MeL - NEW Homepage!

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From Christine Schneider, K-12 Education Specialist at the Michigan e-Library

Some news from the Michigan eLibrary! Please share.

MeL (http://mel.org/) went live with a soft launch of a redesigned homepage (codename: Pigeon) at the tail end of 2017. The changes were a direct result of usability testing performed over the winter of 2016 and summer of 2017. Here are the highlights of the redesign:

1. MelCat: The only search on the MeL.org homepage is the "new" MeLCat search. Have no fear, Classic MeLCat is still alive and well but now the new MeLCat search is on the MeL homepage. (MeLCat is our statewide shared catalog system where you can borrow material from any of 450 Michigan public libraries and pick up/drop off at your local participating library.)

2. Database Searches: Searching the available databases for Articles and E-resources can now be accomplished from the Databases page. Were you ever curious about the most popular topics among the databases? We've also added links to the top searches on the right hand side of the page, both for easy access and to pique your interest about the great content found in the databases. You still can link directly to the databases page using the URL: http://mel.org/databases

3. New videos: We have commissioned a series of videos promoting MeL and we'll roll them out one per month on the homepage. Check back for a new one at the beginning of each month and feel free to share them on your sites or social media venues. They'll be added to our YouTube channel as they are available.

4. Portal relocation: The top portals - Kids and Teens - have been moved into the global, black navigation bar that runs across the top of the page under the banner. The other portals - Business, Jobs, Government, Health, Legal and Books and Literacy - which have always been linked to from the footer, are now found only in the footer and not in the center of the homepage. You can still access MeL Kids directly at: http://kids.mel.org/ and MeL Teens at: http://teens.mel.org/

5. Quick Links on the left on the homepage: The left navigation options have been grouped: For Michigan Residents is on the top, under which we have Practice Tests and Magazines & Newspapers and beneath that we have: For Librarians with the ever-popular MeL Minute and Promotion & Training resources.


Please let me know if you have any questions.

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