[Michlib-l] MeL Minute: The New MeL.org Is Here!

[Norris, Sonya (MDE)]

Greetings Michigan Library Community,



[cid:image002.png at 01D45BE8.898397F0]The new MeL has launched! If you haven't checked it out yet, please come on over to https://mel.org.



This October saw changes across the board at MeL: a new look (even an updated look for MeLCat Classic<https://elibrary.mel.org/>!), the addition of many new databases, and a new focus. Our tagline - Supporting Michigan Libraries - means just that. We're here for you. We want to help you use the MeL resources to assist your patrons locally, rather than being their one-stop shop.



If you've never embedded the links to the individual MeL eResources onto your own library websites, we encourage you to do so. You can find instructions on how to do that here<https://mel.org/library-staff/operations/direct-urls>. If you're having any difficulties with that process, that's something you want to talk to the good people staffing the MeL Databases Help Desk at the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services about. They can be reached at: meldatabaseshelp at mcls.org<http://meldatabaseshelp@mcls.org> and they'll work with you individually to resolve those issues.



There are several things to know about the new site:



Some of the redirects from the old site did not carry over due to factors beyond our control. Below are the three primary URLs to update or remove from your own site.
*        Mel.org/databases is not active. Please use https://mel.org/az.php instead.
*        Kids.mel.org is no longer in use. Please use https://mel.org/kids instead.
*        Teens.mel.org and mel.org/teens are no longer in use; we no longer have a Teens portal.

Please check any other redirects you are using.



Have you noticed the new sections of MeL devoted to Library Staff<https://mel.org/staff> and Educators<https://mel.org/educators>? We have schedules of upcoming vendor webinars, recordings of past webinars, short videos, referrals to PDFs and websites, MeLCat help, and much more to assist you in making the most out of the new suite of eResources. We also have several versions of the new logo<https://mel.org/c.php?g=874665&p=6280193> for use on your own site.



Will you be at the Michigan Library Association annual conference in Novi later this month? Stop by the Library of Michigan booth! We'll be conducting lightning rounds of usability testing on the new site on Wednesday the 17th from 11:30-1:00 as well as during the evening reception and Thursday the 18th from 1:30-2:30 . You'll be asked a (very) short series of questions and we'll use your feedback to continue to refine the site. We'll never be finished making MeL better.



Do you have comments or questions about the new MeL? We welcome them! You can reach the MeL team at this online form<http://mel.org/contact>. If you receive feedback from patrons about the changes, we encourage you to direct them to this form and we'll be happy to reply to their input, positive or negative.



Brought to you by Sonya Schryer Norris of the MeL Team.



Want more information on MeL?  Stay tuned for the next MeL Minute available on many Michigan library listservs, email us at contact at mel.org<mailto:contact at mel.org>,  visit http://mel.org<http://mel.org/>, or sign up for the MeL Minute and other Library of Michigan e-mail lists via GovDelivery<https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MILOM/subscriber/new>. We encourage you to share MeL Minutes with your colleagues and networks.



MeL eResources are available to Michigan residents or Michigan library or school access only.



#IMLSGrant


Sonya Schryer Norris
Library Consultant

Library of Michigan
702 W. Kalamazoo St.
Lansing, MI 48909
517-373-4457
AS OF OCT 16, 2018, MY NUMBER WILL CHANGE TO 517-335-1498

https://michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan
http://mel.org<http://mel.org/>
http://michlibrary.org<http://michlibrary.org/>

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