User Experience and Library Websites

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18 This is the series to acquire and share in any institution over the next year. I think of it as a cost-effective way to attend the equivalent of ten excellent technology management courses led by a dream faculty! TECH SET® #11–20 will help librarians stay relevant, thrive, and survive. It is a must-read for all library leaders and planners.

”

— Stephen Abram, MLS, Vice President, Strategic Relations and Markets, Cengage Learning

Find out more about each topic in THE TECH SET® VOLUMES 11–20 and preview the Tables of Contents online at www.alatechsource.org/techset/. 11. Cloud Computing for Libraries, by Marshall Breeding 12. Building Mobile Library Applications, by Jason A. Clark 13. Location-Aware Services and QR Codes for Libraries, by Joe Murphy 14. Drupal in Libraries, by Kenneth J. Varnum 15. Strategic Planning for Social Media in Libraries, by Sarah K. Steiner

16. Next-Gen Library Redesign, by Michael Lascarides 17. Screencasting for Libraries, by Greg R. Notess 18. User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries, by Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches 19. IM and SMS Reference Services for Libraries, by Amanda Bielskas and Kathleen M. Dreyer 20. Semantic Web Technologies and Social Searching for Librarians, by Robin M. Fay and Michael P. Sauers

Each multimedia title features a book, a companion website, and a podcast to fully cover the topic and then keep you up-to-date.

American Library Association 50 E. Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 1 (866) SHOPALA (866) 746-7252

User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries

User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries is part of THE TECH SET® VOLUMES 11–20, a series of concise guides edited by Ellyssa Kroski and offering practical instruction from the field’s hottest tech gurus. Each title in the series is a one-stop passport to an emerging technology. If you’re ready to start creating, collaborating, connecting, and communicating through cutting-edge tools and techniques, you’ll want to get primed by all the books in THE TECH SET®. New tech skills for you spell new services for your patrons: • Learn the latest, cutting-edge technologies. • Plan new library services for these popular applications. • Navigate the social mechanics involved with gaining buy-in for these forward-thinking initiatives. • Utilize the social marketing techniques used by info pros. • Assess the benefits of these new technologies to maintain your success. • Follow best practices already established by innovators and libraries using these technologies.

Schmidt / Etches

“

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

THE TECH SET Ellyssa Kroski, Series Editor


Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches www.neal-schuman.com LIBRARY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION

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11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


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User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches

AL A TechSource An imprint of the American Library Association Chicago

2012

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© 2012 by the American Library Association. Any claim of copyright is subject to applicable limitations and exceptions, such as rights of fair use and library copying pursuant to Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. No copyright is claimed for content in the public domain, such as works of the U.S. government. Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schmidt, Aaron, 1978– User experience (UX) design for libraries / Aaron Schmidt, Amanda Etches. p. cm. -— (The tech set ; #18) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55570-781-1 (alk. paper) 1. Library Web sites—Design. 2. User-centered system design. I. Etches, Amanda, 1975– II. Title. Z674.75.W67S43 2012 006.701'9—dc23 2012007200 This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). www.neal-schuman.com


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CONTENTS Foreword by Ellyssa Kroski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vii

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xi

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

2. Types of Solutions Available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

3. Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

4. Social Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

5. Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

6. Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

7. Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79

8. Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

89

9. Developing Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

95

Recommended Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Don’t miss this book’s companion website! Turn the page for details. www.neal-schuman.com

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THE TECH SET® Volumes 11–20 is more than just the book you’re holding! These 10 titles, along with the 10 titles that preceded them, in THE TECH SET® series feature three components: 1. This book 2. Companion web content that provides more details on the topic and keeps you current 3. Author podcasts that will extend your knowledge and give you insight into the author’s experience The companion webpages and podcasts can be found at: www.alatechsource.org/techset/ On the website, you’ll go far beyond the printed pages you’re holding and: Access author updates that are packed with new advice and recommended resources ! Use the website comments section to interact, ask questions, and share advice with the authors and your LIS peers ! Hear these pros in screencasts, podcasts, and other videos providing great instruction on getting the most out of the latest library technologies !

For more information on THE TECH SET® series and the individual titles, visit www.neal-schuman.com/techset-11-to-20.



