NLA ClipShare update

NLA media access finished a busy July by launching an upgraded version of ClipShare, our news archive for journalists and librarians – available at www.nla-clipshare.com.

This upgrade included new content (from 17 newspaper websites), new features (dynamic search filtering, today’s front pages on the home screen, grouped versions of articles, and the Reading List), and new design (a complete visual overhaul with simpler navigation).

Usage of ClipShare has grown over the period since the launch, with over 2000 active users in August alone. That’s 11% more than in July, and 13% more than in August 2014.

The number of archive articles accessed through ClipShare also grew to a massive 55,000, a 45% increase over July and a 30% increase over August 2014.

In response to the positive developments and the increased usage, we have received numerous messages and verbal reports from users indicating that the site is now faster, easier to use, and more visually appealing than ever.

However, we are aware that there were some bugs in the version of ClipShare that we launched with. We know that a couple of these caused significant inconvenience to the users who contacted us, and likely impacted others as well. For not detecting these bugs earlier, and for the delays in addressing them, we apologise.

We have released a new version of ClipShare today which addresses several of these bugs as well as other small changes that were needed. The major issues fixed are as follows:

• A cookie conflict, which has caused some users to be unable to log in or to be recurrently logged out of the site
• A drop-down box failure in the PDF viewer, which prevented users from viewing regional and later editions of print content
• Incorrect delivery of saved search alert emails
• Backwards compatibility with OS X Leopard  for 1^st Editions and Browse features

There are a few outstanding bugs for which we have implemented fixes but are continuing to monitor, as we have not yet gathered enough information to be able to confirm that the issues are fixed. These are:

• Intermittent errors in the Browse functionality
• A ‘PDF is null’ error on opening the PDF viewer

If users are still experiencing either of these issues, we urge them to contact PublisherServices@nla.co.uk with details of the date and time they experienced the issue, the URL they were attempting to reach, and their user details.

We hope that the ClipShare user experience will be much smoother following this updated version, but it doesn’t end there. Over the coming months, we intend to continue improving the site with some additional features that have been requested by users.

Our goal is always to ensure that all ClipShare users get the best possible experience with the site. Many thanks to all the users who provided feedback throughout the development and launch process for helping us work towards this goal.