Comments  7

• Gerry Laarakker asdf Saturday, November 07, 2009

  Why this website was changed is a mystery.  The old one was just fine, in fact, superior and much easier to navigate than the new one.  I am busy enough in the practice of law without having to relearn peripheral issues, such as how to navigate a website.
  
  It's the old story, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  All those pictures and enthusiastic recommendations by Vancouver lawyers don't do a thing for me here in the hinterland.  I appreciate that somehow, progress must be made.  But this isn't progress, it's a website for computer geeks, not lawyers.
  
  A few months ago, you tinkered with the colours etc. of the website.  That change was not particularly anything notable or worthwhile.  Change for the sake of change comes to mind.
  
  For instance, access to Canlii was very easy, one click away.  Now I can't find it.  All the other links, CLE, Law Society, all one click away.  Now I have to hunt.  Not worth it.
  
  I have no idea what all those symbols above that "post a comment" mean.  I am not about to start taking a computer course to figure it out either.  I guess I will have to give up on this website.  This used to be my default website, but I will have to rethink that unless it becomes more user friendly.

• Katherine Taylor--Lawyer asdf Monday, November 09, 2009

  I am katherine Taylor and a frequent user of the law library. I can't find anything I need
  for personal/professional services on the new website.
  I am confused already.
  Life is short, let's not make it bigger than already sounds.
  Like the staff say: If it's not broken, why fix it?
  
  I too will have to re-think  my options and where I have the internet accessible to
  to me. It 's definitely not the law library.
  
  As far the staff being opinion, I disagaree.  Often some of staff at  the law library
  are rude, abusive, and even to the point gossipping about patrons who come
  to the library to use the computers.
  
  end of story... I want the old website back!!!!
  
  

• Mandy Ostick - Courthouse Libraries BC Nov 9, 2009

  Hello all,

  To our frequent website users who find our new site frustrating - we understand how annoying it is when you can't find what you're looking for, especially when you're pressed for time.  There’s no doubt the new site is a big change for people who were very familiar with the old one.  However, for first time visitors the new site should actually be much easier to use than the old one was - it is more in line with what is expected now from a website in terms of design and functionality.   We’ve done a lot of usability testing with lawyers and law library staff with a variety of backgrounds and the new site far, far outperforms the old one. 

  This is not change for change's sake.  I hope our established users understand that it is vitally important for us to attract new lawyers to the library in part by offering more to them on our new website.  We cannot continue to maintain a website or library system that caters mostly to a shrinking number of established library users and expect to remain a relevant resource for the legal profession. 

  Our new site is based on wide consultation with the legal community.  We introduced our practice portals as result of hearing over and over again that small firm and solo lawyers in particular could use help staying up to date and finding material specific to Family Law, Personal Injury, Civil Litigation and other areas of wide interest.  Introducing website accounts means we will be able to offer licensed content to lawyers from our website, which is something we're working on for next year.  We still maintain a Links section on our new site but have moved external links off the homepage.  I know some people appreciated those links on our homepage - but more lawyers were telling us that they already know CanLII, the Law Society etc and don't need our help finding well-known sites that they have bookmarked or can find easily with Google.

  Please continue to let us know what you think - and please contact us if you'd like some help finding things on our new website, we'd be glad to help you out.

• Jonathan Vogt asdf Tuesday, November 10, 2009

  I just wanted to drop a brief note of congratulations on your relaunch. I think the new site has a beautiful design—it's very welcoming—and I think you have significantly improved functionality. Doubtless, it'll take time for frequent users to become familiar with the changes. It’ll be interesting to see how the practice portals develop: there’s much promise there, as well as in the other new areas of the site. 
  

  
  

• Richard Rondeau asdf Thursday, November 12, 2009

  Ok, I confess I’m of the age of dinosaurs and while not yet extinct find dramatic changes somewhat distressing when it applies to a resource that had come to be like an old blanket that feels comfortable though frayed and used it may have been.

  All of this to say that I miss the old website look that was one of my favourites and first point of reference starting work in the a.m. with my morning coffee.   Now I have to get used to a whole bunch of glitz; new tabs; doofies and icons that mean squat to me but of course not being part of the texting social connection maelstrom  I would fail to recognize the significance of these new virtual signposts.

  On the plus side I will of course continue to use the Law Library website though I may curse as I bounce from tab to tab looking for what was once for me intuitively obviously found.    It may come to pass that I find comfort in this new spread and wonder what my angst was all about but this will require much hunt and pecking before this comes to fruition.

• Gerry Laarakker asdf Monday, November 16, 2009

  Dear Ms. Ostick:
  
  So far, the comments are running 100% against this new website.  I am excluding Jonathan Voght for the purpose of this count - he is part of the somewhat amorphous Law Society, CLE etc. bunch (cabal?).  He would not disapprove of anything done by anyone in that group.
  
  Look at the opening page;  mainly taken up by grinning Vancouver lawyers, and what is that illegible mess on the bottom of the page?  Surely it does nothing for my aging eyes.  (A beef I have with some CLE materials and have brought to their attention.
  
  How do I go in one keystroke to the Law Soc, the CLE or Canlii??  It can't be done.  It would have been simple enough to hack a portal entrance into the old site and that would have been that.
  
  I find your argument puzzling that somehow, this was done to bring in and retain young lawyers' interest in the Law Library, I find that very puzzling.  The giga law firms in Vancouver probably have their own giant libraries stocked with private librarians and researchers for those young lawyers to play in, but for the rest of us, we have no choice but to deal with the Law Library as it is.
  
  I just wish that the money spent on the website had been put into improvong the local libraries.  If you can imagine it, the Vernon library does not even have a photo copier!  It's all a matter of priorities.

• Peggy Stanier asdf Friday, November 20, 2009

  I am a research lawyer. I use online resources a lot and was supportive of your efforts to upgrade the site but I am quite dissappointed in the result.
  
  Why is the catalogue link not on the home page? Even when I go to the "Search" page I have to figure out how I get into the Catalogue. That "word cloud" is flashy and pretty but not very practical - you have to know that it will take us longer to search through that random assortment of terms than if you had used a simple list. Why can't I use Bloglines to subscribe to your Blog - I know it has fallen out of favour but I like it and don't want to change all my other feeds over to another service. As for the consultations you did, sometimes the answers you get depend on the people you talk to. If new users are confused and annoyed by the site, your efforts will have been in vain.