Library Web Page Redesign

Finding Out What Your Users Want

Laura Pope Robbins, Lisa Esposito,
Chris Kretz, Michael Aloi

Dowling College

Starting Point

Why Redesign

• Stagnant
• Usability Problems
  • Image
    • Required text equivalent
    • Difficult to maintain
    • Unfriendly
  • Confusing Navigation
  • Language
  • Page Length

Determining What Users Want

• Get them involved!

Our Methodology

• Survey
• Card-sort analysis
• Prototyping
• Task analysis

Web Site Survey

• Ask them
  • Did you find what you were looking for?
  • How easy was it to find?
  • How can we improve your experience?
  • What new features would you like to see on the site?
  • How can we improve the site?

What can we do to improve?

• "There is too much clicking to do to get to where you want to go, and the colored boxes structure is not really welcoming or easy to figure out."
• "Perhaps a less scattered layout on the homepage."

Survey Results

• More comments
  • "If the librarians hadn't shown me how to navigate, I'm not sure I would have figured it out. Whenever I go to the library page, I don't really feel I'm at a college library. The colored boxes don't look right . . ."

Card Sort Analysis

• What is it?
• Why choose this exercise?
  • Inexpensive
  • Quick
  • Involves end user
  • Identifies patterns
  • Presents users mental model
  • Suggests site structure

Card Sort Analysis

• Goals
  • Redefine vocabulary
  • Find groupings
  • Get group names
  • Find associated groups
  • Create persistent navigation

Card Sort Analysis

• Preparation
  • Pack of index cards
  • Blank notepad for yourself
  • Post-It notes
  • Blank index cards
  • Defined vocabulary

Defining Vocabulary

• Content analysis
  • Current
  • Future
• Granularity
  • Individual pages (Narrow)
    • ID Cards/How do I find books?
  • Functionality (Broad)
    • Reference/Circulation/Technical Services

Defining Vocabulary

• Be consistent
• Be representative of site
• Must be similar enough to suggest groupings
• Each card should be:
  • Self-contained
  • Cover one logical piece of content

Card Appearance

• Front of Card
  • Term only
• Back of Card
  • Identifying Number
  • Brief explanation if necessary

Performing a Sort

• Sort cards into related groups
  • Be prepared to define cards if asked
    • Highlights problem vocabulary
• Name each group
• Point out related groups
• Informal survey
  • Which groups are most important to you?

Sample Sort

• Digital & Special Collections
  • 58, 54, 49, 24, 3, 35
• About
  • 64, 45, 34, 30, 14, 47, 31, 32, 37, 16, 5
• Doing Research
  • 23, 22, 44, 4, 46, 38, 40, 59, 17, 39
• Catalog
  • 12

Sample Sort

• Problem vocabulary
  • RSS feeds
  • Article locator
  • Database locator
  • NetLibrary
• Related groupings
  • Catalog, collections, doing research
• Most important
  • Catalog, doing research, about, services

Analyzing Results

• Create standardized headings
  • Combine similiar headings
  • Look for synonyms
  • Left-overs

Standardized Headings

Standardized Heading

Mapping Results

• Catalog
  • Books
  • Collections & Other Available
  • Film/Video
  • Government Documents
  • In Print
  • Library's holdings
  • Lost in the Pages
  • Probably Useful
  • What's in the Library

Analyzing Results

• Excel spreadsheet
  • Enter standardized headings
  • Enter card list

Entering Raw Data

Card Placement Percentage

Revamped Data

Examining Heading Contents

Examining Heading Contents

• General Information
  • Circulation policies
  • Comments/suggestions
  • Floor plans
  • General library policies
  • Gifts/donations
  • Hours
  • ID Cards
  • Library Faculty/Staff Directory
  • Mission statement

Determining Final Headings

• Different Areas of the Library
  • Collections & Other Materials
• General Information
  • About the Library
    • Policies

Determining Overall Categories

• Based upon participants related groupings
  • What they would expect to be together
• Gives us
  • Major portions of site
  • Navigation

Some Suggested Groupings

• Articles, catalog, databases
• Catalog, database, how-to
• Catalog, databases, news
• Databases, catalog, web
• How-to, databases
• Web, databases, articles, help, collections, catalog

Determining Category Name

• Ask yourself
  • How are these things used?
  • What is their purpose?
  • Why do people want them together?
• Category Name
  • Find Information!

