Before a Plinkit site can be created and configured for your library, you must enter into a Partnership Agreement with the state or regional system library that will host and administer the site. The Partnership Agreement outlines the responsibilities of both the state or regional system library and your library with regard to configuring and maintaining your Plinkit site and contributing to further Plinkit development.

Your state or regional system Plinkit Administrator will review the Partnership Agreement with you as part of a site configuration process. As another part of this process, you will provide the Plinkit Administrator with some basic information and at least one image file, as described below.

Providing Graphics for the Library Logo Area

One of the most important things you will need to do to customize your library’s Plinkit Web site is to provide an attractive graphic that will appear at the top of all of the pages in your site.

The area at the top of each page of your site should, at a minimum, display your library name. We recommend also including in this area a logo or image associated with your library or community. Here is a sample design for the library name and logo area:

When you are designing the image for the top of your pages, keep in mind that a tall graphic will “push” the rest of the Plinkit page content down, which may result in your users having to scroll more to view the information in the main area of your site pages. Notice the height of the library name and logo area in the following example, compared to that in the previous example.

The following guidelines will help you design your library name and logo area:

•       The recommended maximum height for your graphic is 125 pixels.

•       The recommended maximum width for your graphic is 575 pixels.

•       The background of the library name and logo area can either contain an image or be transparent.

You will be asked to provide your library logo or graphic to your Plinkit Administrator, who will upload it and configure the library name and logo area for you during the site configuration process.

Planning Contact Us Web Forms

The About Us section of your site can contain pages that function as e-mail forms. These forms provide a convenient way for your patrons to e-mail questions, suggestions, or requests to the correct library staff person, all without leaving your library’s Web site.

When your Plinkit site is initially set up, the Contact Us page will contain several e-mail form links for common patron activities, as shown below.

A sample e-mail form (the one associated with the Ask your librarian a question link) is shown below:

This is a sample Web form. When the user clicks submit, the information entered in the form is sent to an e-mail address that you have specified during the site configuration process. Your Plinkit Administrator can create custom forms to meet your needs. These forms can include required fields (indicated with a red box next to the field name), fields that initially contain default values (such as the Country field above), either/or questions for which a user can select only one option (like the Are you a student? question above), and free-form fields (such as the Your Question text box above).

Although we do not recommend that Plinkit Editors attempt to configure or edit e-mail forms, your Plinkit Administrator can create and customize forms for your site, according to your specifications.

During the site configuration process, you will be asked to specify:

1.     Which of the default Contact Us links and e-mail forms you would like to have included in your site.

2.     What changes, if any, are necessary to the forms.

3.     Whether other forms would be useful and, if so, what the required and optional fields on such forms should be.

4.     To whom the information submitted on each form should be sent. (For instance, purchasing requests might go to purchase@yourlibrary.org, while general questions are sent to info@yourlibrary.org.)