A vibrant & engaging new Drupal website for Gloucestershire Libraries

Client
Gloucestershire County Council
Department
Communication Team
The Gloucestershire Libraries Communication team, operating within the Gloucestershire County Council, is entrusted with stakeholder engagement. Their primary goal is to promote library services and events, encouraging user registrations and enhancing community engagement.
Girl browsing through books at the library
“Our website journey has been ambitious from the very start. From our first meeting with Website Express, it was clear that they could deliver what we needed within the tight timeframe we had. They made us feel confident about what we could achieve and made the process effortless.”
Aimee Lewis
Communications development officer
Project brief
The Gloucestershire Libraries and Registration team sought to create a dedicated website aimed at promoting library services and events.

Departing from their existing Gloucestershire County Council website, the objective was to amplify their digital presence and improve discoverability for both new and existing users.
Key objectives
Utilisation of ‘The Library’ branding
Integration of videos and photos for enhanced visual appeal
Ensuring digital accessibility
Augmenting online discoverability
Facilitating online discovery, engagement, and service access
Integration with Spydus, their catalogue, and event management system
Provision of an enriched user experience
Gloucester library entrance
Approach
Utilising our “One Team” approach, we collaborated closely with the Communications team at Gloucestershire Libraries and the Civica team to integrate Spydus, their catalogue, and event management system.

To meet the tight six-week deadline and achieve the set launch date of 23rd December 2023, we assigned a multidisciplinary team, each member with over 20 years of expertise in design/UX, SEO, content, and development.

Technologies

The new gloslibraries.uk website was developed using tried and tested open-source technologies:

Drupal
LocalGov Drupal
Symfony
PHP
Apache Solr

Solution

Bespoke design & user experience
Brand-led design
Brand-led design
The website features a bespoke design incorporating the Gloucestershire Libraries’ brand guidelines, ensuring a visually cohesive and captivating online presence.
User-centric design
User-centric design
The design process was centred around the needs of both the end users and the admin team, ensuring that the site is not only engaging and easy to navigate for users but also straightforward for the admin team to manage and update.
Responsive design
Responsive design
The site is fully responsive, providing an optimal user experience across all screen sizes.
Accessibility compliance
Accessibility compliance
The design adheres to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility requirements, ensuring it is accessible to all users.
homepage screenshot showing the video banner
screenshot showing the library events search
screenshot showing the find a library search
screenshot showing the featured books section
Enhanced functionality
Event listings & search
Event listings & search
User-friendly event listings allow users to easily filter events by library, month, or category. A Solr keyword search provides lightning-fast results.
Drupal_integration with_Civica_Spydus_cataogue_event_management_system
Spydus integration
The integration with Spydus enables users to search for books by category or keyword directly within Drupal, linking seamlessly to Spydus search results.
Library finder
Library finder
Users can access library opening times, general information, and contact details through the “Find a Library” search function. Libraries are listed alphabetically with an option to locate the nearest one using their postcode.
Embedded webforms
Embedded webforms
Webforms embedded within library detail pages facilitate user enquiries, directing each submission to the respective library.
User account integration
Single Sign On icon
Single sign-on with Spydus
Users can access their library account information, including fines and charges, current loans, and reservations through a single sign-on system integrated with Spydus.
Optimised performance
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The site is optimised for search engines to enhance online discoverability.
Search Engine Optimisation
Clean navigation
The design prioritises clean and easy navigation, making it simple for users to find information and engage with services.

Results

The newly launched gloslibraries.uk website has garnered widespread acclaim from both the general public and the internal team. The team is invigorated by the prospect of having a website that captivates its audience and effectively showcases its events and services. 

Glos libraries has seen an incredible 430% increase in unique visitors compared to the previous traffic from the libraries section within the Gloucestershire County Council website. 

Launched in December 2023 on a new domain, the website’s commendable search engine optimisation standards, coupled with regular updates for news and events, have resulted in its frequent appearance within the top three results on the first page of Google for general searches such as “Gloucestershire library events” or “library events Gloucestershire”.

Notably, when tested using Google PageSpeed Insights, our website, gloslibraries.uk, has achieved a 100% rating for Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO.

100
Accessibility
100
Best practices
100
SEO
+430%
Traffic increase
Key achievements
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Enhanced digital presence
The new website successfully amplifies the digital presence of Gloucestershire Libraries.
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Improved discoverability
Through SEO and a clean, easy-to-navigate design, the site improves discoverability for both new and existing users.
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Integrated services
Seamless integration with Spydus enhances the functionality and convenience for users.
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Accessibility
Compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA standards ensures the site is accessible to a broad audience.
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Top search rankings
Regular updates and SEO best practices have secured the site a top position in Google search results.
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Performance excellence
Achieved a 100% rating for Accessibility Best Practices and SEO on Google PageSpeed Insights.

The project demonstrates how strategic design and technology integration can transform a public service website into a vibrant and engaging digital hub, effectively promoting services and enhancing community engagement.

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