The first is an ereader guide http://www.rapidcitylibraryebooks.weebly.com that we maintain. The reason behind it was to create a library website that met an emerging patron need (ebooks) but with complete control over the content, updates and SEO. A weebly site fit nicely. We have other library systems linking to it and get plenty of search engine traffic. Overall, it has been a success.

The other is blackhillknowledgenetwork.com The Black Hills Knowledge Network is an Internet-based, library information service that empowers people by connecting them to relevant and credible local information. By aggregating and organizing content generated by a variety of entities including local media, government, non-profit organizations, businesses, service clubs and community members. It is run by the Black Hills Community Foundation and the Rapid City Public Library and incorporates information from a variety of community partners.

With the ongoing success of these two projects we are looking at other options for the future as well. Wonderful post! It is nice to hear of similar success.

John
Rapid City Public Library

We don’t do much to it anymore except to maintain it and even so, it’s still likely out-of-date in many areas, but it’s a lovely resource that I’d hate to get rid of. I haven’t looked at any stats recently, but when you search for “highland park illinois” it’s the third result, so it’s worth something. However, I think peoples’ searches have become more precise, and with that, our site doesn’t often make it it into the top 15 on the results list (e.g., highland park illinois restaurants). We certainly don’t have the kind of contact with organizations/businesses on it that we used to get.

There’s a small notice in the upper right corner of the site that tells people that the library maintains the site, along with a link to us, so we do get a bit of self-promotion from it.