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PREFACE By picking up User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries you have already acknowledged the importance of improving your library’s website. We couldn’t be happier! As user experience (UX) designers, we firmly believe that making all your web design and functionality decisions with the user as your primary focus will result in a better design, a more intuitive interface, and a more enjoyable experience for your users. User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries shows you how to get there by providing hands-on, practical steps, tips, advice, and best practices for using UX design principles, practices, and tools to engage your users online and build the best, most user-centered web presence for your library. ! ORGANIZATION

AND AUDIENCE

This concise guide in nine chapters covers everything you need to jump in to using UX practices to improve your library’s website. In Chapter 1, we introduce you to the field of UX design, why it’s important, and what we think library websites should do. We also deal with some central tenets that guide our thinking on library website design. In Chapter 2, we get into the types of solutions available, including hardware and software options for UX designers. In this chapter, we also introduce the UX design techniques that we will explore in greater detail in Chapter 5. Chapter 3 deals with planning for web projects, starting with the important issue of whether you should redesign your website at all (as opposed to iteratively designing it), as well as how to perform a needs assessment of your website. Chapter 4 is all about social mechanics—you will learn about the roles and responsibilities of a web team and how to get buy-in for your web projects from everyone from library administration to your www.neal-schuman.com

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systems department, the rest of your staff, and, most importantly, your community. Chapter 5 is about implementation. This is where we delve into the details about how to conduct a usability test, how to perform a card sort, how to develop personas to inform your web design decisions, how to perform a heuristic evaluation of your website, and how to write a content strategy. In Chapter 6, we get into marketing, starting with some ideas around how thinking about your library website as a “virtual branch” can help you with your marketing efforts. This chapter also covers traditional marketing opportunities, search engine optimization, social media marketing, how to communicate and market your website redesign (which is arguably one of the biggest web projects that you’ll undertake!), some ideas to promote transparency in your web development activities, and, finally, how to market internally. In Chapter 7, we discuss some best practices that we have observed in library web design and highlight some of our favorite library websites that are doing things specifically well in the areas of search, navigation, authenticity, orientation, the mobile web, visual design, community engagement, and web writing. Chapter 8 gets into the difficult topic of usability and user experience metrics, and we discuss the utility of tools such as website analytics, A/B tests, surveys, and five-second tests. Chapter 9 rounds out the discussion with some commentary on what we see as developing trends in library website design, specifically around discovery and access to library resources and the issues around developing websites that are optimized for mobile devices. In the final section, Recommended Reading, we leave you with an annotated list of some of our favorite print and web resources for UX design. We’ll be the first to acknowledge that there are literally hundreds of books out there on UX design. So, we are both thrilled and humbled that you chose User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries. We think you made the right decision because our experience as librarians and UX designers gives us a unique perspective on the needs of libraries, librarians, and, most important, library users. We’ve tried to distill this perspective in a way that can help you go out there and build better experiences for your library’s users. We hope you find it useful.


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INTRODUCTION What Is User Experience (UX) for the Web and Why Is It Important? ! Why Should Libraries Care about UX? ! The Larger Scope of UX and How It Relates to Web UX ! What a Library Website Should Do ! The Catalog Problem ! Central Tenets !

! WHAT

IS USER EXPERIENCE (UX) FOR THE WEB AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

User experience for the web is all about how users feel when interacting with a website or interface. As you might imagine, web UX is a small subset of a larger discipline that deals with how users feel about interacting with anything: a system, product, service, or space. For the purposes of this book, when we talk about UX, we’re really referring to web UX, which, as a discipline, is a coming together of the fields of information architecture, interaction design, interface design, and usability. However, at the heart of it, UX is so much more. If you have ever experienced sheer delight when using a website that is simple, easy, understands what you are trying to accomplish, and helps you get there, then you know that a good user experience is also about how a well-designed website makes you feel (important, delighted, competent, and any number of other positive adjectives). At the same time, if you’ve had the misfortune of using a website that is confusing, one that puts up roadblocks at every turn and doesn’t help you accomplish what you set out to, you know that a bad user experience is also about how a poorly designed website makes you feel (frustrated, annoyed, incompetent, and many other negative adjectives)! www.neal-schuman.com

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This is exactly why UX matters. It’s not difficult to come up with a clean, streamlined information architecture for your site; it’s also fairly easy to work through all the interactions on a site to create a functional interaction design; and, as you will see, usability testing your site isn’t rocket science—it takes some time and planning, but it’s a fairly straightforward pursuit. But all of these practices rolled up together is what ensures that positive experience for your users. ! WHY

SHOULD LIBRARIES CARE ABOUT UX?

