Customizing Your Library’s StackMap

We often speak with librarians who ask us about customizing StackMap for the needs of their particular patrons or library. “Can we change how this looks?” or “Can we change how this works?” The answer is yes! We spoke with Sarah Slack, the Electronic Resources Manager at St. Charles Public Library in St. Charles, Illinois, about her experience requesting changes for her library’s StackMap instance to suit the unique needs of her patrons as she learned more about how she and they were using the product.

“There have been several tweaks and changes we've made over the life of our map.

In the original view, the whole range of books on each shelf was listed. Patrons would come up to the desk with call numbers like ‘FIC A - FIC ZZZ’ or looking for ‘Range S7.’ Troubleshooting inaccurate call numbers was easier for me when I could see at a glance if the range for the shelf was correct and formatted correctly.

Having the entire range listed exposed why an item might be showing up in the wrong place.

But it made sense to simplify the map display to suit our patron’s needs.

Now the display is simpler and shows patrons only what they need to know in order to find their item.

We also condensed the wording that explained to patrons where to find the shelf their item was located on. We found that having the two key pieces of information separated by the call number was confusing to some people.

A more recent change was the color of the icons for our Emergency Exits, because they were the same color as the red indicators for where items are located.”                

- Sarah Slack, St. Charles Library, IL  

Commonly Asked Questions on StackMap Customization:

How can I request changes to the appearance of my StackMap integration?

Just send us an email at support@stackmap.com. Integration changes are simple to execute on our end, and getting your StackMap to look the way you want is our highest priority.

I’ve been using StackMap for a while, is it too late to customize my implementation?

Never! We can tailor the maps at any time. Lots of our customers have requested incremental changes as they discover specific needs of their patron base.

What changes are possible? What changes are not?

We are pretty accommodating people. Try us! Bet we can make it happen.

We’d love to feature your library on the StackMap Blog. Write to feedback@stackmap.com and tell your story.