Customized Searching and Other Website Updates

Use the gear icon to change your default search to Articles, All, or Our Website.

We’ve received a lot of great feedback since we launched our redesigned library website earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t benefit from a few tweaks. Our website team has been working on some small but helpful changes, based on web metrics, usability testing, survey feedback, and suggestions from YOU!

The first change you might have noticed is the little gear icon in the bottom left corner of the search box. Clicking on the gear allows you to set your personal default search preference. If you spend more time searching for journal articles rather than books, you can set “Articles” as your preferred search tab, and it will appear as the default every time you visit the library homepage. You can change the setting at any time. (The gear works with browser cookies, so if you clear your cache, you will have to reset it.)

Another addition, implemented at the request of many users, is the addition of a website search box in the upper right corner of the masthead. This makes it easier to search our website and find information about the Libraries.

The new Research Commons page explains what you can expect from the renovations in Bostock.

With the announcement about the upcoming construction of the Research Commons on the first floor of Bostock Library, we also added a page about that project, including a timeline, FAQs, sketches of the new layout, and more. You can find it by clicking on “Research Support” in the header of our website and following the “Research Commons” link in the drop-down menu.

We are continually refining and testing our redesigned website, and we greatly appreciate all the feedback our users have given us along the way. Your input (and patience) has helped us create a better, simpler, more intuitively organized library site for all Duke students, faculty, and researchers. If you have additional suggestions for improvement, or to report a problem with our website, let us know!