YOU HAVE

WHAT YOU

NEED (TO MAKE YOUR LIBRARY WEBSITE GREAT)

LIS PARDI

@LISPARDI

HI. I’M LIS.

Lis icon by Jay Bellew

TODAY’S TOPICS

• When and how to solicit patron feedback on web

site updates

• How to parse current patron feedback to make

effective changes

• The role hierarchy and organization play in the

experience of your website

• The importance of assessing current site content

• Hard truths of how your patrons use your site

THINGS YOU’LL NEED

1. The internet

2. The ability to ask questions

3. The Google

WHAT MAKES AN

EXPERIENCE GREAT?

Valued information

• derives from a patron-focused strategy

Trust

• balance requested info and perceived value

Ease of use

• usability best practices and testing

Amazement

• the ability to innovate with relevance

Adapted from Dante Murphy

ALL ARE USEFUL,

ONE IS MORE USABLE

THIS SITE HAS USEFUL

INFORMATION

THIS SITE IS USEFUL

AND USABLE

USE THE

INTERNET

STEP 1

VISIT THE SITES YOUR

PATRONS ARE USING

• You can see what web conventions they’re used to

• You may get ideas on how to best implement something

THINK ABOUT HOW YOU

USE THE INTERNET

(But also realize that you’re not your users)

What do you like?

What’s convenient?

What’s easy?

ASK

QUESTIONS

STEP 2

THE PROCESS

Build

MeasureLearn

Photo by flickr user kake_pugh

USERS ARE CONSTANTLY

GIVING INPUT, YOU JUST

HAVE TO LISTEN

FREE WAYS TO LEARN ABOUT USERS

USE THE DATA YOU

ALREADY HAVE ACCESS TO

Phone call logs

Customer requests

Suggestion box comments

Web search logs (not catalog)

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

CRAZY EGG

PEEK BY

USERTESTING.COM

THOUGHT EXERCISE

What would happen if your library’s website

disappeared? You’d probably get a lot of

phone calls. What would they be about?

The top reasons you get phone calls

should be the top information on your site.

http://www.walkingpaper.org/6179

TALK TO PEOPLE

USER INTERVIEWS

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/

WRITE A SCRIPT

• Include warm-up exercises

• Ask the participant to use the library website in a way that

they typically would

• Devise questions to see if certain features work the way

you want them to

• Keep questions open-ended

• Avoid library jargon

ESTABLISH TRUST

• Make casual conversation unrelated to your research

• Listen patiently

• Invite honesty and openness

• Use nonverbal gestures to reassure participants that

you’re engaged in what they are saying

• Stay Neutral

• Try asking “why?” in response to answers

• Don’t point out mistakes

Adapted from Design Thinking for Libraries

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR

• Be like Sherlock

• Pay attention to what people do, not what they say

• Notice absent-minded workarounds

• Observe – did the participant struggle?

CAPTURE WHAT YOU SEE

• Take notes

• Capture direct quotes whenever possible

• Write field notes immediately

IDENTIFY PROBLEMS,

NOT SOLUTIONS

http://userexperiencedesigns.com/assets/pdf/50-UX-Best-Practices.pdf

INTERPRETATION OF DATA

• Group information to find patterns

• Don’t take it at face value

• Identify the root problem

• Come up with many solutions

• Your first idea will be your worst. You only have the first idea

so you can have the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ideas

FURTHER READING

ON RESEARCH

KNOW YOUR CONTENT

CONTENT AUDIT

Do you need everything you have? Do you KNOW everything

you have? (You don’t)

• Make a giant spreadsheet

• Click every single link and put it in the spreadsheet

• Marvel at all the stuff you didn’t know you had

PRIORITIZE

• Not everything can be presented at equal weight

• Decisions have to be made about what is most important

and what is secondary

• Feelings will be involved

$100 GAME

• Everyone is given (an imaginary) $100

• Use this money to “buy” different aspects of your website

• The most important things might get $20, less important

things will get $1

• Get everyone to talk about and defend their money

• Come to a group consensus about how to spend your

$100

• (Making this a group exercise shields you from some of

the feelings)

WAYS LIBRARIES

PRIORITIZE

PRIORITIZE

GET TO

KNOW BEST

PRACTICES(VIA GOOGLE)

STEP 3

LIBRARY SPECIFIC

DO YOU HAVE THE

THING I WANT?

AND ARE YOU

OPEN?

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES

AVOID (OR MODIFY)

AUTO-ROTATING

CAROUSELS

http://ShouldIUseACarousel.com

BE CONSISTENT

USE PLAIN LANGUAGE

USE CONSISTENT

LANGUAGE

Elements Nomenclature Recommendations

Ask a Librarian (24/7 Chat) Ask a Librarian

Circulation information Borrowing

Collections Collections

Computing/printing information Computing

Contact information Contact Us

Course reserves Reserves

Databases & Articles* Articles (do not combine with

databases)

Databases (do not combine with

articles)

Help Help

Hours Hours

Information about the library About/About the Libraries

UC Library Home Pages Best Practice Task Force (2010)

THE RECAP

• Use the internet

• Visit the sites your patrons are using

• Being more conscious of what you like when you’re using

the web

• Ask Questions

• Use free services to learn about your site

• Talk to people

• Know and organize your content

• Get to know best practices

• Library specific stuff is helpful

• General info is also great

THANK YOU

FURTHER READING

Usabilty.gov

DesignThinkingforLibraries.com

GoodUI.org

LibSuccess.org/Website_Design

EmilySingley.net

LibraryUX.wordpress.com

UserExperienceDesigns.com/assets/pdf/50-UX-Best-Practices.pdf

BartlettInteractive.com/blog/best-practices-library-website-design

Sensible.com/downloads/test-script.pdf