix this, but when? could you PLEASE put back the really great bibliocommons site until you make this new thing actually usable?

Horrible

Submitted by Charlie (not verified) on November 5, 2015 - 9:56pm

Horrible redesign! I spent much time curating a digital "for later" list. Where did it go? After hunting and pecking I found some version of it, only to discover half my books had been removed. And good luck trying to add new ones. What did you do???

hours

Submitted by melanie bazil (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 2:18pm

Ok...where exactly are the hours of the main library located on this wonderful new web site? I am planning to visit to view an exhibition and have found excellent images without simple data. Thanks!

Finding SASB

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:31pm

Melanie- Look under "Find Us" - you can either click on "Find A Location" or click on "Research Libraries"- The info is all there- Let me know if I can help you find anything else-fm

Misuse of funds?

Submitted by Shane (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 3:08pm

I'm constantly told that the NYPL is in need of funds. May I suggest reducing how much goes into the near constant changing of the website? I feel like every time we finally get a fully working model (which having taken so long this new site is a nice example of) and become accustomed to the new functionality, it changes again. For instance, why do I now have to click into other areas just to log into my account? Seems that should be right on the front page. And while submitting this, I'm noticing the incredible inefficiency of this very form.

Misuse of funds-

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:44pm

Hi Shane- Thanks for your comments. We actually haven't changed the website much in the past few years, we're only now starting to roll out a new, more organized structure over the next few months. The log in process is still the same number of clicks, we just named it "Browse", and instead of being isolated in a small drop-down box on the top right-hand side, it's now in the lower part of the header in the mega-menu. You're correct- I agree the blog form is not exactly pleasant- We've been working on a new design for blogs and commenting, that we'll be able to roll out as we change some of our web policies here at the Library. I'll post some of those designs in the next few weeks. Let me know what you think- we do read your emails-fm

strange location

Submitted by John Tomlinson (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 4:57am

Logging in is not browsing and often not even connected to browsing - it's about dealing with specific books we already know about.

"more organized"?

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 8:47am

This new site is the OPPOSITE of organized. Waste of taxpayers money. Instead of spending all this money on some incompetent digital director and asking for donations for books, fire this Frank guy and his useless team and spend the money on BOOKS.

Log In

Submitted by Rosa (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 3:15pm

I agree with a number of commentators with this new change. The older version was very user friendly. My biggest gripe is the accessibility with the log in. You must go to Browse then the Books/Music/DVDs links and then log in. I would prefer a one click approach in accessing my account. Could you please create a link on the main page for the log in. Thanks.

Log in-

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 4:50pm

Rosa- Thanks for your comments. The log-in process is actually the same number of clicks as the old one. Instead of being a drop-down in the top right hand side of the page, it now is just located in a new place, in the "Browse" menu. We'll be moving to a more advance sign-in system and will look at how people are using the system-Do me a favor, use the new menu for a week, and let me know what you think. I'm curious to see if people see that the cleaner, more visual menus make it easier to navigate all the content. There's so much to organize, the old menus were stacked with information and had way too many choices. Believe it or not, we had people complaining that there was "too much" choice on the menus....Let me know what you think in a week, and please email me your comments- I'll definitely read them- thanks-fm

New web format lacks clarity

Submitted by Patricia (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 12:07pm

The log in process is not the same number of clicks. The old site had the log in box on the home page. One click and you could start entering your password, etc. Now you don't find any info on the home page about logging in, but have to play around with links and drop boxes to find it. How user friendly is that? Most websites, even those that use drop boxes, have a place on the home page to log in and out. Argh!!!

Number of clicks is not the whole problem with log-in

Submitted by John Tomlinson (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 4:38am

With logging in, it's also about where the link is. Logging in is not necessarily browsing. The new site is clean, but it shouldn't require remembering where things are or having to develop expertise in the system. Logging in is a core - task. It deserves better.

logging in

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 11:44pm

I'm completely baffled that they renamed the 'log in' as 'browse'. Those do not mean the same thing! WORST WEBSITE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

functionality

Submitted by Shawn (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 3:39pm

the redesign of the website is visually quite pleasing but navigation is totally counterintuitive. why on earth would you remove the catalog search and the log in from the main page? the catalog is why the library exists! no service oriented company in the world would make a customer click through to get to the main service they provide.

functionality

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 5:06pm

Shawn- Glad you like the visual design, sorry if you found it counter intuitive - "Browse" is where people will find their account log in. It's actually the same number of clicks to the log in process as before-it's just organized differently. We're in the process of working on a more robust sign-in system that will not only grant access to your catalog, and to some new features we'll be offering in the next few months. Use the new menus for a week, and let me know if they are still counter intuitive- I'd be curious to hear your feedback after familiarizing yourself with the new organization. Thanks-fm

Completely agree with Shawn

Submitted by rcn (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 9:53pm

Removing the catalog searching and account log-in capability from the home page is not user friendly.

Web site login...

Submitted by Rod Granger (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 3:43pm

Hi. I find the new design less user-friendly than previously. The main purpose I go to the site is to check my holds, due dates, etc., and it makes much more sense to me to have this on the front page, as it was. Thanks.

What the heck happened to my

Submitted by sue (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 3:56pm

What the heck happened to my for later list...and my completed list? Any where are we supposed to log in? This is bad news!

Lists

Submitted by fmigliorelli (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 5:10pm

Sue- Not sure...we didn't change anything with the list feature. We sent out an email telling people we were moving to a new catalog system, and will be migrating lists to the new system. Your list should be in your account. Here's where you can log in- How do I log in / sign in so that I can see my holds, pay fines, etc.? Under Browse there is a menu feature that links to MyNYPL, your account. Alternatively, click Books/Music/DVDs in that same navigation section to go to our catalog and log in to your account from there.

Lists

Submitted by Michelle (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:35pm

My completed and for later lists are also missing. I used this to group together books that I wanted to read. Please restore these lists to my account. I agree with others that the update is not user friendly. I had to search for quite a while to find where to get more information/submit questions.

The search font is so large,

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 5:36pm

The search font is so large, why is it so large? That is the largest font I have ever seen on any webpage. I don't understand why the font is so large, it makes me feel like the page is broken. Also, what I am searching? There's nothing on the site but random blogs and out of date events.

Can't use it

Submitted by Not Working (not verified) on October 16, 2015 - 8:50pm

The new "mega menu" doesn't show up for me at all, on multiple browsers (could be because d7.nypl.org is not responding - page doesn't finish loading). When I click on Browse, it takes me to a page that still doesn't have any way to log in (despite the screenshot above claiming there's a MyNYPL link in the mega menu - there's no such link on the actual page if the mega menu isn't working). Not a very useful redesign if I can't get into my account to do anything. That's the main point of using the site, so you can check holds, hold books from the catalog, etc.

Not the least bit user

Submitted by Marise Hausner (not verified) on October 17, 2015 - 8:21am

Not the least bit user-friendly. Inefficiently organized for patrons, with far too many strokes required to navigate. Far too many donate icons. Back to the drawing board, please.

Not the least bit user

Submitted by Marise Hausner (not verified) on October 17, 2015 - 8:22am

Not the least bit user-friendly. Inefficiently organized for patrons, with far too many strokes required to navigate. Far too many donate icons. Back to the drawing board, please.

My nypl

Submitted by Marta (not verified) on October 17, 2015 - 10:03am

New navigation. Ot user friendly for mynypl users. Either have mynypl next to browse or have mynypl as one of the drp down choices when you click on browse. You should have a post on now stating:LOOKING FOR MYNYPL LOG IN...

HOME PAGE SIGN IN

Submitted by suzinne (not verified) on October 17, 2015 - 2:30pm

From your new HOME screen, it's not clear how to sign in. It should be clearer, because I am not finding it.

HARD TO FIND LOG IN ON NEW DESIGN

Submitted by JOHN GUINN (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 9:39am

HELP, CANT FIND THE LOG IN SECTION. AM ABOUT TO GIVE UP! THANKS JOHN

New website is hard to navigate

Submitted by David Rudofsky (not verified) on October 17, 2015 - 4:20pm

I can't figure out how to login to your new website. I thought the old website was great, and did not need to be changed!

New Design

Submitted by Eric (not verified) on October 18, 2015 - 10:31am

The new design looks great! But from a usability standpoint its the worst thing I've ever seen. I mean that literally, the absolute worst thing I've ever seen in terms of a website redesign. People need single click access to their accounts. Several times a day I type www.nypl.org so I can check on requested titles, request new titles, check due dates and pay fines. Now accessing my account requires a minimum of three clicks. Whose bright idea was that? As much as NYPL may WANT to become a venue for exhibits, lectures, etc., its core business remains (or should remain) lending out books. Yet the new design suggests that that's tertiary at best. Books? You want to manage your books? Go down the hall and then walk up three flights of steps. You'll come to another hallway. Walk all the way down that hallway and look for a non descript door marked "books" (a letter or two may be missing). Your books will be in there. Give me a break.

On the "Checked Out" page,

Submitted by GL (not verified) on October 18, 2015 - 11:37am

On the "Checked Out" page, make Date Due the default sort. On the "Home" page, put the LOGIN button back. On the "Home" page, put the LOGIN button back. On the "Home" page, put the LOGIN button back. Any further comments would be redundant.

You guys messed up this time.

