Chicago Public Library Sports a Rocking New Website
Apr 10, 2014 ● By Megy Karydes
The Chicago Public Library (CPL) has a new website and it rocks. I learned about the roll-out last week when I went to the Harold Washington Library downtown. The patient librarian was walking me through the site when I asked her how to locate magazines from home. When she pulled up the new site, which is still in Beta mode, I was blown away. I told her it looks like Pinterest. She said the reason they went with this look is to appeal to today’s generation and it does have a social media look to it.
When I pulled up the site today, there is was. All shiny and new. Among the new and awesome features:
- patrons can now create book lists
- write reviews for others to see
- share content with friends
- the calendar feature connects patrons with author talks and other events at the library.
- streaming media, such as movies, television shows and music, as well as access to thousands of downloadable magazines
The goal is to make the user experience more interactive by allowing patrons to share comments and reviews. The library currently has 1.1 million monthly users.
A library card is free to all Chicago residents.
