River Campus Libraries User Centered Design Process Brenda Reeb, Usability David Lindahl, Digital Initiatives Susan Cardinal, Science Libraries.

River Campus Libraries

User Centered Design Process

Brenda Reeb, UsabilityDavid Lindahl, Digital InitiativesSusan Cardinal, Science Libraries

User Centered Design Process

Agenda Overview Design Group Content Group Usability Group

One Group

Web Working Group

Usability group Design group

Three Groups

Content group

Usability group Design group

Skills and Experience

Content group• Library science• Content• Content providers• User interfaces• Users

• User interface design• Visual design• Web standards• Technology

• Usability testing methods

Usability group Design group

Roles & Responsibilities

Content group• Define key tasks• Raise issues• Manage project

• Create design iterations and prototypes• Respond to issues and test results• Manage issue-response process

• Select appropriate tests to perform• Perform tests• Report results• Manage key-task process

Work Products

key tasks

test results

issue-response

designs

issues

What the user wants to do in the users language.

Product that attempts to support users performing key tasks.

Test results from Usability group and issues from Content group.

Captures test-results and issues, and associates them withappropriate design group responses.

test results

Usability group Design group

Work Products

Content group

key tasksissues

key tasks

issue-response

designs

Design group

Work Products

Content group

issues

issue-response

designstest results

Usability group

Meetings

Regular meetings (design usability) Project specific meetings (usability content,

content design)

User Focus

Usability group

Design group

Content group

HighestNo other goal than to represent the user.

MediumCompetes with standards, technology, time and money

MediumCompetes with exhaustive content, complex tasks

Group User Focus

Content Group

Multiple content groups, one for each project Any number of members (1-?) Every department participates - cataloging,

circulation, reference, etc. Created and disbanded as needed

Content Group

Content group activities: Define key tasks Select appropriate content Apply experience and education Observe some tests Interpret usability results Raise issues, not design solutions

Content Group

What is a key task?

Key tasks are defined as frequently asked items, frequent actions or navigation to parent/child pages.

Example key tasks:

• Find a known article.• Find a known journal.• Find an article on a specific topic.• Find articles on a multidisciplinary topic.• Find a specific journal collection.

Content Group

Find Articles Group

Acted as content group Collected issues Categorized these issues

Technology issues (website, SFX, ILL, Databases OPAC) Building, shelving & organizational Issues Subscription issues Citation problems Basic research help Librarians

Created scenarios Assigned issues to various other groups…

Design Group

Reorganized in 2001 Lives in the Digital Initiatives Unit

¼ FT UI designer (MS, Computer Science) 1 FTE graphic designer (BA, Graphic Design) 1 FTE developer

Responsibilities UI Design and prototyping Style guidelines Issue/response process

Design Group

Perspective on Site Design “Hide the technology” Consistency across library website Task-oriented pathways Usability testing results

Perspective on Page Design Essential components Prioritize Simplify Style guidelines

Universal Design Section 508 Web Style Guide Research-Based Web

Design & Usability Guidelines

Page Editors’ Checklist

“Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.” Ron Mace

Design Group

http://www.section508.gov/ http://webstyleguide.com/

http://usability.gov/guidelines/ http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=623

Style Guidelines

Knowledge of databases

Partial knowledge

No knowledgeneeded

Mapping your search to a subject takes you away from your natural pathFind Articles

Google

Databases by Subject

Databases A-Z

Design Group

User pathways

Design Group

Models For Finding: Google

1. Enter keywords2. Browse results by title

and snippet3. View full text

Design Group

Models For Finding: FRBR

FRBR User Tasks Find Identify Select Acquire

FRBR = Functional Requirements for Bibliographic RecordsMore information: http://www.ifla.org

Usability Group

Usability Program Began 2001 7 staff trained as usability testers Over 20 projects, large and small Testers volunteer for projects Reading, conferences, practice Vendor co-development

Usability Group

Usability team activities: Manage key task process Design and conduct tests Maintain a “lab” Communicate results to staff and public

Manage key task process

Usability Group

Key task Test question

Find a known journal

Find an article in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Find a journal collection

Your friend told you there is a collection of political science journals called JSTOR. Where is it?

Usability Group

Manage key task process

Usability Group

Design and conduct tests Mental model test Heuristic test Card sort test Assessment test (Click path) Scenario test

See Jeff Rubin “Handbook of Usability Testing”, Wiley, 1994

Usability Group

Picture of our lab

Meet me at Circ!

Usability Group

Communicate results

Students say:“I need an article!”

Librarians say: “Select a database” “This database has 435 journals in it.” “These journals are peer reviewed.” “Choose basic or advanced.” “These journals predate the Civil War.”

Culture and Politics

Culture and Politics

Student culture

Connect at courses, not at academic disciplines Meet them where they are

Students attend POL250 – “Conflict in Democracies” They do not relate to Political Science. They do not envision themselves as political scientists.

Sustainability Distributed workload (all bibliographers participate) Dynamic, database-driven pages

Culture and Politics

Expect these accusations! Simple designs dumb down the site Testing 3 users is not enough “I have to wonder if usability testing - especially

for money - proves very useful input” No one told me about this Where is your report? This is so subjective!

Culture and Politics

Try these responses: Inform

Page design process document Don’t leave home without the toolkit

Neilson’s Alert Boxes Pages from Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think

Engage Observe tests Publish results

River Campus Libraries

Questions?

Brenda Reeb, UsabilityDavid Lindahl, Digital InitiativesSusan Cardinal, Science Libraries