The Waterloo Public Library web site took a step forward this morning when staff transferred the Community Organizations Directory--a joint effort of the library and the Greater Cedar Valley Chambers of Commerce--from an Adobe Portable Document File (i.e., PDF) to a Google Documents spreadsheet. The new format is easier for patrons to use and much more efficient for staff members to update.
The old format required editing of a Word document, conversion to PDF format, followed by transmission to a webmaster would then FTP it to the website. The use of a Google documents spreadsheet allows the staff member in charge of the directory to make changes in real time from any Internet capable computer.
As time goes on, look for us to move more library generated content to web documents that can be edited online. It's faster, cheaper, and provides better service to you, our patrons.
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