You’ve already made it to Chapter 1, so we’re guessing you don’t need a lot of convincing about why libraries should care about UX. However, we feel it’s important to reiterate that the principles of good web UX should matter a great deal to libraries, because we are already fighting an uphill battle when it comes to our users’ attention. Content and information are no longer scarce commodities that require the mediation of the library—thanks to the web, both are plentiful, which has changed the value proposition of libraries. As we continue to retool to respond to the changes in the information marketplace and meet the needs of our users, it is more imperative than ever that we are attentive to our web presences, providing online experiences that are simple, intuitive, and delightful. ! THE

LARGER SCOPE OF UX AND HOW IT RELATES TO WEB UX

As we mentioned previously, the website designs and interfaces you expose your users to are only part of the whole user experience picture. Ideally, all of your library’s touch points—the places where your users come into contact with your library—will be aligned and well designed. This means that creating a holistic and positive user experience includes designing great print materials, signs, customer service, facilities, reference work flows, programs, collections, and services. This might seem daunting. It is indeed a lot of work and sometimes difficult. But it is crucial for the success of your library. The experience you try to facilitate through your website is an important component of the total user experience you provide. It is often the first touch point with which people come into contact. Patrons use it frequently as the gateway to your catalog and other online resources and services. It is also a challenging piece of the UX puzzle. While you likely have different physical spaces for different www.neal-schuman.com

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types of library users, creating distinct digital spaces isn’t necessarily desirable. However, with adequate user research you can create a website that will meet the needs of your most important audiences. ! WHAT

A LIBRARY WEBSITE SHOULD DO

Most website behavior is task oriented: people have an information need or need to accomplish something and they use the web as a tool to meet that need. There are a few websites that people browse for fun and entertainment, but your library’s website probably isn’t one of them. Library websites should differ as much as the communities they serve differ. Conversely, library websites will share many characteristics because of the similarities of people everywhere. Libraries’ responses to these similarities should make up the basic functionality of every library website—things like library hours, locations, services, loan period information and catalog searching should be included. Getting these basic things right—something that few libraries do—is the first step to creating interesting and thriving library websites. It doesn’t make sense to build on a shaky foundation, but many libraries do because it is relatively easy. As additional functionality gets tacked on, websites quickly become complicated, and information that patrons want becomes increasingly difficult to find. This book encourages you to get the basics right first before you consider taking your website to the next level. ! THE

CATALOG PROBLEM

Your website is not as important as your catalog. This is a fact. We’ve asked many nonlibrarians about what they do on library websites, and the usual response is “Place reserves on books.” This is subtly different from how we think of our websites and catalogs (i.e., as distinct things). So, either our users see the two as the same thing, or they ignore our websites and just use our catalogs. Looking at website analytics suggests the latter. The primacy of the catalog is understandable and unfortunate. It is understandable because people want to accomplish things by using websites. In the case of libraries, the number one critical task is access to content. For public libraries this means books, movies, and music. For academic libraries, add in journal articles. It is unfortunate, because we have very little control over the visual and interaction www.neal-schuman.com

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design of our catalogs. This is worth repeating: we have very little control over the look and behavior of the number one thing people want to do on our websites. The solution to this problem isn’t within the scope of this book, but it is a problem that we want to acknowledge. Having well-designed library websites will get us only so far. To provide the ability to find library items, some libraries will still subject their users to an interface that is not only different from the rest of their website but also one that is poor. This lack of control over the catalog is the number one problem for library websites. ! CENTRAL

TENETS

The techniques in this book will help you create a user-centered website. Here are some things we believe about library websites that inform our designs and will help you create the better websites.

Less Is Less (and That’s a Good Thing) Your goal is to make your library’s site as small as it can be while still meeting the needs of your users. This will result in patrons finding stuff with greater ease and less ongoing maintenance for your web team.

Patrons Don’t Read Library Websites, They Scan Them Nothing against your library website, really. People don’t do much reading on the web period. Instead, people hope to learn bits of knowledge or accomplish tasks. Knowing this fact should impact the way we write for library websites. Information should be presented in easy-to-skim chunks.

