Let’s be real. Most library homepages look like someone tried to squeeze the entire building onto one screen.
There’s the event carousel. The newsletter signup. Program promotions. A giant banner about summer reading. And somewhere, buried deep, is the information users actually came to find — like hours, locations, or how to get a library card.
It’s a lot. And it’s hurting your users more than it’s helping them.
The myth of “Everything at Once”
There’s this idea floating around that the homepage needs to be a one-stop shop. If someone can’t find what they need on the homepage, it must be a bad website… right?
Actually, the opposite is true.
When everything is “top priority,” nothing stands out. You’re giving users a massive wall of content and hoping they’ll dig through it. Most won’t. Instead, they’ll get overwhelmed, click around randomly (or not at all), and maybe leave the site entirely, thinking it’s too confusing to bother with.
What people actually do on homepages
Most visitors don’t read every word. They skim. Nobody “surfs the web” anymore. User behavior is task-driven. Users are trying to complete a task: find today’s hours, search for a book, register for an event. If they can’t do that quickly, they get frustrated.
So the homepage shouldn’t be a catch-all. It should act like a well-trained reference librarian: helpful, direct, and focused on getting the user what they need, fast.
So what should go on library homepages?
Honestly? Less. Here’s what really matters:
- A clear search bar (ideally for both the site and the catalog);
- Hours and location info (including the phone number!);
- A link to “My account”
- A few high-priority links (library card info, events, digital downloads, as examples);
- A short highlight or announcement if there’s something big going on;
- Maybe some smaller announcements, but with minimal text.
That’s it. Anything else can usually go on subpages. Not sure what to keep? Use analytics. If only five people clicked on that “Library History” button last year, maybe it doesn’t need to be a special button.
Test it: The 5-Second Rule
Show your homepage to someone who doesn’t work at the library. Give them 5 seconds to look at it. Then ask: “What can you do here?”
If they say “Uhh… there’s a slideshow?” that’s a red flag.
They should be able to name at least one or two actions they can take right away — like look at the program calendar or check their account.
TL;DR
If your homepage is trying to do everything, it’s probably doing nothing well. Focus on making the top tasks really (!) easy to find, and let the rest live on deeper pages where they belong.
