New OLIS Website

[January 10, 2018] The Office of Library and Information Services is pleased to present our new website to the Rhode Island library community.  We have completely reorganized and redesigned the website, and hope that you will find the new site easy to navigate and a key resource for information about OLIS, the services we provide, and the tools we have to support programs and services at your library. 

We began our website redesign project in the Spring of 2017, using feedback received from the library community during the evaluation of our previous strategic plan and the development of our new plan.  We heard that it was not always easy to find information on the site, and that parts of it were dated.  The OLIS Web Team, led by Chaichin Chen, analyzed website content, website usage and OLIS services to create a new navigation scheme and to update and reorganize content. 

A few notes on the new design:

  • Content is divided into three main categories:
    • About OLIS: This includes information about the agency, news, and regulations that govern OLIS and its services;
    • Library Services & Support:  OLIS services and programs for libraries and librarians;
    • Resident Services: Information about libraries and OLIS library services for the public, such as the Talking Books Library and the statewide reference center (AskRI).  Also included here is a feed pulling together Twitter feeds from all RI libraries showcasing news and information from the state's libraries (let us know if we missed your feed).
  • OLIS social media feeds are clearly accessible on every page in the header and footer.  Find News Feeds in a single portal that pulls together feeds from Rhodarian (our news blog), Talking Books, and Twitter.
  • LibGuides will be developed for various resource-rich areas; currently we are using LibGuides and LibCal for our Continuing Education program, calendar and registration

On a personal note, I would like to thank the members of the OLIS Web Team who put together the new site and spent many, many hours reviewing, planning, revising and improving our website:

  • Chaichin Chen
  • Karen Andrews
  • Nicolette Baffoni
  • Jason Bloom
  • Neshmayda Calderon
  • Jeremy Cutler
  • Danielle Margarida
  • Lauren Plews
  • Alicia Waters

In addition, the rest of the OLIS Team (Donna DiMichele, Andy Egan, and Kelley Lima) spent time contributing content, reviewing the new site, and making recommendations on how to improve it. Their help has been invaluable and our website is a truly a combined effort of all OLIS staff.

We hope that you find the new site a useful and easy-to-navigate resource.  Please feel free to send us any comments that you have about the site or suggestions for improvement –  as always we want to hear from you!  Send your comments to olis.webmaster@olis.ri.gov

Karen Mellor
Chief of Library Services