About Columbia Libraries Web Services

Web Services Group Organizational Scope

The Web Services group in Digital Library & Scholarly Technologies balances the needs of our patrons with those of our organization by supporting content management platforms and applications that enable Libraries’ staff to communicate and present our collections, services, and expertise online.

We offer user-centered design and content expertise, design and front-end development services, contributor support and training that allows Libraries’ staff to create and curate web content, and programming and application development in collaboration with staff throughout the Libraries and the University. We provide back-end programming and development support for the Libraries Website and front-end developer support for many other aspects of the Libraries' Web Presence (e.g., Libraries Blogs, Digital Library Collections website, Digital Scholarship sites such as Online Journals, Digital Dante, and Women Film Pioneers, and more).

The Web Services team actively collaborates with all areas of the Libraries and has strong partnerships with the Communications Team, the Assessment & Analytics Program, Digital Scholarship, Special Collections, Research & Learning, and Libraries Information Technology. We work closely with DIAG on software development, front-end design and development, the DLC, and other projects.

 

Portfolios of Work

Web Services provides content contributor support, as well as design, user management, systems, and technology support, for:

  • UX and user-centered design consulting and training, and usability assessment development for Columbia Libraries web presence   

  • Accessibility compliance and consulting for our web properties across multiple systems hosted internally and by external vendors 

  • Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) web content management system, which is the back-end for five websites  

  • WordPress and WordPress MultiSite web content management systems

  • The Libraries Hours Manager application and public-facing site, https://hours.library.columbia.edu/, in partnership with DIAG for development and Access Services for content and contributor management  

  • Our Online Journals (OJS) project in partnership with Digital Scholarship (e.g., Columbia Journal of Gender and Law and others; see https://journals.library.columbia.edu)

  • Theme and front-end design work for the Podcasting project in partnership with Digital Scholarship, which is a WordPress multisite hosted by CampusPress.   

  • SpringShare Platforms including LibGuides for Research and Course Guides, and LibCal for Room Reservations in the Libraries

  • Collect and provide data about how our online content is used using Google Analytics and Data Studio

 

Application development, programming, design, and other support for: 

  • The DLST Toolkit: a shared repository of design elements, applications, and widgets that allow us to easily maintain and modify branding and styles across our many web properties and that allow our partners and affiliates to use and customize these as needed

  • ILLIAD, AEON, Serials Solutions, CUIT’s Bedework Calendar system, and other third party or hosted systems 

  • APIs that push and/or pull data from one system to another so that staff can edit information once but read/use it everywhere (e.g., Staff Profiles that push to LibGuides, the capability to pull events and workshops into our sites and push our events to other Columbia websites, Hours and maps that push information to CLIO, and more) 

  • The ongoing needs of the Digital Collections & Preservation Systems group in DLST, particularly in design and front-end development work (e.g., specialized site templates and themes, the Carnegie Corporation DLC website, Ford IFP, and others)