STAGE 3 PROJECT
B E YO N D T H E LIBRARY WALL S
M E N G X I YA N G D E S I G N I N N OVAT I O N & SERVICE DESIGN 2 017 - 2 018 SUPERVISED BY IAIN REID
PREFACE
"An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution which serves two complementary purposes to support the school's curriculum, and to support the research of the university faculty and students."[1] In this project, I wish to explore the possibilities of innovations in academic libraries, and take the GSA library as an entry point to experiment and give examples to other institutions. I define my audience as university students, especially GSA students. The aim of this project is to probe how can the library better facilitate students' learning in any possible aspect. This may expand the library's roles and functionality further into broader contexts instead of being confined to its physical properties.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_library
PART 01 Contextual Inquiry
Literature review GSA student survey Site visit
PART 02 Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholders map Surveys Interviews
PART 03 Analyze & Define
User journey mapping Defining problem Current situation in GSA
PART 04 Workshops & Insights
Students workshop Librarians workshop Key insights
PART 05 Case Studies
Suggestion and guidance Curation of information Discussion and sharing
PART 06 Opportunities & Concepts
The search engine The social dimension
PART 07 Design, Test & Iterate
Key features Prototyping User test and iteration Final outcome Service blueprint
PART 08 Reflection
User groups Motivation Technical constraints
PART 01
1.1 Literature review
PART 01
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
My research began from an exploration of the general context in academic libraries, as I wish to not only solve problems for GSA library, but also identify what are the common situations faced by the majority of universities and how my project could offer enlightenment to tackle these predominant issues. In this stage, I started with desk research. I learned from existing researches, visited many academic libraries in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and referred to the quantitative data of the students' feedback in GSA library's annual student surveys.
When I looked for researches of academic libraries, I found that there were few reports on the general performance of the libraries in a region or a nation. The existing researches were usually conducted within different universities separately, and the research topics were often in detail. One of the researches which was carefully conducted in ethnographical methods was the 'Undergraduate Research Project' for The University of Rochester’s River Campus Libraries in the U.S. in 2007. What was most insightful for me in terms of research methodology is that it did not restricted the area of inquiry within the library itself, but went further to ask 'What do students really do when they write their research papers?'. By looking at a broader context, it allows the researchers to have a deeper understanding of students' behaviours, habits and motivation. Some major problems addressed in the report were that for students, they felt overwhelmed and lost when starting their researches and wished to have tailored and customized guidance. Whereas the librarians thought the students were only scratching the surface of the collections and did not make full use of the library resources. [1] However, this research aimed at a certain student group in just one university. It is doubtful that whether its conclusions could also fit into other situations. But these insights gave me an inspiration to also explore the students' research process in my surrounding context.
1 Foster, N. and Gibbons, S. (2007). Studying Students The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester. Chicago.
1.2 GSA annual student survey GSA library runs a learning resource student survey each year which investigates students' level of satisfaction and gathers feedback on several learning services provided by the library. Fortunately, I was able to get access to this first-hand data and have a look at the problems raised by students. According to this quantitative data, the complaints mainly happens in four different sections: the reading lists, the online catalogue, difficulties in finding books on shelves and the unawareness of the library's services. Accessing the books on reading lists appeared in the 3 least satisfactory services in the 2017-2018 survey (48% satisfaction) and was the least satisfactory service in 20162017 (37% satisfaction). One of the reasons is that the librarians are not always informed of which books the teachers suggest the students to read, which results in a lack of preparation of enough copies. Teachers sometimes recommend just one particular book or film without notifying the library staff. And students reported that they were occasionally asked to refer to the materials which were not in the library's collections.