Good UX for One Is Good UX for All Accessibility is an extremely important issue for websites. So much so that web accessibility is often legally mandated for public organizations (depending on what country/state/province you’re in), and, because most libraries are public organizations, compliance with web accessibility guidelines is a pressing matter for most of us. While this book does not specifically aim to make your website compliant with whatever accessibility legislation you operate under, we believe that adhering to web accessibility standards is not a limitation but an opportunity. Much like universal design is all about improving design and usability www.neal-schuman.com

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to the benefit of everyone, making your website accessible will improve the experience of your site for all your users, not just the ones who use adaptive technology for their browsing needs.

A Library Website Isn’t a Portal to the Web With near ubiquitous and constant web connectivity via computers and mobile devices, the entire notion of a starting place on the web is a bit dated. Even if it wasn’t, patrons wouldn’t start their web experiences on your library’s website. They don’t visit your library’s site for links to their e-mail or to find out the weather or to find search engines. If your site has them, remove these extraneous bits.

Library Websites Are for Library Users, Not Librarians Sometimes portions of library websites are designed for librarians to use on the job. When librarians are accustomed to using the library website daily it can be difficult to redesign the site for patrons. If you face resistance when removing librarian-centered content from your website, put the content in question on your staff intranet. If you don’t already have one, consider creating one. You can adapt the techniques in this book to design a website for library staff, too.

When in Doubt, Leave It Out You should be able to strongly articulate reasons for including every single thing that’s on your library’s site. If you’re not sure why something is on your site and can’t find a reason, remove it. The same thing goes for content that is considered “nice to have” on the site. Everything on the site should be essential. If it is not essential, it shouldn’t be there.


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INDEX Page numbers followed by the letter “f” indicate figures.

A

A/B testing analyzing, 44–45 change and, 91 decision making, 28–29 instruction for testers, 43 metrics, 90–91 sorting, 42–44 See also Card sorting Accessibility, 65 Accuracy, 64 Acorn, 10 Administrator, web, 24 Adobe, 10 Amazon.com, 16–17 Analytics, 89–93 See also Metrics Analyzing card sort data, 44–45 companion website, 44, 56 content audit, 61–67 research, 47–48 statistics, 32, 37 website usefulness, 62–64, 89–93 worksheet, 44–45 Apple.com, 16 Assessing user needs, 20–22 website, 61–65 Audio file, 61 recording, 36

Audit analyzing, 65–67 conducting, 61–65 content, 12–13, 61–65, 61f Web Content Leads, 25, 70

B Basecamp, 11 Best practices authenticity, 80, 83 clarity, 87, 88f community engagement, 87, 87f mobile web, 84–85, 84f navigation, 80, 81f, 82f orientation, 83, 85, 83f, 84f search engine optimization (SEO), 74–76, 79, 80f usability, 35–37 visual design, 85, 85f, 86f BiblioCommons, 79, 95 Blogs, 27, 76–77 Bloomstein, Margot, 60 Brainstorming, 20, 32, 38, 45, 48, 51–56, 90 Branding, 21–22, 76, 93 Breadcrumbs, 58 BrowserLab, 10 Browsers, 10, 74, 90 Buy-in, 25–28

C Camtasia, 11, 37


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104 " User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries Captivate, 37 Card sorting analyzing, 44–45 closed, 41 defined, 41 design, 24 instructions, sample, 43–44 needs, determining, 21 opened, 41 performing, 39–44 recruiting, 41–42 steps, 42–44 test, 11–12 usability, 44–45 worksheet, 44–45 Catalog (OPAC) gateway, 2–3 homepage, 58 integrated, 79, 80f, 95–96 integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 interface and, 3–4, 8, 95–96 problem, 3–4, 95 searching, 79, 80f visual design, 95–96 Cataloging, content audit, 61–65, 61f Change, 2, 16–19, 22, 28–29, 38–40, 75, 77–78, 91 Chunking, 87 Clip art, 59 Clueapp.com, 93 CMS. See Content management system (CMS) Community, 27–28 engagement, 87, 87f Composite character sketches. See Persona Computers and peripherals, 7–8 Content approvers, 25, 70 change testing, 39–44 creator, 25, 62, 66, 69–70 editor, 25, 69–70 images, 4, 10, 58–59, 58f inaccurate, 65–66 information architecture, 1–2, 40–41, 66–67 leads, 24–25, 69–71 life cycle, 67–68, 68f popular and unpopular, 65–66

publishers, 25, 70 requesters, 25, 69 reviewing, 59, 65 roles, 68–71 strategy, 60–61 team, 23–25 triangle of needs, 19f unused and unnecessary, 65–66 work flow arrangement, 67–70 writing, 59–60, 64 Content audit accuracy, 64 analyzing, 66–67 cataloging, 61–62 conducting, 61–65, 61f links, 64 measuring, 62–65 usefulness, 12–13, 63–64 user-friendly, 64–65 Content Editors, 25, 69–70 Content management system (CMS), 74–75 Content Publishers, 25, 70 Conversion rate, 89 Creator, 25, 62, 66, 69–70

