The resources available on the WVInfoDepot.org site remained the same this year. However, three issues affected their usage. First, the community and technical college consortium in the state added CINHAL to their database offering. CINHALaffected Consumer Health Complete, Health Source Consumer Edition, and Health Source: Academic/Nursing Edition usage.  

The second is a new password requirement from EBSCO. This year, EBSCO instituted new requirements for passwords and the frequency of changing them. The long-established password changed in December 2019. It took several months to inform all parties of the change.

The third is the library and school shutdowns due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Students could not access the resources with schools and libraries closed if they lacked access to the internet at their home or transportation to areas offering freeWi-Fi.

In November 2019, the agency performed a usability evaluation of the WVInfoDepot.org website based on typical user experience heuristics and compared it to the structure of other successful state electronic library websites. As a result, the DigitalResources Librarian created a mock-up of several possible updates to the site, discussed them with Library Commission staff, and began making some of the updates in summer 2020. Significant updates include adding a "How To" page linking users to the agency's training and tutorials and resource pages for library staff and educators. Site updates are still in progress at the time of this report. 

The Library Commission implemented the Niche Academy training platform to provide instruction and tutorials to library patrons, staff, and directors. Spring 2020 saw the addition of several tutorials on various topics from the Niche Academymarketplace and the in-house creation of tutorials, including a patron-facing Legal Information Reference Center tutorial. Production is also underway for tutorials on LearningExpress Library, Job& Career Accelerator, World Book, and EBSCO DiscoveryService (WVLC One Search). More tutorials are in development in response to resource assessment and surveys.

The agency created a shared Web location for outreach and promotion materials in response to library staff requests and an effort to increase resource usage. This page is available from the Library Staff and Educator resource pages. The Library Commission will share information on YouTube and social media as appropriate. So far, the agency has gathered and uploaded promotional materials from vendors. Creating shareable graphics, social media posts, and promotional audiovisual materials in response to library staff and educator requests is also in development.

In addition to our regular communications, the agency began weekly WVInfoDepot.org news messages to state library director listserv and our school media specialist contact to promote WVInfoDepot.org offerings, new tutorials, and sharable promotional items. Agency librarians hope to revive the WVInfoDepot.org blog and make more frequent use of our social media platform to communicate directly with users. We wish both these efforts will alleviate communication problems from the last fiscal year, especially regarding password updates.

The Library Commission uses BiblioStat Collect/Connect two ways to collect information from the public libraries for the public library survey and report comparable library data.  Public libraries have access to the Connect reporting component year-round.   This resource allows libraries to compare their data to other libraries in the state.