15% of students reported that they found it 'not easy' or 'difficult' to find what they were looking for when searching the Library's catalogue online. Complaints were that they did not feel the search results were properly sorted as the most important results for them did not appear in the very front. When searching the catalogue, some students said that they were not typing the exact book or dissertation title but looked for a certain range of topics instead. However, the library does not support searches in this way and the results are often not relevant. Finding books on the shelves appears to be another problem for students as their complaints include the lack of maps or signs and the confusing labelling system of the books. Missing and misplaced books is also the main factors to cause this problem and students sometimes failed to find the book which was marked as available in the catalogue. The way to recover from this is to talk to the librarians for help, however, most of the students just chose to give up and turn to other sources. Another problem revealed in these surveys is that there are many existing services the students are usually not aware of. For example, a significant proportion of students do not know that the library has accounts on social media platforms. Another obscure but useful service is 'suggest a purchase' when the book you are looking for is not in the library's collections. Students who have tried this service found it extremely helpful while others who were not aware of this just complained that the library do not have enough books.
All data and figure in this section are from GSA Learning Resources Annual Survey 2015-2018.
1.3 Site visit
Strathclyde University library has adopted smart bookshelves to store its large amount of physical collections. These bookshelves can be moved easily to make more use of the space in the library. GSA library is small with limited study space. Shelves are high and stuffed. The books are mostly picture-based. However, because of its limited space, it is not difficult to reach a librarian for help.
University of Glasgow library has a large building with lots of rooms filled with books. The library is usually used as a study space and the seats are always full. There will be people coming to find books on the shelves occasionally.
Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh University libraries both have ordinary layouts including study space, facilities and bookshelves.
Public libraries such as Mitchell library and National Scottish Library are more like a place for relaxation. People come for leisure instead of looking for academic knowledge.
Book stores such as Waterstones are more profitdriven compared to the libraries. Their books are often categorized by the publishers and are re-arranged frequently.
In conclusion, there are many similarities across different academic libraries. They all possess large number of physical books and the space are divided into shelves, study area and space for IT facilities, which made all of them look the same at the first glance. However, I also found that different libraries have different tricks to tackle the problems they have had. For instance, even the different height and size of the bookshelves show the efforts of improving the level of easiness of finding books. Compared with the public libraries and bookstores, I found that one of the unique features of the academic libraries is that they mainly serve the people with specific tasks and needs to acquire professional knowledge, which makes academic libraries less about random browsing and exploring, but more of finding things with a strong purpose.
2.1 Stakeholders map PART 02 PART 02
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 2.2 Student surveys and interviews I engaged with university students, librarians and a researcher from an organization promoting user experience in libraries. I handed out questionnaires first in different universities to gain a thorough understanding of the students' relationship with the libraries and their perceptions of them. Then I went on to conduct structured interviews with individuals. For Students, I asked questions not only about how they use the library, but also their habits in studying and doing researches; For librarians, I mainly focused on how the library is functioning and what are their roles in running it; And for the researcher, I asked about his findings and insights after investigating so many libraries around the world.
The first step of my user research is to hand out questionnaires in GSA, University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian university. In this way, I managed to gain a general understanding of how the students are using the libraries and what does the library mean to them. I found that the major motivation for the students to use the library is to find a place to study and to find certain books.
Questionnaires and interview notes.
Next, I interviewed "The library just stands out there. You some students to find have to go and find what you need." out what role does the library play in their studies. One interesting finding is that when doing their research projects, students always start their searches online, mostly from Google. When they approach the library, they have already had a particular book in mind and just need to find it in the catalogue. Before going to the library, students often try to pre-read materials to make sure they are heading for the right reference. A more insightful finding is that most of the students said they trusted the library for its reliability and authority in academic information, but the problem was that they were less likely to get guidance or suggestions on choosing from the resources. This, to some extent, explains the reason why most of them would go to websites such as Amazon to look for comments and reviews -- the library usually does not provide information to them actively.