D D.H. Hill Library (NC State), 83, 84f Darien (CT) Public Library, 79, 80f Databases, 21, 33, 91 Debrief, 17, 38–40, 43 Decision making, 29–30 Design lead, 24 Designing positive user experience, 1–3 See also Website design Destination, 46, 73–75 Development lead, 24 web, 23–25, 36, 39, 49, 95–96 Discovery layer overlays, 95–96 District of Columbia Public Library, 87, 88f Drupal, 74

E E-book format, 96 Editing, 10


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Index EDS, 95 Evaluations analyzing, 65–67 content audit, 61–65, 61f heuristic, 56, 60 life cycle, content, 67–68, 68f usefulness to library, 62–64 of website, 56–60 See also Surveys; Testing Events calendar, 90 Evergreen King County (WA) Library System, 96 Evolving websites, 16 Excel, 65

F Facebook, 16–17, 75 Facilitator, 35–37, 42–43 Feedback, 7, 20, 27, 32, 36, 58 Firefox, 10 Five-second test, 8, 93 Flickr, 48 Flip charts, 38 Focus groups, 20–21, 36 Friends of the Library, 28, 34, 37

G Guerrillas in the library, 39 Gimp.com, 10 Goals, 17 Google, 16–17, 29, 74 Google Analytics, 62, 90–91 Google Website Optimizer, 91 GroupFinder, 83

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visual design, 56–57, 57f writing, 59 Homepage, 16, 58, 79, 93 HTML, 59

I Icon, 37, 93 iGooMap, 61 Illustrator, 10 ILS. See Integrated library system (ILS) Images, 10, 16, 75, 85, 93 visual design, 56–59, 57f, 58f, 61 Implementation. See Methods and practices Infomaki, 8 Information architecture, 1–2 website, 40–41, 66–67 Instructions for testing, 39–44 Integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 Interactive design, 1–3, 15, 17–19, 24, 96 Interface, 8, 10–11, 16, 31, 36, 38, 40 integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 website and, 1–2, 4 Internet Explorer, 10 Interviews, user, 20–21, 24, 46–50 iStockphoto.com, 48 IT department, 26–27

J JavaScript, 91 Jing, 11 Joomla, 74 Journal articles, 95

H

K

Hardware, 7–8 Harvard College Library, 85, 86f Harvard Library Innovation Laboratory, 77 Header hierarchies, 75 Hennepin County (MN) Library BookSpace, 87, 87f Heuristic evaluation, 56, 60 examples, 59–60 images, 58–59, 58f navigation, 57–58 reviewing content, 59

King County (WA) Library System, 96

L Library administration, 24, 26 change, 2, 16–19, 22, 28–29, 38–40, 75, 77–78, 91 Friends group, 28, 34, 37 IT systems department, 26–27 mission statement, 19 needs, 18–22 organizational capacity, 21–22


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106 " User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries Library (cont’d.) strategic plan, 20, 22, 70 triangle of needs, 19f Library website catalog interface, 3–4, 95–96 change and, 16–19, 22, 28–29, 38–40, 75 characteristics of, 3 design, 1–2 evolving, 16 importance, 2 information architecture, 1–2, 40–41, 66–67 library use and, 2–3, 18, 62–63 linking, 75 mobile website, 76, 84–85 navigation, 80, 81f–82f orientation, 83, 85, 83f–84f redesign, 15–16, 39–44 retooling, 2 reviewing content, 59 tenets, 4–5 touch point, 2–3 usability, 1–2, 4–5 usefulness analyzed, 62–64, 89–93 viability, webpages, 74–75 Life cycle, content, 67–68, 68f Linking, 5, 9, 60, 64, 75 Logo, 93 LovelyCharts.com, 9