Submitted by keith (not verified) on October 18, 2015 - 2:13pm

You guys messed up this time. When I'm just about out of the door for work and pull up the site, I want to see which of my items is due for return, which of my holds is ready or in transit and what may be in the system I'd be interested in putting a hold on. Quickly. Without wading through all of the other stuff.

Logging-in is a big hassle

Submitted by Allen (not verified) on October 18, 2015 - 3:15pm

I have to agree with the others: the new location for logging/signing in is poorly thought-out and cumbersome. Most of us first enter the NYPL site to review due dates for items checked out and holds available or still pending. Everything else comes afterwards. To obscure this portal by burying it in the Browse page defeats the presumed purpose of this new website, which is to make it more user-friendly. We don't need a week to decide if this works or not; it doesn't, all writers agree that it doesn't, so please return the primary functions to the main page.

This redesign seems to be a

Submitted by Sandy (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:00am

This redesign seems to be a huge step back in user friendliness, and I am skeptical that it was tested a lot with actual library patrons. I worked in software design for 20 years and this sort of counter-intuitive design that leaves the user guessing and confused would never pass muster in the corporate world. Where to start. I can't see the due dates or my books on the list of Checked Out items as they are cut off and refreshing the screen does not help. I had to press the buttons to renew multiple times and since there is no cursor or popup feedback I didn't know if they worked until I waited a while. It is completely unclear how you get to your account from the main screen. Putting it under "Browse" makes absolutely no sense. The scrolling is no longer smooth so maybe you've got some large script running in the background. It is not clear how to reserve a book when you get your search results. It is hidden under a "+" rather than a choice on the result screen. This definitely takes more mouse clicks than before when this is a primary function of searching for books and not secondary. It is unclear where you type your query in the new "Search" as there is no cursor set, and you have to pull down the menu item to get there. The use of meaningless icons over text is confusing. Why put MyNYPL and Search into pulldown menus rather than having them easily accessible on the main screen? I see a lot of comments about how it "looks" cleaner, but it is a annoying for users and it must be really bad for cell phone users.

Holds/checkouts

Submitted by Dave (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:27am

The "sort" options are dramatically reduced (like sorting your holds by status position is gone, it was helpful to see what was coming next in chronological order) and the response time of the "clickable" buttons is dreadfully slow. Also what happened to the images? The graphics are very dated. Sorry to be so negative but I can't think of anything good to say about the new layout. I hope this is a transitional period in which things are being phased, because I think this is a step (or two) in the wrong direction.

Holds

Submitted by dave (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:41am

Another thing that has disappeared from the main holds page is how many copies NYPL has of a certain item, which gives you an idea of how long you have to wait. To have that info you have to go into the item's page, but in there you can't see what your hold position is. Now you can see how many holds there are after you, which I think is less relevant than your approximate wait time.

I can't find the path to the digital books

Submitted by Jennifer (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:42am

With the new layout, I can't figure out how to get from browse to seeing my digital checkouts or ebooks. My screen does not match what is shown on the help screen. Thank you!

can't find ebooks link

Submitted by Deborah J Hall (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:53am

I can't find a link to ebooks. where is it?

Later lists

Submitted by Matthew (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 9:18am

Same question as Sue - what happened to my later list? Will you be migrating these to the new website?

Hi-

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:22pm

Hi- We're still in the process of moving lists over to the new system. They will be restored soon! Thanks-fm

completed shelves and lists

Submitted by willie jones III (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:44pm

WILL MY COMPLETED LISTS BE ADDED TO THIS NEW SYSTEM! BECAUSE I NOW DON'T HAVE THEM!

LISTS

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 11:50pm

My lists are completely screwed up now as well which makes them pointless. I used to have less than 30 items in my In Progress list. But for some reason the library has now added a couple hundred more. Plus they show me as having a DVD due TOMORROW that I never checked out. So I assume I will be getting charged $3 a day late fees since I can't return it... cause I never checked it out! I do actually have 5 items checked out... but they don't have them listed. This site is crap. Complete and total crap. I keep emailing the president of the library and the help desk. No response. They screwed this up big time.

I know you're counseling

Submitted by Rajani (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:45am

I know you're counseling patience, but the new site seems to be a big step backwards in terms of ease of use. Once I finally figured out how to log in, I saw that a lot of the functions/features I needed were gone. On the "Checked Out" page, there's no longer any indication of how many people are waiting for my items, so I can't tell if I'll be able to renew them and I don't know which books I need to read first if I get a number of them at once. My "For Later" shelf has completely disappeared. I've updated my account to change my home library, and though the site claims that my changes have been recorded, they are not being reflected on the screen. Additionally, I keep being asked to log in even though I already am. This is a mess.

Login

Submitted by Margaret (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:22am

Let me join the chorus. We shouldn't have to hunt around for the login. It should not be buried under Browse, or anything else - its why I'm here after all. It should be prominent on the main page and labelled Login.

new user format to reserve and renew books

Submitted by Libby Kessman (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:24am

I hate it! It's much more cumbersome to navigate than the previous system you just had last week, which was also much more pleasing to the eye. Please--if it's not broke, don't fix it!

Lists

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:35am

My lists have also disappeared and I did not delete them prior to the merge.

Hi-

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:17pm

Hi- We're still in the process of moving lists over to the new system. They will be restored soon! Thanks-fm

Lost Lists

Submitted by Margot Condon (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:38pm

Hi! Wow people are going nuts. I was glad to read that we will be getting our lists back. This is true right? I utilize completed, for later and my own made lists. The only ones there are "my lists" and they are incomplete. Luckily I print "my list" every year. I am keeping an open mind and will try the new website. I just hope I get my lists back. Thank you!

This new website is

Submitted by Sandra Sherman (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:10am

This new website is symptomatic of an age where techies talk only to themselves, not to the people who use their products. The people who use this website care about BOOKS, not ingenious designs that defeat their access to books. Eventually, we may figure this site out, but only after wasting time pursuing dead ends, and re-reading Kafka to validate our exasperation. Did my tax money pay for this self-indulgence? If it did, then forget my hitting that big red "Donate" button. Indeed, I feel sorry for all of those tech-challenged older people that I see in my local branch, who probably view this latest imposition as an inter-generational assault. So may bottom line is: please stop defending this ridiculous, user-unfriendly site that resembles that of no other public library I've ever encountered. If I hadn't experienced it, I wouldn't believe that you put so much effort into creating it. It reminds me of those old librarian jokes, where the last thing those white-haired matrons wanted to let their precious books leave the building. Why don't you just 'fess up and put things back the way they were?

Terrible! Due to all the

Submitted by Rachel (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:49am

Terrible! Due to all the graphics, search function takes forevvvvvvvvver to load, and is not intuitive....being able to specify author and/or title better. Log in is not intuitive. All my old lists disappeared. I call this a fail.

new website design

Submitted by Shanese (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:58am

Your new design is terrible. Where are the e-books? When I try to log on it goes to an error page.Sigh. I am not giving it a week I already don't like this set up. This is a horrible design and so not user friendly.

There is no way to browse recently added materials

Submitted by Nancy Kalish (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 11:59am

Besides using the website to check the status of holds and checked out items, I am (was) a heavy user of the part of the catalog that highlighted new materials. I was especially fond of the New DVDs this week, but also frequently checked the new books acquired or on order and used the information I found to select items to reserve. I don't know if these features are coming back, but for now they are missing. Staff picks is not an adequate substitute for a complete list of incoming materials with links to reviews and ratings. (I also agree with the other complaints that people have made about the awkwardness of the login. And I have a major pet peeve with overly visual websites that make me hunt for things and give me the constant feeling I am missing important information, which has been replaced by giant boxes of pictures.

Can't even get into my account

Submitted by Olga Bomford (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 12:21pm

This is so user unfriendly that I don't know where to start. I've read some of the above comments and they are right on. To have to go to "Browse" to sign into my own account is the height of stupidity. And it's so slow I can file all my nails before any screens come up. I don't know who you had testing this but a 5 year old could do a better job.

Mobile App

Submitted by Katie (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 12:42pm

The "new" mobile app just seems to be the mobile website. Am I missing something?

mobile app

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:15pm

Katie- you are correct- the true "app" version of the new system has not been released by the software company yet. They are still doing some testing and further development on it. Instead of not having anything when we launched the new system, we adapted the mobile site to launch like an app, so you only have to click on the icon, instead of entering a url on a mobile web browser. As soon as the official app is ready, the app on your phone should automatically update like all of your other app updates- Let me know if you have any further questions- thanks-fm

New Website is atrocious!

Submitted by William (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 12:53pm

First, the new design where your books are listed looks awful. Just last week at a glance you could see which items were waiting for you, which were in transit, and not only how many people were ahead of you for an item on hold, but how many copies were there so you had some idea of how long you might have to wait. All of that is now gone. GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS. The website is even slower than ever -- and I have a high-speed connection -- and when I tried to get my books listed according to due date it didn't work. The print is also very small and while you can possibly magnify it with your computer, that shouldn't be necessary. And it just looks so tacky and old hat. And why do you have to search around to log into your account (which still takes forever); why put it under "browse?" Ridiculous! Fire the person who designed this, get more bandwidth, and go back to the way it was or come up with something brand new and user-friendly. This is just awful!

