Delightfulfuncoud

A curated collection of library UX resources and inspiration

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Launched after a discussion with a passionate young librarian who cares. Please challenge, change, add to, subtract from, edit, tussle with, and share these thoughts. ------------------ All technol...

The user is not broken.

Information flows down the path of least resistance. If you block a tool the users want, users will go elsewhere to find it.

The user is not “remote.” You, the librarian, are remote, and it is your job to close that gap.

The average library decision about implementing new technologies takes longer than the average life cycle for new technologies.

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Amazon opening its first real bookstore — at U-Village

Two decades after it started selling books online, Amazon opens a shopping center storefront with books for sale on actual shelves.

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Idiot Buttons: The Placebo in UX Design - Usabilla Blog

People love control. Yet in an age of automation, this is being lost. The placebo keeps people happy, providing an idea of control where there is none.

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“As smartphone usage surges upward, users may be getting news on their devices, but they may not be seeking out apps from news providers. The report found that 70 percent of smartphone users have a news app on their phone or tablet, but just one in three actually use it during a typical week.

The Reuters Institute also found that many readers prefer to use their browser over dedicated news apps.”

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It's a much better long term strategy to work on improving your content and making it search engine friendly. Spend your time finding out what people want to do and make sure it is clear for visitors how to do those things.

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The root of the "Library User Experience Problem" isn't design. No - design is just a tool. What gets in the way of good UX is too much. These websites suffer from too many menu items, too many images, too many hands in the pot, too much text on the page, too many services, too many options.

“The interaction cost describes the amount of effort users exhaust to interact with your service.“

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“Usable” Tools, Or Discovery that Isn't

I’ve been doing a lot of usability testing recently on various aspects of our website, and I’ve discovered a few things: I really enjoy doing usability testing Usability testing takes a lot of work...

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Many of the academic library’s traditional roles have come under substantial pressure in recent years. Libraries find themselves grappling implicitly if not explicitly with how to adapt. Discovery is an example of the challenges that libraries face both strategically and managerially as they navigate through large-scale change. It is equally an example of the opportunities they can find by explicitly addressing such changing roles in a well-designed decision-making process that incorporates evidence and judgment.

What if library websites turn their focus away from “discovery” and become more like e-commerce? What makes libraries unique apart from Google, Amazon, and Netflix?

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...We’re never going to be able to keep up with Google, much less steal back their market share in the world of search... Start with Google, Amazon, and the other tools they know, showing how to capitalize on those strengths and then integrate library resources where the open web fails (namely, full access to scholarly and specialized content).

http://kellydagan.com/?p=475

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On the Other Side of the Mirror, Or, Usability Testing

In response to an upcoming college-wide website redesign, we’ve been running usability tests in the Library, trying out different designs using paper prototypes. This activity has raised some inter...

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As a method of exploring a new topic or getting one’s footing, the Library website was approximately no one’s first choice.

Kelly Dagan (http://kellydagan.com/?p=502)

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Americans ages 16-29 are the most likely to visit a library website on their phone - and they're looking for pretty traditional stuff.

Mobile first: The library catalog, as well as basic information about the library, must be optimized for mobile

Streamline transactions: placing and removing holds, checking out, paying fines. There is a lot of opportunity here. Basic optimization of the OPAC and cart can go along way, but you can even enable self checkout, library card registration using something like Facebook login, or payment through Apple Pay.

Be online: [duh] Offer every basic service available in person online

Improve in-house wayfinding through the web: think Google Indoor Maps

Exploit smartphone native services to anticipate context: location, as well as time-of-day, weather, etc., can be used to personalize service or contextually guess at the question the patron needs answered. “It’s 7 a.m. and cold outside, have a coffee on us.” – or even a simple “Yep. We’re open” on the front page.

Market the good the library provides to the community to win support (or donations)

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Younger Americans’ Library Habits and Expectations

Americans ages 16-29 are heavy technology users, including in using computers and internet at libraries. At the same time, most still read and borrow printed books, and value a mix of traditional and technological library services.

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Design and User Experience for Libraries

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The Wired Library - The User Experience

When we say "user experience" we are talking about something that can be measured. While user experience designers are motivated to make awesome things an decrease worldsuck, library stakeholders m...

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What would happen if your library’s website disappeared? You’d probably get a lot of phone calls. f I had to guess, most would be about: Finding library items, renewing library items, and library hours and locations. This thought experiment gives us some perspective about the things library websites should be focusing on—the critical tasks users are trying to accomplish. It also offers perspective on the aspects of our websites that are comparatively unimportant—everything else.

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User experience is holistic, negatively or positively impacted at every interaction point your patron has with your library.

Kathleen Hughes (http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/07/the-wired-library-the-user-experience/)