We helped the North Canton Public Library launch a fully accessible, user-friendly website that improved community engagement, streamlined navigation, and integrated third-party tools—resulting in a 15% increase in engaged sessions and deeper on-site interaction.
The North Canton Public Library (NCPL) recognized the need to refresh its website to better serve its community. Their goals were clear:
Short-Term:
Create a fully functioning, well-organized website that delivers an excellent user experience and is accessible across all devices and formats.
Long-Term:
Build a platform that is easy to keep current, discoverable in search engines, and capable of promoting all library offerings to drive increased community engagement.
Accessibility was a key priority. NCPL wanted the site to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level AA standard, ensuring all patrons could easily navigate and benefit from its resources.
Sanctuary partnered with NCPL to design a website that balanced utility with personality. Much of the site needed to serve practical functions (finding events, accessing the catalog, paying fines) yet it was equally important for the design to reflect the library’s unique identity.
Key highlights of the project included:
Integrated Systems: We seamlessly incorporated third-party tools (event calendar, catalog, fine payment, newsletter sign-ups) into the site experience, ensuring that moving off-site felt like a natural extension of the website.
Streamlined Navigation: Through competitor research and collaboration across library divisions, we built an intuitive mega menu supported by anchor links and redundant titles, making it easy for staff and patrons alike to find what they need.
Consolidated Content: We restructured and consolidated content into a scalable page hierarchy, laying a strong foundation for future growth.
Domain Transition: We migrated the site from ncantonlibrary.com to northcantonlibrary.org—aligning with the library’s email addresses and benefiting from search preference for nonprofit .org domains.
Analytics Setup: As an added value, we implemented Google Analytics 4 (GA4), enabling the library to track engagement, measure community impact, and support grant reporting with concrete data.
In the first reporting window (May 15–June 11 compared to April 17–May 13), NCPL saw promising early performance gains:
Engaged sessions: Up 15% (6,058 vs. 5,273)
Engagement time: Up 24%
Pages per visit: Up 21% (averaging 4.79 pages per active user)
Homepage reliance: Dropped from 71% to 61%, showing improved SEO and users finding the information they need directly.
Conversions: With event tracking in place, the site now shows a 0.28% conversion rate, and staff are reliably receiving patron inquiries and notifications.
The result is a website that not only functions beautifully today but is positioned to grow with the library—delivering accessibility, usability, and measurable community impact.
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