My Shelves

Submitted by Milli (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 1:58pm

The new site is not user friendly at all! I am devastated that I can't see over a dozen books I saved in My For Later Shelf, for future reading. Are these lost indefinitely? Please return back to the previous format.

Your lists will still be

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:16pm

Your lists will still be there!! We're still in the process of migrating the data over to the new system. We'll get them up there soon! Thanks for your understanding- fm

Something is rotten at the NYPL

Submitted by Ryng (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:29pm

This redesign is a failure from a practical standpoint, and a complete and utter waste of taxpayer funds. Update? Re-design? WHY? Why was it done, and how much money was spent on something that was so utterly and completely unnecessary? Address that!

New format

Submitted by dave (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:35pm

Plz bring back the search category New Music CDs/DVDs this week. I often came upon great stuff I didn't know existed or the Library had.

Dave- That's a feature that

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 3:53pm

Dave- That's a feature that we'd like to add back into the new system. I'm sorry it isn't available yet with the launch of the new system, but as we settle the core functionality of the catalog, we'll start developing some new robust features like the one you describe. Thanks for your input-fm.

Core functionality

Submitted by Nick (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:36pm

Am I to understand that you launched a major revision to a web site without first establishing the core functionality? If this is the case, then you have effectively abandoned the features we patrons relied on to use the site. The working premise should have considered which components were to be carried forward, only then followed by the design which best allows those features to be accessed. This is a Potemkin village.

Thanks man, and thanks for

Submitted by dave (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 9:21am

Thanks man, and thanks for moving forward and being flexible. Things change.

my completed shelves

Submitted by WILLIE JONES III (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:40pm

I SAVE ALOT OF DVD's AND BOOK TITLES ON THEM FOR FUTURE USE AND NOW THERE ALL GONE! THIS IS VERY DEVESTATING, I CAN REMEMBER SOME OF WHAT I PUT IN IT BUT THE REST I CANT REMEMBER! THE OLD SYSTEM VERSION WAS BETTER! WILL THE LISTINGS I PUT BE MOVED TO THIS NEW VERSION SOON!

Hi-

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 3:45pm

Hi- We're still in the process of moving lists over to the new system. They will be restored soon! Thanks-fm

1) Technical aspects of the new look, 2) Appearance

Submitted by Nick (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 2:45pm

Regarding the new site design: Using a 1024 x 768 resolution with FireFox on Linux - under My Checkouts the Due Dates are not visible. On Windows using Firefox I was able to reproduce this. To view at least partial dates I was forced to use a resolution of 1152 x 864. I was able to view full Due Dates at 1280 x 768. With resolution at 1280 x 1024 the Call Numbers were partially cut-off. Under Windows using Chrome the effects are rather worse, requiring an even higher resolution at each step. Running Internet Explorer the site actually has a mobile feel. I was unable to find the Login under browse - a situation I encountered running FireFox under Android. For Windows, the browser versions are: FireFox 41.0.2 Chrome 46.0.2490.71m Internet Explorer 11.0.9600.18059 Separate of the above, after login I default to 'My Holds', rather than 'My Checkouts', as with the prior versions. Placing the Login button under Browse was not intuitive. Sorting by Due Date has a decidedly slow response. From a purely look and feel, the site appears to have a large amount of wasted space, rather than being uncluttered.

New design is WAY step backwards

Submitted by KenboSmash (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 3:19pm

I'm a designer and like many on this comment board, i feel this is a major step back from the previous version. As with other comments, things are lacking and harder to navigate. Even the simple aspect of not seeing a visual book image of my checked out list is the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish for making things visual. You've stripped the part that users relied on most which is checking their account. Even the renewal process is buggy with buttons not working. Doing a search leaves a bare bones page. Lots of lost information and attributes with this new interface. Should never have launched without more feedback. Very displeased as others are as well.

You said it!

Submitted by William (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:25pm

When I left some comments earlier it didn't occur to me, as you have noted, that the photos of the books and DVDs have disappeared. The list of holds and checked out books used to be sort of attractive to look at and now it just looks horrible. It's as if all the thought went into nypl's home page and not a whit into the pages that most of us use the most -- holds and checked out items. This was not well thought-out at all.

K-

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:55pm

K- I'm sorry you are having a hard time with the navigation and catalog. We've just migrated a complex catalog over from one platform to another, and all of the visual cues and features will be brought back over the next few months. It definitely is a transitional period, and we'll be adding more to this new environment as we solidify the core system. In terms of the navigation, the mega-menus are part of a larger redesign that will be rolled out over the next few months. You're seeing a small slice of the design and functionality, and as we roll out the additional pieces, we're confident the functionality and usability for the site will greatly improve. We'll be putting up a few visual samples and information over the next few weeks- fm

Why not wait until it's ready!

Submitted by William (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:44pm

I'm tired of your comments about how there will be changes in the next few WEEKS and then the site will be more user-friendly. Why not go back to the old site until you iron out all of the kinks? Why should we wait weeks? This is ridiculous! This was not thought out carefully nor was it designed for most of the people who will log in in the first place. Go back, give us back the old site, and start over again -- or better yet, admit this was a failure and give up!

Next few months!

Submitted by William (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:53pm

If it's going to take MONTHS to institute the needed changes on the site, then I strongly suggest you go back to the old, far superior site while you work out the problems. Why should the patrons have to put up with this for MONTHS. That makes no sense at all. If a web designer needs MONTHS to make changes, he's in the wrong business!!

Next few months is not called a rollout

Submitted by KenboSmash (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 5:24pm

Following up on this... appreciate the reply in trying to explain your stance on all these message boards... but first you say look out for a few weeks, and now a few months as we make changes is unacceptable for a so-called roll-out. Your emphasis on patting your back on rolling out these "mega-menus" on the main page is great, but a professional roll-out would have had all these issues figured out before launch. This comes entirely short of what the old site provided and THAT is what the focus should be. And now we have to wait MONTHS for all the things you stripped out and implemented? Not the way to roll out something until it's in the near final stages. I truly hope we don't have to wait months.

KenboSmash- Sorry about the

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 21, 2015 - 3:22pm

KenboSmash- Sorry about the confusion on my terminology. We have a project plan to roll out main sections of the website between now and June. The catalog/Encore software resides within the website, but is a separate piece of software embedded in our website. Bugs, fixes, changes and additions to Encore are tracked in parallel with our web development, but have many different development resources added to them. We have a dedicated team, both internal to the library and through III, the software company, working on both fixes and enhancements. As we move through this initial launch, I'll pull together a list of changes we will have scheduled for the changes to the catalog system and post them to the blog. Thanks for your comments, and feel free to contact me with any further questions-fm

What???

Submitted by Ryng (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 4:11pm

Are you seriously telling us that we have to wait until June 2016 for this to be fixed? Seriously?

No- Catalog fixes are ongoing

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 11:32am

No- Catalog fixes are ongoing. The website production is also ongoing, and new features will be rolled out between now and June.

New website look

Submitted by Kevin Hein (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 3:23pm

Please restore old website. This new website is even slower than the old one and the user interface is terrible. Logging in is now hidden and the navigation seems to lead one in circles. Resources should have been spent on improving performance, not obfuscating functionality.

new website feback

Submitted by Bhinder (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:08pm

I have to agree with other users, i did not find the new interface user friendly. Everything just seems difficult to locate. I have never seen a web app where the user login section is hidden underneath multiple layers. I much rather prefer your previous version- for its simplicity and ease of use, please.

This new site is the worst.

Submitted by Robert J. Treacy (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:08pm

This is my second attempt at this. The first time I was almost finished and the site just decided to change the page on its own. This site is an EPIC FAIL. I can not navigate easily and my holds are a nightmare. This is easily the worst change to a site that I have ever experienced. The holds used to be easy to navigate now they are all mixed up. My holds that are in transit are now mixed in with those that are not ready yet. I have no idea what I have ready and can not find where they are. The hold page is not complete. The page is cut off on the right hand side. This is easily the worst. I hope that this site can be fixed or at least return to the old easily usable site that it was. Peace and Love for All.

Robert-thanks for taking the

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 10:22am

Robert-thanks for taking the time to send your comments. I'm sorry you're having trouble with the new catalog. This was a major platform shift for us, and we are still working through all of the system settings. Data display might appear askew from time to time as we make changes to the system. We are definitely working on the page "cut-off" you mentioned- I just met with my lead front-end developer to make the information fit on the screen more accurately, so you should see that change soon. Thanks for the "peace & love 4 all"! 'back at ya!- fm

P.S.- one more thought-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 10:23am

P.S.- one more thought- This isn't the full site design- we only changed the headers, which we will be tweaking based on all the input we receive, and as we roll out the more complete design. I'll be putting up some blog posts so we can share that direction with you soon. thanks.

Oh so it may get worse? Wow.

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:52am

Oh so it may get worse? Wow. Insofar as is hugely negative update has tarnished The Library's reputation further, I can see that the hubris runs deep, and there is no end to the atrocities that the Library's digital gurus can perpetrate on an innocent public who simply wish to read books.