Fixing Our Vocabulary

Problem terms

• Catalog → Books & More (Catalog)
• Circulation → Borrow, Renew or Request
• Databases → Articles (Databases)
• Database locator → Databases by Subject
• Document delivery → Online Article Delivery
• Information Instruction → Library Instruction
• RSS Feeds → News Feeds

Time to Redesign

• Pull Together:
  • Results of Card Sort
  • Usability Principles
  • Inspiration from other library sites

Usability 101

• Outgrowth of Human-Computer Interaction/User Interface design
• Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/
• Design for:
  • Learnability
  • Efficiency
  • Satisfaction

Usability Tips

• Fluid layout
  • Resizes easily
    • 1024x780 - 60%
    • 800x600 - 17%
• Users do not scroll
  • Short pages
  • No within-page links

Usability Tips

• Content King/Navigation Secondary
• Logo top left of every page
• Direct link to homepage
• Breadcrumb navigation
  • Sachem Public Library → LILRC Committee → Room A

Reading and Writing on the Web

• Most don't read, they scan
• Use bulleted lists
• Keep text short
• Eliminate excess

Revamping Current Site

• Divide current pages based on new categories
• Rewrite where needed
• Break long pages into chunks
• Determine cross-reference points between pages in different sections

Breaking Down

Inspiration

• Examine similar sites for:
  • Placement of elements
  • Navigation
  • Overall design scheme
  • Vocabulary

Academic Library Sites

• Georgia State University
• Sarah Lawrence College
• College of DuPage

What We Liked

• Consistent color scheme
• Photos
• Quick Links/Most Used
• News
• Links to what people need
  • E-mail
  • Blackboard
  • College home page

New Design

• Page Constants
  • Header
    • Home
    • Sitemap
    • Help
    • My Account
  • Footer
    • Other things our users looked for
  • Breadcrumb navigation

Home Page

• Main Categories:
  • Find Information
  • Library Services
  • About the Library

• Other Elements:
  • Quick Links (most frequently used)
  • News, Photo (create interest)

Prototype A

Prototype B

Prototype C

Prototype D

Prototype E

Prototype - Inner Page

Faculty Services

Task-based Testing

• Process
  • 2 man team
    • Proctor
    • Recorder
• Standardized tasks
  • Common information needs
  • 10 questions/3 minutes each
  • Think-aloud protocol

Test Question

• You need to find articles for a paper on schizophrenia. Name a database that you could use for research.

Adjustment

• Changed "Databases A-Z"
  • Databases by Name

Test Question

• You're doing research at home, but you're having trouble accessing the databases and the Library is closed. Where would you look to solve the problem?

Adjustments

• Changed "Off-campus Access FAQ"
  • Using Databases from Home FAQ
    • Add related link to:
      • Databases by Name
      • Databases by Subject
      • How do I use databases?

General Observations

• Link placement
  • Not within sentences!
  • Headings not descriptions
• Navigation
  • "More"
• Reserves
  • Move search boxes
  • Tie to course guides
• Don't assume patron knowledge

General Comments

• "Intuitive - uses key phrases"
• Most like the categories on the home page
• Most appreciate simplicity of the internal pages:
  • a few links on each page
  • no lengthy lists

How to Have a Successful Redesign

• Research
  • How do people seek information?
• Involve your users
• Be open-minded
• Be flexible
• Accept that change is a process
  • Continuous
  • Necessary

Questions?

• Contact us
  • Laura → pope-rol@dowling.edu
  • Lisa → espositl@dowling.edu
  • Chris → kretzc@dowling.edu
  • Michael → aloim@dowling.edu
• Presentation links:
  • http://www.dowling.edu/library/papers/LILRC/web/lilrc.html