ALLEGHENY COUNTY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

The Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) is a nonprofit organization that strengthens and supports a network of 56 independent public libraries across 70 locations serving communities throughout Allegheny County. By fostering collaboration, expanding access to shared resources, and advocating for the value of libraries, ACLA helps ensure residents can connect with the programs, services, and lifelong learning opportunities offered across the county's library system. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) led an initiative to help provide equitable public-facing digital access for the ACLA communities and commissioned W|W to drive the effort. 

The project included an upfront, robust discovery phase where W|W completed a comprehensive evaluation of the existing ACLA websites supplemented by primary research with patrons and staff from across the County. Subsequently, W|W developed a strategic framework for a scalable digital ecosystem that balanced the unique identities of individual libraries with the consistency and efficiency of a shared platform that would deliver a consistent and engaging experience in support of literacy and learning to all stakeholders in the community. 

Building this shared digital ecosystem required balancing the independence of 56 libraries with the needs of a unified countywide network. Participation in the multisite platform is optional, allowing each independent library to adopt the system when the timing and organizational needs are right. Within its first year, nearly 20 libraries had already launched on the platform, with many more preparing to follow.

DEEP UNDERSTANDING, SOLVING A COMPLEX CHALLENGE

Comprehensive research uncovered the common needs that could unite dozens of unique library experiences into one intuitive platform.

W|W's challenge was formidable: design and develop a multisite digital ecosystem that serves diverse audiences across the county while accommodating libraries of every size- some with multiple branches, and that was easy for the ACLA and CLP staff to manage with in-house teams.  W|W's discovery/research phase was robust and inclusive, and included an ACLA website audit, an analytics audit, round table discussions with library staff, a patron survey, a staff survey, peer review, and data analysis.

The ACLA website audit focused on content types, site structure, and library branding to understand the existing landscape and depth/breadth of member library content. Round table discussions helped identify the priorities and frustrations library staff had with their current sites. The patron survey collected nearly 4,500 responses that covered every ACLA library and 123 of 130 County municipalities. The research revealed that while every library had unique priorities, patrons shared remarkably consistent expectations around finding information quickly, accessing services on mobile devices, and navigating sites with confidence. Armed with clarity about the patron journey, their accessibility & language needs, their content priorities & expectations, and other key drivers, W|W developed a strategy and UX approach that successfully streamlined and simplified the inherent complexity that was noted across the ACLA websites. 

DESIGN SYSTEM, SCALABLE SOLUTION

The design system gives every library room to express its identity without sacrificing a familiar patron experience. This was accomplished by striking a careful balance: creating a consistent experience for patrons while giving each library enough flexibility to express its own identity. The scalable digital ecosystem created by W|W allows each library to add its logo, to select a primary and accent color from a robust palette, and to select an illustration style from a range of options.  These options provided each library with the right amount of customization to let their brand personality shine, while ensuring a streamlined user experience would be maintained from site to site.  The website fonts, iconography, and other UI elements were applied system-wide to deliver consistency to users, as many patrons utilize multiple libraries. 

TECHNOLOGY & INTEGRATION, LASTING IMPACT

A scalable multisite platform makes it easy for new libraries to join the ecosystem while keeping content management simple and efficient.

To support long-term growth, W|W developed the ecosystem on WordPress Multisite, enabling new library websites to be launched quickly while maintaining consistency across the ACLA network. Launching a new library site is now a streamlined administrative process requiring only a few configuration steps before staff can begin managing their own content. The master or default template includes the basic site structure that is found in all ACLA sites and any standard set of content. The Admin uploads the library logo, selects the color palette and illustration set, and the site is now ready for any unique content to be added in the CMS.  Logins are provided to library staff for each location, and they are in full control of managing their new site.

The multisite framework allows certain sets of content to be shared between libraries. For example, a blog post featuring a book review that is authored and published by one library can also be published on other library sites.  Other enhanced features include an integration with Bibliocommons, the 3rd party software that ACLA leverages as its online media catalog, which lets libraries easily embed book lists. LibraryMarket, another 3rd party platform, is used by ACLA to manage all of its events. Through the integration with LibraryMarket, each library is able to have events hosted at its location be prominently visible on its website. Finally, an integration with Weglot provides best-in-class language translation to meet ACLA patrons where they are. 

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

At its core, this project wasn't really about building websites. It was about strengthening connections between libraries and the communities they serve. The new digital ecosystem gives each independent library the flexibility to tell its own story while creating a more consistent, accessible, and engaging experience for patrons across Allegheny County. As more libraries join the platform, the collective impact will continue to grow, helping more people discover the resources, programs, and opportunities available through their local library. Several of the ACLA libraries that have adopted the platform:

shalerlibrary.org
coopersiegelcommunitylibrary.org
scottlibrary.org