New website

Submitted by Charles Srpufe (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 5:32pm

Someone should be fired for this!!

new website design

Submitted by Sandra Sherman (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:05am

This new website is symptomatic of an age where techies talk only to themselves, not to the people who use their products. The people who use this website care about BOOKS, not ingenious designs that defeat their access to books. Eventually, we may figure this site out, but only after wasting time pursuing dead ends, and re-reading Kafka to validate our exasperation. Did my tax money pay for this self-indulgence? If it did, then forget my hitting that big red "Donate" button. Indeed, I feel sorry for all of those tech-challenged older people that I see in my local branch, who probably view this latest imposition as an inter-generational assault. So may bottom line is: please stop defending this ridiculous, user-unfriendly site that resembles that of no other public library I've ever encountered. If I hadn't experienced it, I wouldn't believe that you put so much effort into creating it. It reminds me of those old librarian jokes, where the last thing those white-haired matrons wanted to let their precious books leave the building. Why don't you just 'fess up and put things back the way they were?

new site

Submitted by jeff bockman (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 6:08pm

what happened? you scored a grant from the city and decided that a great site should be confusing, hard to navigate and totally unnecessary? bite the bullet and bring the old site. it worked. well. and much easier to use.

Not an improvement

Submitted by ethnica (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 6:25pm

Hello, For a streamlining of the site, you've added in so much superfluous stuff and removed the essentials. That there's room for TWO links at top to "Give" and "Donate" (in the bright red box, so who could miss it?), yet no room for a Search Bar (which is what pretty much everyone coming to this site needs), nor a way to Login without digging around for it, seems ridiculous. The previous site was simple, straightforward and easy for anyone to use. This new site is clunky, time-consuming, cluttered and confusing. I agree with the patron who said this new site was a misapplication of funds. Better you'd spent the redesign money putting back the security sensors in the branches to stop the haemorrhaging loss of thousands of books, blu-rays, video games, etc.walking freely out the door.

Can't even post a comment

Submitted by Dave V (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 6:29pm

I am on iPhone 5s both the old app And the update on my apps page ---neither work-- the old site is empty and u can't go More than 70% on progress bar on new app for ios9 -- honestly a really bad roll out of this--- did u offer some hard core users like me a beta version??? Do u realize the greatest library system in the world now has the mobile equivalent of Manhattan,KANSAS (and I may be offending Kansas by saying that cause theirs is probably much better than this Mess). If you can't fix it by midnight tonight's 10/20 at 12:01 am please revert back to old iPhone app until you get this all straightened out please--- hate to see u in the news as a NYC/national embarrassment

Dave-Sorry about the trouble

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 5:12pm

Dave-Sorry about the trouble you had with the app. The mobile web app we launched with the catalog had an issue with ios9, as did many apps across the ios environment. We've uploaded a new version this afternoon. This version is not the final app. The mobile solution from software company was not ready, so this is a temporary "version" to give our patrons access to the the basic catalog features. I agree- it is far from perfect in both interface and function, but it does get the basic tasks done. We'll be posting updates to the progress on the native apps on the blog, and through announcements through the iTunes store. -fm

new website

Submitted by katie (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 8:08pm

This new design is very annoying. First off, it is very slow to load. Like everyone else said, the log in button should be prominent on the front page. Also the hold page is hard to use, I had a book suspended and it's impossible to tell if it's still suspended.

Shelves?

Submitted by Ted (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 9:17pm

What happened to my shelves? Did you change the terminology changed to "lists"? Anyway there is nothing on my lists and I can't find the long list of titles I had saved to my "later" shelf. Also I do not find a way to save new titles to shelves. I agree that the old interface was more user-friendly.

Lost Lists

Submitted by Margot Condon (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:41pm

Hope my lists return. I have so much saved and I love to pick from my lists. Thanks

Margot-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 11:11am

Margot- We have all the data from the lists in the previous system. It is still being migrated to the new system.Thanks for your understanding- we'll have them back up to you soon. fm

my lists

Submitted by Donna (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:49pm

are virtually gone. There are 4 items dating back to 2013 -- almost everything is missing. Are u troubleshooting this. I see others have lost lists too

Donna- Checking in on this-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 5:05pm

Donna- Checking in on this- were you able to access your list? I think on the 19th data was still being uploaded, which could explain why you didn't see all of your items-fm

needs work

Submitted by CM (not verified) on October 19, 2015 - 10:53pm

As a patron, I come to this page to do two things primarily: 1) To log into my account and manage my items and holds and 2) to search for resources. I do look at and for other things, but these are by far the two main uses. I had to read this entire article and a fair number of the comments in order to learn that logging into my account has been reconceived somehow as a kind of browsing. This makes no sense to me, either as a patron or as an information architecture/UX person. Indeed, I had made several visits to the site looking to check on my account (but was unable to do so) before the little square featuring the article announcing the redesign caught my eye. Prior to spotting that I thought I was perhaps missing the old navigation bar because of changes I had just made to my browser setup or because I was on a mobile device. You haven't even drawn enough attention to the redesign to make it obvious that that is what is going on. Given the number of regular users you have, such a change needs more prominent mention. To see my account last week, I put "bibliocommons" into the address bar so I could pull up the url and just log in already. No matter how lean you wish the navigation bar to be, "log in" or "my account" has to have its own tab. The "browse" tab is not a terrible idea in itself, but logging in is not a subset of browsing for other things. When I want to log in, I am checking on a set of very specific things that I either have or am expecting. I am not "browsing" in any sense at all. It makes my head hurt a tiny bit to have to remember that logging in has been mistakenly shoved under browsing. Good design does not shove things into wrong categories to make them appear more simple--while ironically make them harder or less legible to navigate. In short, I am not opposed to redesigns, and look forward to discovering what this one will open up. But if you want me not to groan and roll my eyes every time I come here, you have to add a login tab or button. Nine times out of ten I just want to check my #%^$# NYPL account and see what is due when, and I don't want to have to think that hard in order to do that.

After restarting my phone's

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:10am

After restarting my phone's mobile browser, the phone itself, it has be fairly deduced that while the desktop version of this update is virtually seamless, it is not the case for mobile.

After restarting my phone's

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:10am

After restarting my phone's mobile browser, the phone itself, it has be fairly deduced that while the desktop version of this update is virtually seamless, it is not the case for mobile.

Let me add my voice to all

Submitted by Michael Ostrowski (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:14am

Let me add my voice to all the others condemning this fiasco. I check the new CD and DVD arrivals all the time. And now you say you're going to "try" to bring it back??? I hope someone has the guts to admit they're wrong and restore the perfectly fine way it used to be.

Michael-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 2:01pm

Michael- I hear you- When I said "try" I meant we will bring it back, we just need to line up and schedule the development resources both in-house and with III, the company who makes the actual software. We knew this was going to be a challenging move to a new system, but we are making sure the key transaction features are working first. The feature you describe was something that Bibliocommons (the old system we used) developed for their software. We know it is popular information, so we will reincorporated it back into the user experience.-fm

Mobile Version Not Visible

Submitted by Ms. HillBarnesG... (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:22am

After restarting my phone's mobile browser, the phone itself, it has be fairly deduced that while the desktop version of this update is virtually seamless, it is not the case for mobile. I unable to download the new APP and quite frankly prefer to have access via phone's web browser while on the go. Yes, the page loads but it seems to be "cut-off" when trying to browse catalog or log-in. I'll be happy to provide pictures upon request. Please don't neglect the mobile user! Thank you for response!

The totally unfriendly, non-directional, confused log-in system

Submitted by Seymour Schleimer (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 2:22am

Unfortunately, like the last time the NYPL re-designed and degraded a familiar,rational way to log-in, you have gone even further by making it like a retailer's offering without thew rational, understanding about why,what and how most users use this(a)site. You have not upgraded but degraded a comprehensible, borrower's user friendly venue . With or without my Id,password manager ,I cannot find how to lo-gin to my account...

Not user-friendly

Submitted by Raj (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 7:19am

Why your account would you hide the LOG-IN button from where it used to be (top right home page) to five pages below. Does not make sense at all.

New Website

Submitted by K. Roig (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 9:02am

AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!! Looks bad and hard to navigate. Before everything was clean and clear. Now it looks like a computer nerd's nightmare and you can't figure out where to go. Hate, hate, hate, hate. Go back please.

redesigned pages

Submitted by anna (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:32am

this is not well designed. It takes 2 steps to sign in, why is there no sign in button at the top of the screen anymore? Also, the font is too small for the pages of holds and borrowed items. Finally, when I wanted to send comments about the site, I had to go to the Ask A Librarian section and type in my request because I couldn't find a comments choice on the homepage. Navigating this site is now more difficult and it is more time consuming to request items. Please consider bringing back some of the features of the old site.

New Design is BAD !

Submitted by sadiafa (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:36am

Please restore old website. New website is BAD. Bad design and very confusing. Cant find anything and cant log in. Its USELESS ! Its Just Very Bad !

I concur

Submitted by NYC Native (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:54am

This is TERRIBLE site. Why make me go through three pages!!! to just log in and work on my holds/renewals?

login hassle

Submitted by nay (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 10:43am

I don't care what 'improvements' you're trying to make here - just let me LOG IN without having to search for it. This new site is beyond frustrating.

NO

Submitted by b (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 11:02am

Someone should be fired for this.

A bad decision

Submitted by C.H (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 11:38am

Launching without figuring out such major kinks was a bad decision. At least return back to the old format until everything is figured out. Such a complicated system makes one want to return all NYPL loans and actually purchase books on amazon or barnes and noble.. at least those sites are easy to navigate. If this is not resolved people will stop using the site and NYPL services. I personally only use the E-Books and don't plan on walking into a library. On that note, while you are "making things better" add a feature where E-books can be renewed before they expire and without having to be returned and then checked out again. Such a shame, the site and services were great as they were!