M Marketing blogging, 76–77 changes, 75, 77–78 content management system (CMS), 74–75 destination, 46, 73–75 internal, 77–78 libraries and, 2 linking, 75 redesign, website, 39–44, 75 search engine optimization (SEO), 74–76, 79 social media, 75–76 traditional, 74 transparent practices, 77 virtual branch, 73–74, 77

Meta tags, 75 Methods and practices analyzing audit, 65–67 audit, 61–55 brainstorming, 20, 32, 38, 45, 48, 51–56, 90 card sort, 11, 40–45 content audit, 12–13, 61–65, 61f content strategy, 60–61 creator, 62, 66, 69–70 debrief, 38–40 facilitator, 35–37, 42–43 heuristic evaluation, 56–57, 60 ideas, 51–53 interviews, users, 20–21, 46–47 life cycle, content, 67–68, 68f navigation, 57–58 parameters, 29, 33–34 responsibility, 62 search engine optimization (SEO), 74–76, 79 statistics, 32, 37 usability test, 18, 31–35 usefulness, 62–64, 89–93 user-friendly, 64–65 visual design, 56–57, 57f, 58f work flow, 67–71 See also Persona; Testing Metrics A/B tests, 28–29, 90–91 analytics, 89–90 content audit, 62–65 five-second tests, 93 Google Analytics, 62, 90–91 library needs, 19–22 surveys, 91–93 tips, 92 user experience, 89–90 Miami University Libraries, 79, 81f Microphone, 8, 35 Mission, 18–20 Mission statement, 19 Mobile website creating, 76, 84–85, 96–97 Ryerson University Library and Archives (Toronto), 85, 85f Skokie (IL) Public Library, 84, 84f usability test, 96–97


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Index Mockingbird, 9 Mocksup.com, 9–11 Mockups, 9–10 Morae, 8

N Navigation, 57–58 Needs assessment card sorting, 21 catalog and, 3–4 focus groups, 20 interviews, 20–21, 46–47 organizational capacity, 21–22 performing, 18–22 statistics, 32 surveys, 20–21, 91–93 triangle of needs, 19f Netflix, 16 Nestlé’s Global Corporate Website Orienting Users, 58f New York Public Library, 80, 82f North Carolina State University Library D.H. Hill Library, 83, 84f Notes from the Redesign Team, 76 Notess, Greg R., 11 Numbers, 61

O Oakville Public Library (Ontario), 79, 81f Ohio State University Library Labs, 77 OmniGraffle.com, 9 OPAC customizing, 95 integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 searching, 79 See also Catalog (OPAC) Open source, 96 Operating system, 7, 26–27, 90 OptimalSort, 11 Organizational capacity, 21–22 Orientation, 80 Overlays, 95

P

Paper Prototyping (Snyder), 40 Parameters, 29 tester, 33–34

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Patrons needs, 57–59, 95–96 surveying, 32, 39–40, 46 website use, 2–4, 63–66, 79, 89–93 PDF, 59, 61 Penn Library (labs.library), 77 Persona brainstorming, 51–56 creating, 31, 45–46 defined, 45 design, 50–51 development, 46–50 document, 12, 48–51, 51f, 52f goals, 49–50 how to use, 51–54 ideas, 51–53 interviews, 46–47 overview, 51–54, 51f, 52f planning, 53 photograph, 48, 51f questions about, 54–56 shoestring budget, 47–48 use of, 45–46, 51–52, 63–64 user research, 46–51 Personnel, 21 Pixelmator.com, 10 Planning brainstorming, 20, 32, 38, 45, 48, 51–56, 90 change and, 2, 16–19, 22, 28–29, 38–40 interactive design, 1–3, 15, 17–19, 24, 96 needs assessment,18–22, 19f organizational capacity, 21–22 purpose of, 22 redesign, 15–16 transition, 17–18 See also Persona; Project management Photoshop, 10, 40 Platforms, 10, 96 Project management A/B tests, 28–29, 43–45 administrator, web, 24 blog, 27 buy-in, 25–28 capacity, organizational, 21–22 card sorting, 11–12, 21, 41–42


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108 " User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries Project management (cont’d.) community, 27–28 consultation, 28–29 content, 24–25, 58–62 design, 24 development, 24 IT department, 26–27 library administration, 26 mission and vision statement, 19 needs assessment, 18–21, 19f personas, 12 progress, 28–29 roles and responsibility, 23–25 software, 11–12 staff, 27 stakeholder, 25–26 surveys, 12 systems, 26–27 techniques, 11–12 users, 29 web team, 23–25

