National Consumer Law Center
Bringing the nation’s leading consumer law publications into a modern digital library
For more than 50 years, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) has used its expertise in consumer law and energy policy to advance consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people. Attorneys, legal services organizations, policymakers, and courts across the country rely on NCLC’s Publications program, a collection of industry-standard legal treatises and resources, available online through the NCLC Digital Library.
NCLC’s existing platform had grown through years of custom additions, making it difficult to maintain and confusing for subscribers to navigate. With its underlying software nearing end-of-life, NCLC saw an opportunity to rethink the entire system. NCLC chose Zivtech based on the collaboration it showed during the selection process, investing time up front to understand NCLC’s business challenges and communicate a clear plan for the work ahead.
Simplifying a complex publishing and subscription business
The Digital Library is more than a website. It is NCLC’s publishing platform, subscription business, and storefront in one. The redesign had to serve two audiences equally well: subscribers and visitors who need to research legal content quickly, and NCLC staff who manage content, pricing, files, reporting, and user accounts every day.
Zivtech started with an audit of the existing site, which identified issues across maintainability, staff experience, customer experience, information architecture, and system performance. From there, the team defined what the new platform needed to do. It had to reduce revenue risk and administrative cost by being easier to maintain, extend, and use, while meeting accessibility standards. Subscribers and visitors needed to search, browse, and read content easily on any device, and editors needed simpler tools for their day-to-day work. The platform also had to integrate with the business applications NCLC depends on and deliver a more reliable eCommerce and subscription system, with better financial reporting and tools to attract and retain subscribers.
Connecting content, commerce, and customer data
Zivtech led discovery through stakeholder and user research, competitive analysis, workflow modeling, and information architecture and content strategy. The team then designed and tested an interactive prototype before delivering a complete design system for development. Discovery also included a comparative analysis of eCommerce and hosting options so NCLC could make informed decisions before the build began.
Zivtech rebuilt the Digital Library on Drupal across three coordinated tracks: the content platform, an integration with NCLC’s CRM, and a new eCommerce and subscription system built on Drupal Commerce. A custom React.js bookreader gives subscribers a faster, more intuitive way to read legal treatises online, and an integration with NCLC’s document management system streamlines how publications move from editors to the site. The team also handled large-scale data migration and tested every release for accessibility against Section 508 and WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
As part of planning a new Consumer Law Repository, Zivtech built and contributed two open source Drupal modules that connect to federal legal information sources: GovInfo and the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR). Both are freely available to the Drupal community.
Testimonial from NCLC (2)
Zivtech displayed an amazing amount of investment in the project, dedication, imagination, and expertise, and we were fortunate to have them as our developers.
- Jon Sheldon, Staff Attorney and Publications Lead, National Consumer Law Center
A long-term partnership built for continuous improvement
The new Digital Library gives NCLC a modern, accessible platform that serves its subscribers and simplifies how staff manage content and subscriptions.
Zivtech remains NCLC’s long-term partner for maintenance and support. Through an ongoing retainer, the team keeps the platform secure, fast, and current while continuing to expand the platform to meet NCLC’s evolving business needs. The support work goes well beyond routine updates. Zivtech has carried the Digital Library through major Drupal version upgrades, most recently to Drupal 11. The team partnered with an independent accessibility firm to address the need for an Accessibility Conformance Report for the platform and library content. Zivtech also strengthened access controls for subscriber-only companion materials, extended the eCommerce system to run online stores for partner organizations, and enhanced site search so researchers can find specific citations and regulations faster.
Call to action
Looking to modernize a complex publishing, subscription, or eCommerce platform? Zivtech can help. Contact us at sales@zivtech.com to start your transformation journey.
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