New website and app are terrible

Submitted by Jennifer (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 11:57am

When I sign in, there is no listing of the books I have out so I can't renew them. Same with the app. This is so frustrating. I have had issues with your website since I got my card. I also have a Brooklyn Public Library card and they don't have these problems! I suggest you consult with them as to how to have a website which actually works!

more trouble with logging in

Submitted by CM (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:16pm

Following up on my "needs work" comment from last night, I'll add my comments on logging into the new system. To start, I was unable to log in last night using my old username and pin. Because I did not have my card with me, that prevented me from renewing a book that was due. I have since logged in today using the barcode and taken the trouble of adding my old username to my account. I now have to click through two more screens to get to the one I want to see first, and should logically see first, and that is the screen showing what items I have out. First there is a search box. If I wanted to search would I have logged in? Then I click on my name--because I have the sense to try this. A lot of people are going to be at a loss looking at this screen and wondering how to see their records. That is very poor design indeed. And then I am taken to my hold list. That's nice, but I would hazard to say far fewer people use holds than check items out. I keep a keen eye on my holds but I don't want to see them first. Then I click yet again and only now do I see what I wanted to. My account screen with my checkouts. So that's one click-through behind a nonsensical category ("Browse"), another click past a search box I didn't ask for when I clicked "Log In", another click through behind something else one wouldn't think would take you anywhere (patron's name), and a fourth click to get to what should logically be the first thing you see when you log in to your account--when things are due. Further, if instead of mousing over "Browse" I click through to it, the major categories my eye first catches are Books/Music/DVDs, Recommendations, Blog, Public Projects, and Shop. Logging in is not even a major subcategory of the browse page, and yet it is probably one of the top three, if not top two, things driving traffic to the site. I have young eyes and buckets of experience in web and computer based information systems, so I spotted it, but how will hiding "Log into your account" yet again help those who don't have such experience? I hope you will be hiring a UX person soon because you sorely need it. Last, I use my For Later shelf to maintain a running list of the books I want to read next. It would have been helpful to be informed that this would be going away, even if it is only temporary. I will show some patience and wait for the 'shelves' functions to return, though note that this throws a monkey wrench in my weekly habit of maintaining a steady flow of books. If you have a system designed for a level of functionality and people have taken that level up, disrupting that system and removing that functionality even temporarily without due warning is a good way to turn the accumulated good will of the users against you, and putting that give button in a more prominent place will not make up for that loss in your fundraising. You seem to have not taken any notice of the time and trust users have invested in the last, highly functional system. To wit, consider the 100-some books I kept listed there and only there after weeks and years of reading articles and noting awards and recommendations from trusted sources. I doubt I was the only one, given the comments here.

CM- Thanks for this response.

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 2:56pm

CM- Thanks for this response. Seriously-it is SO helpful to get this kind of detail- I appreciate you taking the time to document your experience-really useful for my staff to follow and see what you are experiencing. I apologize for the frustrations you are experiencing, but again, this is helpful. I can't respond to every point here- need to re-read and retrace, but I did want you to know that the lists were preserved and are being reinstated as I write this response. We did send out notifications over the past few weeks to our users letting them know we would be doing this, and we did mention that there could be some time lags in getting all the information over to the new system. I'm sorry if we didn't make that clear enough. The good news is that I did just get notice that the data is migrated over, and lists/shelves should be fully restored. Let me know if you don't see the fix- thanks-frank.

Lists are not restored

Submitted by Nancy Kalish (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 3:39pm

Monday morning, when I checked my account, I had two lists that dated from about 2011 - probably predated Bibliocommons and DID NOT contain any of my recent additions. I ended up deleting the Books list entirely and all but two DVDs in the DVD list. If the more current lists were really migrated over this afternoon, they did not show up in my account. I just checked.

Nope... the lists are not working

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 11:57pm

And I'm going to keep complaining and complaining until the old site is restored. This new site is a useless piece of crap for which someone should be fired. Who is the incompetent fool in charge of this?

new website

Submitted by Glenn (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:17pm

The new website design is AWFUL!

Hi Glen- Sorry you don't like

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 2:26pm

Hi Glen- Sorry you don't like the site. We've only implemented one change to the site structure, the menus. It's a big change across the board, and we know there will be some changes that will take place as we continue to review everyone's comments and evaluate how people are using the site. The Library's website is immense, and it is impossible to totally rebuild the system all at once, so the process will be iterative. We'll keep you posted on our progress, and hopefully we can improve your experience with the site. Thanks-fm

Catalog & MyNYPL should be right up front

Submitted by John Tomlinson (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 4:05am

In the case of the home page, much more than the menus are changed. On the old site we could immediately: Search the catalog - the catalog is a fundamental tool for users of a library website and it's astounding to not have this right up front Login (MyNYPL) - this is a fundamental task on all sorts of websites with return users. And in fact, for me, those are things I do most often on your site. Now, those key tasks require more clicks to do and are harder to find. In terms the catalog search, users are not necessarily "browsing" when they need it - they're sometimes looking for a specific item. This might seem pedantic, but it's an important distinction. Keyword search in the catalog is browsing but title search is often not - it's about a yes/no question of whether or not a specific book is available. If I'm looking for Richard Scarry's Busytown, I just want to know if you have the book. That's not browsing. And similarly, while we can also get to the catalog via the research menu, that's also sometimes misleading. Richard Scarry's Busytown is a book for my 3-year old, and searching for it doesn't seem to be "research." The proper labels catalog search are "search" or "catalog" or "search the catalog" or "catalog search." And the ideal thing is to simply have the catalog search box right up front on the home page, or even on most pages of the site. In the case of logging in, the location (on the "Browse" menu) is bizarre - we login to do specific tasks (renew, check holds, etc) that are simply not browsing. Both these tasks (searching the catalog and logging in) should be much more prominent on the homepage and perhaps other pages of the site.

I left a long, detailed, thoughtful comment and am now blocked

Submitted by Blocked User (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 12:58pm

First: I agree about the pictures of books. The pictures made the electronic experience in some ways similar to browsing for books IRL or at least on better book shopping sites. I confess that even as someone who has spent many years ordering resources from research libraries for my work, when reading for pleasure I strongly prefer to see a cover. It gives me a much greater feeling of warmth, as if I will be getting a book and not a bibliographic source. Second: The loss of these images seems to be a reuslt of breaking ties with Bibliocommons. How sad to be removed from Bibliocommons like that! I was just beginning to get into it. It was a nice feature to share reviews with library users all over the world. It gave me a sense of being part of a larger world of public library users. This is really too bad. Third: man oh man does having to make four clicks, two of which are hiding in not-obvious places, to get to my checked out items blow. Please note these are not "bring back the old Facebook layout!!" style comments you are getting. You've taken a way a system that by and large functioned really well and for some reason also do not want to lean on Bibliocommons for added features that genuinely enhanced the user experience. I will wait to see what positive things come out of this but it doesn't look good.

new design

Submitted by Susan (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 1:00pm

Are you going to beg for money every time I logon? Or will you let me get to where I want to go? I hate this and if it was a business that had a competitor, I would be on the competition's website now, and would be saying good bye to you. I already had to sit through all this on previous logon and I still don't see how to get to MY PAGE, or whatever it is called. I HATE IT!

What were you thinking?

Submitted by Di (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 2:37pm

I have to agree with the others, what a mess. Why are you rolling out a new platform that is obviously incomplete. In the real world you use the existing platform and roll out a new one once it is completed and bugs have been eliminated. This new platform not only has bugs but wow does it stink.

Redesign is not ready for use

Submitted by punker (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 2:51pm

In My Holds, changing the pickup location does not work. If you change the location and then click "Update List," you get a page that says "The following hold(s) will be cancelled, frozen or unfrozen. Click YES to proceed. Click NO to cancel this request and return to your list of holds." Also, the lists that are being migrated are showing everything that has ever been added to the lists--not the lists as they were last updated. One list of mine that should have fewer than 20 items has 600 items now. Sorry, but this redesign is not ready for use.

Punker-Thanks for the

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 20, 2015 - 4:11pm

Punker-Thanks for the feedback- I'll pass this on to the team and try to replicate it. Very useful-thanks for the details. We're real close to having the the lists/shelves data completely loaded in. I'll also share your question about the number of records on your list- That sounds like we just got a complete data dump from the old system. We weren't totally in control of that content, so we've had to deal with some unusual data formatting and cleanup. -fm

Santa Clara LS Tried Encore, Returned to Bibliocommons

Submitted by Nancy Kalish (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 3:29pm

Users had problems with logging on, organizing reading lists,and following other readers.http://www.losaltosonline.com/news/sections/news/199-city-affairs/50850-library-users-reject-new-online-catalog-old-one-returning

Log-In where are you?!

Submitted by JoAnn (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 3:48pm

I agree with my fellow patrons. I find the new website frustrating. A log in should be on the home page of any site. It took me 10 minutes to figure out where to it was. (It's not always about the number of "clicks"). I could go on with other complaints, but will give it a little more time. You MUST, however, put the log in back on the home page. Back to the drawing board! JoAnn

New design

Submitted by Sailingsam (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 4:55pm

This new design is horrible. I can't renew books easily and cumbersome to get in and out....I want the previous design back.....Yuck!

