When I think about what it means for Dartmouth Libraries to be a research engine for Dartmouth, I can’t help but acknowledge technology’s central position. Without people as drivers of the research engine, though, we can’t use that technology with meaningful outcomes. It’s at the intersection of the two, and the resulting reciprocal system they create, that Dartmouth Libraries powers knowledge, access, creation, and discovery at Dartmouth and beyond.
Transforming our digital front door
As we continue to enact the Libraries new strategic direction, the website’s digital transformation heralds what’s possible. For example, the website redesign involved library colleagues from across the organization. Together, they shared their expertise to ensure our digital front door met our community’s needs. They conducted user research, used design-thinking tools to ideate on the site navigation and visual styling, experimented with novel approaches to content delivery, and employed project management practices to keep stakeholders engaged and informed. I’m delighted that these practices are becoming the norm for how we work at the Libraries. With this website project, we demonstrate how we can support emerging needs by shifting capacity, working collaboratively, and aligning with the Libraries strategic goals.
Strategic vision guiding the work
The website redesign is part of a bigger story about Dartmouth Libraries transformation, alchemizing people, technology, and our strategic goals for continuous improvement. Over the past 18 months, we had a rare opportunity to take a newly formed strategic framework and action it almost immediately with this website transformation project and a refreshed visual identity. The projects culminated in a new website with significant outcomes that reflect the shifting nature of the Libraries culture: new ways of working in teams, new ways of working towards goals, and new ways of being an academic library.
Signaling the role as a strategic research and learning partner
The new website design conveys several key messages about Dartmouth Libraries, including demonstrating how we’re more than just a repository for research collections with quiet study spots. The new “Research and Create” menu brilliantly demonstrates that. In this new grouping, we intentionally elevate our colleagues’ roles as collaborators and partners in research, teaching, and learning. We co-design and co-produce videos and podcasts. We share the power of language and communication via letterpress and book arts workshops. We partner on research data management, data analysis, visualization, and large language models. We build physical and digital collections, exhibits, and scholarship. These are a few of the many examples describing our work. The new website structure aims to help everyone discover just what we do and how we can contribute to their Dartmouth experience - whether you’re a visiting scholar or a student, faculty, or staff member.
Centering community in the website redesign
Our website redesign process kicked off in earnest nearly two years ago. What we’ve achieved in that time beautifully illustrates Dartmouth Libraries as a human-centered, technology-rich research engine. On the surface, a library website redesign may seem like a fairly straightforward process. There is a set of obvious steps, a timeline, a team, and measurable goals. The plan helped us achieve our desired outputs and outcomes. So, reflecting on what we achieved to launch the redesigned website successfully in January 2025, we:
- reduced clutter and information redundancies,
- introduced meaningful menus with clearer language,
- adjusted page layouts and content to align with accessibility standards,
- rewrote and created content with welcoming and inclusive language,
- and added dynamic menus for easier navigation and to enable users to build self-efficacy.
Leveraging our knowledge along with the technology, we worked together to achieve these outputs for the Dartmouth community: precisely what I think libraries are all about!
*We hope you find the new website experience to be more intuitive, easier to navigate, and helpful in directing you to the resources and services you need. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email the Website Project Team.