R Redesign, website A/B test, 90–91 library users and, 5, 22 marketing, 75–77 planning, 15–18 testing for, 39–44 transition, 17–18 Research analyzed, 46–48 methods, 92 personas, 45, 53, 55 techniques, 11–12, 53 User Research Team, 70 User Researcher, 3, 24, 26–27, 75, 77 Responsibility, 62 Retooling, 2 Ryerson University Library and Archives (Toronto), 85, 85f

S Safari, 10 Salt Lake City (UT) Public Library, 85, 86f San José (CA) Public Library, 83, 83f Scenarios, 32–33 Scope of website, 12–13

Screen recording, 37 Screencasting, 10–11, 37, 76 Screencasting in Libraries (Notess), 11 ScreenFlow 2, 11 Script writing, 35–36 Search engine optimization (SEO), 74–75, 79 Search engines, 5, 74–75 Searching, 95 Silverback, 8 Skitch.com, 10 Skokie (IL) Public Library, 84, 84f Snyder, Carolyn, 40 Social mechanics. See Project management Social media, 75 blog, 27, 76–77 Software project management, 11–12 screen recording, 37 usability testing, 8–9 wireframes and mockups, 9–11, 40, 93 Solutions and tools. See Website design SOPAC, 95 Sorting. See Card sorting South by Southwest (SXSW), 60 Staff intranet, 5 Stakeholders, 25–26 Statistics, web, 32, 37 See also Analyzing Strategic plan, 22 Summon, 95 SurveyMonkey, 12, 92 Surveys A/B tests, 28–29, 90–91 analytics, 89–90 five-second tests, 93 offering, 91–92 staff, 19 SurveyMonkey, 12, 92 tips, 92 use, 12, 91 users and, 20–21, 91–93 Systems department, 26–27

T Target audience. See Persona Technology, 21, 53, 77


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Index Template for visual design, 56–57, 57f Tenets, 4–5 Testing best practices, 35–38 card sort, 40–45 debrief, 38–40 facilitator, 35–37, 42–43 instructions, 43 observers, 37 parameters, 33–34 recording, 36–37 scenarios, 32–33 site, 39–40 software usability, 8–9 testers, 34–36 usability, 31–32, 39–41 website usability, 29 Topeka and Shawnee County (KS) Public Library, 80, 82f Touch point for library user, 2–3 Transition, easing, 17–18 Transparent practices, 27–28, 77 Trends in access to library resources, 95–96 integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 layer overlays, 95–96 mobile website, 96–97 open source, 96 overlays, 95–96 Trial run, 17 Triangle of needs, 19f Tweets, 75

U University of Windsor Library, Leddy By Design, 76 Updating website, 25, 62, 65, 67, 69–70 URL, 61, 74–75 marketing, 74 Usability A/B testing, 29 best practices, 35–37 card sorting data, 44–45 catalog and, 3–4 conducting tests, 31–33 debrief, 38–40 design, 24

!

109

five-second test, 93 marketing, 76 mobile website, 96–97 parameters, tester, 33–34 recruiting testers, 34–35 reviewing content, 59 search engine optimization (SEO), 74–76, 79 social media testing, 75–77 software, 8–9, 12 testing, 7–9, 12, 26, 39–43, 76 user experience (UX), 1–2, 4–5 website and, 2, 18, 62–63 Usabilla.com, 9 User experience (UX) library website analytics, 89–93 blog, 27, 76–77 catalog interface, 3–4, 95–96 change, 16–19, 22, 28–29, 38–40, 75, 77–78, 91 characteristics of, 3 defined, 1–2 design, 1–2, 19f, 24 friendly, 64–65 importance, 1–2 integrated experience, 96–96 measuring, 89–93 mobile, 96–97 open source, 96 positive experience, 2–3 relationship to library use, 2–3 retooling, 2 tenets, 4–5 touch point, 2–3 usability, 1–4, 18, 62–63 User interviews, 20–21, 24, 46–50 User Research Team, 70 User Researcher, 24 Userfly.com, 9 UX. See User experience (UX) library website

V Vancouver Public Library (British Columbia), 80, 83f Vanderbilt University Library, 77 Test Pilot, 77 Viability, webpages, 74–75