Where's the log-in??

Submitted by Philip Gardner (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 5:17pm

I am unable to find a way to log in to my account via the new site. The log-in should be prominently displayed on the front page.

Lost list features

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 5:40pm

Hi, appreciate you're trying to keep the website up-to-date, and apologies for adding to the comments about lists (I understand they are in the process of being migrated). However, in my For Later list there are a lot of old items I had previously deleted, there are no more cover images, and I cannot sort by date added. Even if I could sort by date added (which would be IMMENSELY helpful), it wouldn't be any use because all the dates read 10-20-2015. Additionally, are we still able to mark an item as private? There's no indication on the current list which items are private or not. Hope this is useful feedback.

Hi- Yes, the new system doesn

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 21, 2015 - 11:35am

Hi- Yes, the new system doesn't display cover images, so you won't see images next to the titles. I apologize for the date on all of your list items- Unfortunately, the dates on your reflect the date the list was imported into the system (which was yesterday). I will check on that and confirm. All of your lists are private- No need to mark them as such- Definitely useful feedback- thanks! fm

Thanks for the reply, I

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 10:49pm

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it - especially with all the work going into the transition! It seems like the new list feature (or at least the way it looks now) is a visual/usability downgrade from the previous My Shelves system. Cover images were really helpful for remembering and visually organizing items; the way lists look right now is aesthetically displeasing and doesn't fit with the overall visual language of the redesigned site. It was also so so helpful to quickly check an item's availability from the list rather than clicking through to each individual item, and to be able to sort by item format, content, etc. Is the current functionality and look of lists the final version, or will you roll out changes in the near future? Thanks again for your attentiveness to user comments!

Your welcome- We knew this

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 2:13pm

Your welcome- We knew this transition would be difficult, especially when everyone has been used to using a certain tool like Bibliocommons for a while. This is definitely not the final version of the catalog in any shape or form. One of our primary reasons to switch to Encore was to have a more flexible environment to control, allowing us to customize and offer features that our NYPL users would want. Some of the features in Bibliocommons that we know are important (like the new books, CDs, DVD listings, book images, etc) are features that we will definitely be developing and integrating into the system. I hear you regarding the visual design of the catalog- we will be integrating a more visually oriented interface into the the new platform. Thanks- fm

How is this an improvement if

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 2:27pm

How is this an improvement if it no longer functions? Pathetic! What a waste of taxpayers dollars. If this is how money will be spent I will no longer support the library. This is just a sad development. Beyond pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your New Design

Submitted by John (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 6:02pm

Every time you get NEW I.T. PEOPLE it is inevitable that they have to REDESIGN and IMPROVE to help everyone who didn't ask them. And dink-around, dink-around, dink-around with a net gain of nothing and in your case, a loss.

I agree. It's an absolutely

Submitted by tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 2:28pm

I agree. It's an absolutely hideous site. But they can't be bothered with fixing it cause they are busy posting blogs and podcasts. I miss the days when libraries were about providing books and other media for checkout. But that's the past apparently.

Web redesign

Submitted by Andi (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 6:04pm

To echo most of the comments above (below?)--dreadful, simply dreadful. Not intuitive, much more time-wasting to use, and not attractive enough (far too busy looking, actually) to warrant the inconvenience.

Best comment on the blog is

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 20, 2015 - 7:20pm

Best comment on the blog is from the person who wrote "someone should be fired for this". I would like to be able to use this website as before. Hint to website designer: See BPL website or simply restore the previous version, which other than being a bit slow and have outages from time too time, did at least have a sensible design. THIS IS UNUSABLE.

Design Change/New Catalog

Submitted by Ryan (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 9:27am

Any change to a frequently used web site will have a mix of responses that are enthusiastic and those that are less so. At its core, the navigation isn't tremendously different from what it has been for the last couple of revamps, though the home page has long seemed too busy. Maybe I missed it, and this new design was tested, users were given previews over the last few months, shown how it would work in little Captivate tutorials and other videos, to help ease us into the new format? Onto the catalog, which, quite frustratingly, is harder to find than a link to donate to the library, which of course is not needed when we're forced to endure that annoying splash page on every visit to the site whenever you're in the middle of one of your fundraising campaigns. Would it be so difficult to have a visible search box in addition to a magnifying glass? The catalog itself may or may not be an improvement, although it does make the library's administration appear somewhat schizophrenic, as this is the same catalog that was introduced years ago when the library first merged the collections of the branch and research libraries. Why the switch back? What was so bad about Bibliocommons? Or, what is so much better about III/Encore now that you risk confusing and frustrating your patrons for the second or third time since 2009? Who is making these decisions? That's not the sort of thing that makes us eager to click on a "Donate" button, however prominently you choose to display it.

Ryan- Thanks for your

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 21, 2015 - 3:07pm

Ryan- Thanks for your comments- and your feedback. You are correct, we only changed the navigation on the website, not the entire site, and we haven't touched the main body of the web site. The overall experience of the home page, along with the new navigation will be rolled out over the next few month. The Bibliocommons/Encore switch was complex- not just technically. There are many reasons why we moved to the Encore system. Part of the decision was financially based, part of the decision was technical, and the overall inability for the software to change with some of the needs of the library here. It was a very detailed project decision process, and we knew there would be bumps, transitional challenges and concerns from our patrons. We have dedicated team working on the transition, and we are working on addressing the issues raised here on this blog, and across our branches. Thank you for your suggestions. I love the idea of the Captivate videos - bringing that to the team now. Please don't hesitate to contact me with further concerns- fm

Please put a catalog search box on the home page

Submitted by John Tomlinson (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 3:11pm

Please put a catalog search box on the home page - it's a fundamental tool.

John-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 23, 2015 - 3:58pm

John- The magnifying glass on the right side of the home page navigation bar will open up to a full search feature for both the website or the catalog. Thanks-fm

What dedicated Team?

Submitted by Still Not Satisfied (not verified) on March 15, 2016 - 11:19am

It's been months and still not much has improved on the website. What "dedicated team" is particularly on this? Frank and this "team" has hardly done anything to improve since this has started. What exactly are you doing these past months? Because the site is still a vast non-improvement over the old one. Stop pretending that things are progressing at a good pace. If you really want feedback, then place a true area on the website to allow patron comments rather than hiding them. Or are you afraid how much truth there is to the degradation of the website. I dare you to place a permanent feedback link in the Get Help section. Or are you too coward to hear more honest opinions on your creation of a website you hold so high.

New Acquisition Feature is Missing

Submitted by SW (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 9:38am

With the old site, you could search for new book, dvd, etc. acquisitions by date and subject. This helpful feature is missing from the new design. It would be most appreciated if this feature would be included in the updated design. Thank you.

SW- Thanks for the suggestion

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 21, 2015 - 3:10pm

SW- Thanks for the suggestion. This is a feature that had not been part of the Encore system, but we are looking into how we can add that feature as we make changes to the initial launch version- fm

Difficult to use to renew books..

Submitted by sailingsam (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 1:37pm

I am not a big fan of the new design. I want to renew my books easily and quickly. I want to be able to see my checked out items and holds in an organized design. Why can’t it open to checked out page right away and why is it opening to hold? I want the checked out items listed and sort by due date and able to see the book covers. I want to be able to see how may dvds are checked out.. this new design looks bad and difficult to navigate..

Users of the website having

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 3:27pm

Users of the website having spoken clearly and almost with a single voice. Will those incharge admit their screw-up or continue to defend this disaster? There was nothing wrong with the organization of the last version. A few tweaks to speed it up would have made users very happy. Instead we are stuck with this unusable disaster. In the real world consumers would leave to a competitor and the web designers would be fired. Please roll back to the last version.

Account issue

Submitted by Jen (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 4:59pm

Will the account layout be changed at all? Because frankly that's the main thing that's bothering me. When logged into the account the first thing that comes up are the holds instead of checkout; since the first thing I want to check when I log on is what books I have due. Also in order to see which ones are due first you have to first click to SORT them into earliest due date, why is this necessary?Why not just have them already in order from earliest due date to latest like on the old website? Cuz I mean I assume that when people go on their accounts the first thing they want to check are their nearing due dates. Also while I appreciate that the shelves were all moved to this system, the loading time for them is ATROCIOUS. I have over 5,000 books on my for later shelves and it takes approximately 10 minutes to open it, and even more so to sort it into order by author not to mention if I want to remove something from it it takes even longer!! The navigation and organization of the shelves was alot easier in the Bibliocommons format, if I wanted to display the books from a specific author all I had to do was set it to display those books and my for later shelf would show them instead of just putting everything in order by author and then SCROLLING all the way through it just to find 1 series! Also while the search looks a bit better, is it really necessary to tuck the summary option in the bottom? In the old design we could automatically see the summary below the book/DVD, this was easier and saved time from scrolling through the item's details looking for it. Also the new books or newly reviewed items that used to greet us when we first entered the website in the 'explore' website? That was a nice to quickly get access new books and following other people was a great way to get recommended titles; I understand that Encore is a different system are there going to be any updates that could give us something similar, or are we only going to get staff picks once a month and old lists? And I agree with everyone else; logging in should be a one click process; also when logged in and navigating the site it would be useful to have a log out option ON TOP, because I wanted to log out while searching and could not find it, ended up going through a whirlwind of navigation until I FINALLY reached my account and was able to log out. I remain hopeful that the next updates will be better

Jen- Thanks for your post-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 2:10pm

Jen- Thanks for your post- this type of feedback is useful. I've already taken your suggestions and ideas and forwarded them to our developers. Encore is a different system, and we are working with them to improve the overall performance issues in terms of load times and responsiveness. That would help tremendously with some of the load issues you are having. Log in fix is on the way- very soon. Thanks for your patients and constructive comments!-fm

On order, books, dvd, cd's

Submitted by di (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 5:00pm

What happened to the great feature that informed us as to what books, dvd's and cd's were on order. I use this feature on a regular basis to put a hold(s) on anything that intrest me. Is this feature still here, and if so where. Please do not tell me that this is no longer a feature as it will just add to me frustration an disapointment with the new platform.

