Hi,

I would like to share with you a new Webpac skin I developed recently. Most part of it is live at Palo Alto City Library's classic catalog site.

[img]https://github.com/fishbb/sierra-webpac-bclike-skin/blob/master/screenshots/webpac_main.png?raw=true[/img]

This project attempts to keep the consistent look of the BiblioCommons site and the Webpac interface, as well as to provide a mobile responsive and user-friendly Webpac.

Whether you are a BiblioCommons website or not, you can do something similar to enhance the look of your Webpac. I have published the project and a simple instruction in Github. My knowledge of Webpac comes from the former working experience at III. I like Webpac for the fact that most of the code is transparent to customers, and although the html/css code is not kept up to date, at least it is flexible enough for major modification.

The project is done because the Library discovered that there is need to keep Webpac as the other catalog interface after we launched the BiblioCommons site:

* To meet the needs of library customers who just want to have a basic catalog to search and borrow items.
* Some functions are only available in Webpac for now.
* The self registration web page where customer first request a library card online.
* The personal information modification web page where customers can opt in or out of SMS services.
* BiblioCommons uses APIs to talk to ILS. It is rare, but Webpac could serve as a backup in case the API services get interrupted.

And if both interfaces are open to the public, it makes sense to keep them look similar, so customers won’t have a jarring user experience when clicking around the library’s website.

I plan to clean up some of the code further, and add more localization components when I have time. If you have good advice, let me know or let’s collaborate on the Github repository.

Best,

Dan

Senior Librarian
Palo Alto City Library
dan.lou@cityofpaloalto.org

dan.lou@cityofpaloalto.org