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110 " User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries Video audit, 61, 63 camera, 8 file, 61 recording, 25, 36–37, 69 testing, 9 Virtual branch, 73–74, 77 Vision, 18–20 Vision statement, 19 Visual design, 56–57, 57f, 58f, 66, 85, 85f, 86f, 95 Visually simple, 85, 85f, 86f VuFind, 95

W Web administrator, 24 Web Content Leads, 24–25, 70–71 Web projects planning. See Planning; Project management Web team. See Project management Web Team Leads, 70 Web writing, 59, 64 Webcam, 8, 37 Website, companion, 44, 56 Website design browsers, 10, 74, 90 card sorting, 11–12, 21, 41–42 clarity, 87, 88f content audit,12–13, 61–65, 61f database, 21, 33, 91 designer, 24 five-second test, 93 hardware, 7–8 image creation and editing, 4, 10, 58f information architecture, 1–2, 40–41, 66–67 integrated library system (ILS), 95–96 interactive, 1–3, 15, 17–19, 24, 96

interface, 8, 10–11, 16, 31, 36, 38, 40 interviews, user, 20–21, 24, 46–50 linking, 75 mission of, 18–20 mobile, 85, 96–97 persona, 12, 45–50 project management, 11–12, 24 purpose of, 22 scope, 12–13 screencasting, 10–11 software, 8–9 solutions, 18–22 surveys, 12 team, 23–25 techniques, 11–12 tips, 92 triangle of needs, 19f updating, 25, 62, 65, 67, 69–70 users, 5, 31 viability on webpages, 74–75 visual, 56–57, 57f, 58f, 66, 85, 85f, 86f, 95 wireframes and mockups, 9–11, 40, 93 See also Planning; Project management Website redesign A/B test, 90–91 library users and, 5, 22 marketing, 75–77 planning, 15–18 testing for, 39–44 WebSort.net, 11 Whiteboards, 38 Wireframes and mockups, 9–11, 40, 93 WordPress, 74 Work flow, 67–71 Worksheet, 44–45 Writing, 59–60, 64


TS 18 FullCover 4/12/12 2:20 PM Page 1

18 This is the series to acquire and share in any institution over the next year. I think of it as a cost-effective way to attend the equivalent of ten excellent technology management courses led by a dream faculty! TECH SET® #11–20 will help librarians stay relevant, thrive, and survive. It is a must-read for all library leaders and planners.

”

— Stephen Abram, MLS, Vice President, Strategic Relations and Markets, Cengage Learning

Find out more about each topic in THE TECH SET® VOLUMES 11–20 and preview the Tables of Contents online at www.alatechsource.org/techset/. 11. Cloud Computing for Libraries, by Marshall Breeding 12. Building Mobile Library Applications, by Jason A. Clark 13. Location-Aware Services and QR Codes for Libraries, by Joe Murphy 14. Drupal in Libraries, by Kenneth J. Varnum 15. Strategic Planning for Social Media in Libraries, by Sarah K. Steiner

16. Next-Gen Library Redesign, by Michael Lascarides 17. Screencasting for Libraries, by Greg R. Notess 18. User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries, by Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches 19. IM and SMS Reference Services for Libraries, by Amanda Bielskas and Kathleen M. Dreyer 20. Semantic Web Technologies and Social Searching for Librarians, by Robin M. Fay and Michael P. Sauers

Each multimedia title features a book, a companion website, and a podcast to fully cover the topic and then keep you up-to-date.



Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches

American Library Association 50 E. Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 1 (866) SHOPALA (866) 746-7252


User Experience (UX) Design for Libraries is part of THE TECH SET® VOLUMES 11–20, a series of concise guides edited by Ellyssa Kroski and offering practical instruction from the field’s hottest tech gurus. Each title in the series is a one-stop passport to an emerging technology. If you’re ready to start creating, collaborating, connecting, and communicating through cutting-edge tools and techniques, you’ll want to get primed by all the books in THE TECH SET®. New tech skills for you spell new services for your patrons: • Learn the latest, cutting-edge technologies. • Plan new library services for these popular applications. • Navigate the social mechanics involved with gaining buy-in for these forward-thinking initiatives. • Utilize the social marketing techniques used by info pros. • Assess the benefits of these new technologies to maintain your success. • Follow best practices already established by innovators and libraries using these technologies.

Schmidt / Etches

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11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


LIBRARY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION

User Experience and Library Websites

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