Di- The feature you mention

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 22, 2015 - 11:40am

Di- The feature you mention is definitely something that is useful to our users. Encore, the new system, did not natively have that in its system, so when we made the switch from the previous catalog, we lost the display of that information. Based the feedback on the catalog, we are definitely putting that feature as a priority for development. We'll keep everyone informed as to when we can integrate that feature back into the catalog through a blog post and via email. Thanks-fm

Website redesign

Submitted by Debbie Rabina (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 6:46pm

I can not even begin to tell how how unhappy I am with the redesign. Where is the CATALOG? It used to be available right on the first page but now it's 3 clicks away. Same for the Articles and Databases. Same for the digital collections. Surely no user studies were done before the release. Libraries are about CONTENT and about COLLECTIONS (physical or digital, same thing) but you seems to be hiding these features. Please restore the catalog to the front page and make the databases, articles, and digital collections more accessible.

Why is this page no longer accessible from the home page?

Submitted by Nick (not verified) on October 21, 2015 - 9:54pm

I would suggest returning the link to the home page. It looks as if you are trying to bury the comments, especially given the number of older items on display there. Harry Truman, kitchens and bucks.

New site is terrible

Submitted by WD (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 1:15am

I completely agree with the negative comments by other users: cluttered, counter intuitive, illogical, not user friendly and slow. This new site looks and feels like something done by a high school student, not what a professional site should look and function like. It's a total failure. Whoever designed / architectured this should be ashamed of themselves. Instead of spending even more time on this disaster of a project, please go back to the old system. It worked. The new one is a total waste of money and time.

New website

Submitted by Scott (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 7:41am

So....almost everyone who has commented finds the new website annoying. Some have gone so far as to suggest firing those responsible. However you are apparently going to keep it, and as there is no choice save to stop visiting the library online, the people you are supposed to be serving are having this forced upon them. Things like this keep people from donating, when we see that our money is being wasted. This site is flashier, but harder to navigate and takes longer to load. There really should have been more options for customers--that is, those who support by donation and taxes--to give their opinions.

Call 311

Submitted by EW (not verified) on October 22, 2015 - 12:35pm

Well, this is going nowhere. Just bureaucrats defending incompetence and their fiefdom. CALL 311. Have your complaints forwarded to the mayor's office. Ask for a rollback to the old website. In the meantime WITHOLD ALL DONATIONS. NYPL has proven itself unworthy of your generosity.

Worst Website EVER!

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 2:24pm

What a waste of money! Who did you hire to "improve this site? It is no longer user friendly. Lists do not work. The whole system is just pathetic. Before the change I had about 30 items in my "In progress" list. Now there are hundreds. And the list are now alphabetical with no way of sorting it by data added as it used to be. So you are now taking away features? Why change the site from a functioning site to a NON-functioning site? Are you deliberately trying to drive people away from using the site?

Worst Website EVER!

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 2:24pm

What a waste of money! Who did you hire to "improve this site? It is no longer user friendly. Lists do not work. The whole system is just pathetic. Before the change I had about 30 items in my "In progress" list. Now there are hundreds. And the list are now alphabetical with no way of sorting it by data added as it used to be. So you are now taking away features? Why change the site from a functioning site to a NON-functioning site? Are you deliberately trying to drive people away from using the site?

Hi Tommy-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 23, 2015 - 3:40pm

Hi Tommy- I responded to your email and this post via your personal email address. Thank you for contacting us with your concerns. fm

So there is just no longer an app?

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 3:27pm

So no working app? No working webstie? That noise you heard was taxpayers money being flushed down a toilet. Pathetic.

Hi Tommy-

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 23, 2015 - 3:56pm

Hi Tommy- The android version of the app has been updated. The ios version will be live pending approval from Apple. Users will get a notification of the update via their device. Thanks-fm

INTERFACE REDESIGN

Submitted by Margo (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 4:51pm

We all need to contact the president's office to complain about the new interface. I doubt that our complaints here will be read by anyone who can actually help us.

Margo- Please send your

Submitted by Frank (not verified) on October 23, 2015 - 10:39pm

Margo- Please send your questions and comments to webfeedback@nypl.org I read all the emails, and we're listening. We've put a log in option at the top of the navigation, and a new ios9 app is now available on the iTunes store. The president's office forwards all correspondence regarding the web transition to me, so a more direct route to get your comments heard would be to send them to the above email. We'll read all of them. Thank you-fm

the app

Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 11:40pm

Uh...I downloaded the new app ... Surprise surprise it does not work. It's even worse than the new site.

What happened...!!!!?????

Submitted by Zappo (not verified) on October 24, 2015 - 7:45am

Simply terrible..the first page might be appealing to the eye but EVERYTHING else is weak and confusing; gone is the clarity and flow and my attention is now lost, drawn all over the place. I work with computers every day and love seeing upgrades and updates, but this is a terrible step in the wrong direction. Sorry NYPL: if you must keep the new catalog for efficiency reasons, at least bring us the old look back.

Zappo- The new catalog system

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 26, 2015 - 12:20pm

Zappo- The new catalog system definitely doesn't have the same features the older system had. Those features were developed over time and definitely became part of how people interacted with our catalog online. We are getting through some basic issues with the launch of the new system, and will begin to develop new features over the next few months. We'll keep you posted via these blogs to provide you with updates to the system. Thanks for your patience with this transition. Thanks-fm

The new catalog system definitely doesn't have the same features

Submitted by EMJ (not verified) on October 30, 2015 - 4:06pm

so, what you are saying is, we deliberately switched to a website that doesn't do all the things the old one did including things we KNEW our patrons used, and we did this for no obvious reason and never apologized for taking away functionality users liked , but maybe someday we will get some of those things back, if we can find someway to get them developed.

Don't know what kind of

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 25, 2015 - 12:42am

Don't know what kind of politics is involved for you to change the very intuitive, working website to this miserably user-unfriendly website and cannot undo the damage. Just bring back the previous version of your website and everybody, excluding those involved in this horrible project and politics, will be happy and stops complaining. Do you really have no clue why users are unhappy? Did you do any test before launch? Again, the previous version was near perfect; there was absolutely no reason to downgrade.

The new site requires a click

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 25, 2015 - 1:02am

The new site requires a click to go to a next step for everything and removed visual images from what we have checked out or placed on hold. Log in is in a separate screen with its own scroll bar and I have to scroll down to click "log in" since my laptop is 13" and you guys have blown up the font size - the log in icon is further down. Sigh... Larger fonts may be for senior (good intention), but you can provide font size selection instead of making such a large font as default; there are negative consequences because of that. A click to open search instead of providing a text box in the homepage so users start typing immediately and then click to search what's entered in the search box. Why this downgrade?

PLEASE REINSTATE THESE FEATURES TO THE CHECKED OUT/HOLDS PAGES

Submitted by Dave (not verified) on October 25, 2015 - 6:37am

This is all stuff that was on the old web site, by the way 1) reinstate the ability to sort items in more ways (see old site) 2) show how many copies of an on-hold item the NYPL has to get a better idea of when the item will be ready for pick-up. Who cares about how many people have reserved the item after me? Now I know that, but not the more relevant information. 3) the far right part of the page is cut off, surely something a competent web designer would know how to fix quickly? 4) on the "checked out" page show if there are holds on the item so you pointlessly don't try to renew it. There are stacks of wasted space where this info can be reinstated. Sorry about the tone of my email, but I hate to be told "we're listening" and see my suggestions are being ignored: you've just listened to people who were pointing out the most glaring mistakes. I'm very disappointed.

David- We're working with the

Submitted by Frank Migliorelli on October 27, 2015 - 11:32am

David- We're working with the catalog software company to improve the sorting features on the table display. On our initial launch, some of the buttons for sort did not operate consistently, but we've fixed that. In addition, we've identified the problem with the tables getting cut off- but that is a much more complex issue. We're working on a solution for this now, along with the other issues that have been raised on this blog post. Thanks for your comments- having these details makes it easier to identify specific problems- fm

How about the other questions

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on October 30, 2015 - 7:14am

How about the other questions?

terrible incarnation of something that wasn't broken

Submitted by ps (not verified) on October 25, 2015 - 8:09am

can't renew material, annoying text in the search bar, over complicated, you should FIRE your web designer. They have no idea what they are doing.

Fantastic new site!

Submitted by A. Patrone (not verified) on October 28, 2015 - 8:07am

NYPL is often seen as an example of innovation and your website was very beautiful, with the old version employing many web best-practices before they became popular. That said, I think the new website is amazing! it is intuitive, works perfectly on my cellphone, colorful and uncluttered. I am saddened to see the number of negative comments here from people who are just experiencing a little change in their lives. It is also great to see that you are making small, incremental changes as comments roll in. i also applaud you folks for juggling a web redesign launch AND a change to a new catalogue simultaneously! don't be disheartened: I suspect the bulk of the people who took the time to write a scathing review will learn the new simple and much improved navigation in no time.

once again the needs of the readers are completely ignored

Submitted by Rachel (not verified) on October 29, 2015 - 5:42pm

I don't even use the app - I'm talking about the plain old Web site. It is impossible to even find the Login button. Every time I want to use the online catalog, I have to do two Google searches, one for "NYPL login" and one for "NYPL online catalog." It drives me crazy. It used to be so fast and convenient. Now the entire page is cluttered up with useless information relating to events and other things that do not interest people who just want to find books, renew books, or reserve books. Again and again the NYPL sends the message that people who read books are the least of their concerns. There is time and money to transform the branches into glorified Internet cafes that are noisy and smelly and don't even have adequate seating. So of course there are fights with shouting and swearing when someone watching a DVD or listening to music doesn't want to turn it down. And it is increasingly difficult to find an online catalog in any of the branches as all the catalog machines are gradually replaced with Internet computers so people can surf the Internet. And some of those people are watching porn but the library insists that's all well and good, it's their First Amendment right, even if the rest of us are uncomfortable with it, too bad for us. I now have to wait on line to use the electronic catalog at the main branch on Fifth Avenue, the flagship circulating library, which now has a mere 4 online catalog computers for a library used by thousands of people every day. But at least no one who wants to surf the Internet has to wait. And now this Web site redesign once again makes it shockingly apparent that readers don't matter to NYPL and that if you just want to find books or renew books, too bad, the library is all about free Internet, events, gallery exhibits, and ESL classes. Those things are all well and good but have you forgotten your original mission? The library was built to contain books. Serving readers should be your number 1 priority and the "community" needs unrelated to books should come second, if there is money left over in the budget.

How Much Money Was Wasted On This?

Submitted by Ada Byron (not verified) on October 29, 2015 - 6:26pm

The library is short on funds and they decide to pay Razorfish mucho dineros to redesign their plain vanilla perfectly functioning website and turn it into a huge fail? Hint: People go to the NYPL to look for books, so they can reserve them and pick them up or download them when an email tells them they can do so. Books are the primary reason people use a library website and/or visit a library. Books. Not events, not blogs, not a podcast, not an exhibition. Just books. Look up the definition if you at NYPL are not sure of the meaning of the word.

What happened to user centered design?

Submitted by MG (not verified) on November 1, 2015 - 11:14pm

I am deeply disappointed with the new design. When I saw the announcement that you were going to be launching an update, I was very hopeful. While the website and apps were working fine, I was hoping that work had been done to make searching for ebooks easier. However, that is not the case at all. In your quest to clean up and reorganize the backend catalog, it seems as if the team there has forgotten the users key tasks on the front end. As a professional web designer with a focus on UX/UI, I was totally floored when I upgraded my NYPL mobile app and visited the updated site from my desktop. Master of web usability, Steve Krug, said, "Don't make me think." Sadly, this redesign does not follow that philosophy at all and is making my head hurt. This site should be designed for your users, not the librarians. I searched for a book today that a friend recommended, something I do all the time, and once I found it, I could not figure out how to add it to my lists. It took me way too long to do a simple task. What is a "bookbag" supposed to be anyway? That icon is not universal. It's taking an incredible amount of steps to do basic things. Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with the disaster that the mobile site is. You went from having a fully functioning app to a useless piece of nothing. I might as well delete the app from my phone since I can do NOTHING from it. Did you do any usability testing on the website or the mobile app with any users? Instead of looking forward to looking for my next book, I feel like I am being tortured. I pray that you will be delivering lots of updates between now and June.

Website disaster

Submitted by Library User (not verified) on November 8, 2015 - 6:37pm

Strongly agree with all of the negative comments made so far about the catastrophic website redesign. Let me add just one additional thoughtless annoyance that I don't think has been previously mentioned. Why does every single action require an extra verification step, which in turns means waiting while the page reloads? For example, I check off the books I want to renew, click on renew, and then a page comes up asking me to confirm I whether I want to renew. What is the point of this waste of time? Of course I want to renew, that's why I checked the boxes and clicked 'renew'. And it's not as though a mistake would have such terrible consequences that it's worth the extra level of protection. The worst thing that could happen is that I somehow inadvertently renew a library book that I didn't intend to renew, and will now be returning it two weeks early!! Same thing with trying to put a book on hold - each time requires a completely pointless confirmation page. Yes, this is relatively trivial compared to basic design mistakes that were made with the site, but it's just more evidence that the people behind this redesign are clueless about what people need when they visit a library, and when they visit a library website. And yes, this redesign seems to provide yet more evidence that NYPL is trying to get out of the book business and into the..., well, what exactly? The museum business? The school business? The pop culture business? Damned if I know, and the sad thing is I don't think that NYPL really knows either.

Design for libraries and not patrons

Submitted by Jim Gong (not verified) on November 9, 2015 - 12:52pm

The home page show-cases "Recommended by our librarians," events and exhibits. Are those items really why majority of the users want when visiting the site? How often does a site visitor look for those information vs checking out books, music, DVDs etc? Also, the social media feature such as user recommendations, comments, quotes and shared lists are gone. Those tens of thousands of crowd sourced data is now replaced by a single slice of elite views: the librarians of NY.

Is there any way to opt back

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on November 10, 2015 - 10:17am

Is there any way to opt back to the old website format? it was much more user friendly for patrons who are simply there to manage their library books/renewals/check outs/etc

Why does everything require extras steps now?

Submitted by TCT (not verified) on November 13, 2015 - 1:22pm

"Hey wait... don't put that on hold... put it in the bag... then go to the bag and then you can place it on hold. " WHAT???!!!!

Failure to login correclty

Submitted by Nancy Heredia (not verified) on November 17, 2015 - 10:18am

It does not work. Unable to login correctly yet was able to navigate within the page but was unable to renew a book that is now overdue because I was unable to be actually logged in. Kept clicking on the login button and nothing happened. Same with the renewal button, clicked on it a bunch of times and got no response. Thanks for nothing. You should get your money back from whoever sold you this trash web design and fire anyone associated with it. Start over. Use intelligence this time and not if it looks cool as a goal.

Please acknowledge the failure and move on (by going back)

Submitted by zappo (not verified) on November 21, 2015 - 7:22pm

Please please please. All I want is to use the library, to easily select, peruse my FOR LATER list, HOLD and move items to my IN PROGRESS LIST and, when I've listened or read or watched, move them to my COMPLETE list. It used to be easy and logical and now not only does just about everything takes several confusing steps..it's UGLY. Please, for my patience's sake. GO BACK to what the website and app used to be, functional, elegant catalogs.

website redesign

Submitted by Laura Campbell (not verified) on December 2, 2015 - 3:15am

First, any requests for donations should be discreet & certainly not dominant the page--taxpayers finance the library. I find it strange that govt orgs are soliciting donations but that seems to be the norm now. It seems like the redesign was primarily to highlight the solicitations. My main problem with the current website is that when I try to put something on hold/have it sent to my branch, I get a message that it can't be done and pls contact... who? I don't know because the message is on a right slider that's cut off on my screen and scrolling all the way to right doesn't help. Also can't find any list of items I've tried to put on hold--is there one? How do I know if anything went through? I haven't received any email yet confirming my requests but it would be far better if I could view my activities in my nypl acct (like the bookshelf for ebooks). Is this possible? I also get search results that are unrelated to my search terms.

Where are my lists?

Submitted by Mitchell Teplitsky (not verified) on December 11, 2015 - 11:45am

This web redesign not only makes it harder or even impossible to do the things I used to do -- it actually makes me angry and sad.

Is the book bag supposed to

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on February 12, 2016 - 11:10am

Is the book bag supposed to delete all my saved items periodically? Because that's what it does. I'm not sure why it was designed to do this. Please clarify.

Oh also, I noticed in posting

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on February 12, 2016 - 11:19am

Oh also, I noticed in posting my previous comment that while the dialog for doing so is headed "Post New Comment", after filling in the fields, the user is asked to either "Save" or "Preview" -- where she might ordinarily expect to be offered a choice called "Post". It's small frictions like this -- those little moments where someone has to stop and parse --or example "Save" or "Preview" means "Post" -- that add grit to what should be a smoothly-running user experience. The user doesn't even notice all these moments, but they add up to a significant amount of vexation & disaffection. Notice how many comments you've received saying "why is log-in called browse"?

Still Not Satisfied

Submitted by Becky S. (not verified) on March 17, 2016 - 12:17pm

It's been months and still not much has improved on the website. What "dedicated team" is particularly on this? Frank and this "team" has hardly done anything to improve since this has started. What exactly are you doing these past months? Because the site is still a vast non-improvement over the old one. Stop pretending that things are progressing at a good pace. If you really want feedback, then place a true area on the website to allow patron comments rather than hiding them. Or are you afraid how much truth there is to the degradation of the website. I dare you to place a permanent feedback link in the Get Help section. Or are you too coward to hear more honest opinions on your creation of a website you hold so high.