2.2 Librarian interviews In order to know the existing services and functions of academic libraries, I interviewed two librarians from GSA and one staff from University of Glasgow library. All of them have mentioned that the library is a mixture of space, collections and services. Using the library means more than engaging with its visible part -- physical space and books. However, they also recognized that not all the students have the same level of contact with the library's services. For students, perhaps the only chance for them to learn how to use the library is the induction at the beginning of a semester, but this usually do not reach every student equally and the content of the session is easily forgotten after a short period. The librarians at GSA also mentioned the split between digital and physical collections. When I mentioned that some students will browse at the shelves to find similar books with the one they borrowed, I was told that unfortunately they still cannot see all the relevant materials as some may only exist online. So, "All you're doing at the shelves is browsing browsing at the a fraction of the whole collection." shelves does not seem to be an efficient way of getting similar reading recommendations. The other point I learned from them is that performing academic search is actually a complex technique. People who are trained professionally can become real experts in using the libraries. But for non-experts such as students, finding the right resource is far from easy in either physical or digital environment. [1]
Notes on how the students search for the books they need.
1. Lanclos, D. (2016, July 27). Embracing an Ethnographic Agenda: Context, Collaboration, and Complexity. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/ktw5a
I contacted a researcher at UX Libs -- an organization dedicated to improving the user experience in libraries. As they have organized many visits to libraries all around the world, and has been conducting conferences and workshops for more than three years, I wished to hear from their experiences to know more about the good practices as well as limitations in libraries. According to the researcher, most of the libraries still have not adopted user-centred methods in serving their readers and the good library experiences only happen 'by accident' thanks to the good architectural design. Many libraries do not have much engagement with their users and are unable to learn users' desires and requirements. When speaking about the probable reasons, the researcher's opinion is that the real barrier is not the limited funds as most people thought. The libraries have their own ways in operating and these have already developed into a set of rules throughout the history. These methods are usually not user-centred but the traditional mindset is difficult to change.
"There are problems that library staff are hiding behind print collections rather than getting out beyond the library walls and advocating their function and relevance."
PART 03
ANALYZE & DEFINE
I drafted user journey maps and diagrams to analyze what role does the library play in students' studies and what level of interaction it may have with students. From the analysis I was able to define the problem I wish to solve. As I intend to take the GSA library as an entry point of tackling such problems, I took consider of the recent fire event and current situations of the GSA library and also looked into its unique features and existing resources.
PART 03
2.3 Researcher interview
3.1 User journey mapping In the user journey, I mapped out different stages of how students discover and choose their learning materials, how they obtain it from the library and how they engage with these materials in their studies. As mentioned in the interviews, the initial searches and inquiries often take place online. When students approach to the library, they have already had particular things in minds to find. The library just serves as a
huge warehouse for them to come and fetch what they want. However, the beginning phase of students' researches is where they feel most helpless and unconfident due to the lack of customized guidance. Other pain points within the library itself are more about recovering from problems which may require help from the library staff.
Interact with the library
STAGES
ACTIONS
DISCOVER
ONLINE SEARCH
SELECT
APPROACH
SEARCH CATALOGUE
ENGAGE
NAVIGATE
SEARCH SHELVES
INTERACT
BROWSE NEARBY
BORROW
READ
LEAVE
MAINTAIN
RETURN
REVIEW & RECALL
Satisfied
+
Achievement
EMOTIONS
_
PAIN POINTS
Confused Self-doubt
Lack of customized reading guidance.
Results are not sorted by relevance.
Lack of clear signage.
Unavailable books.
Unfamiliar with the labeling system.
Missing books and misplaced books.
Difficulties in recalling the content of the books.
3.2 Defining the problem As shown in the user journey map, the library appears to be only a fraction of the students' research process. According to the interviews, I realized that libraries usually have various forms of resources including collections and learning support services. However, for students, their interaction with the library is mainly through enquiring physical books and digital text materials.
Library's resources Physical books
Students' research
A research by UX Libs also mentioned that learners will employ various approaches to perform researches and the students usually view the library as only a component in their large system of learning supports.[1] However, performing their researches outside the library means they usually spend a lot of time browsing large amount of information acquired through the internet and try to distil the genuine and useful ones. As not all the information online is reliable, this process is considerably time-consuming and not guaranteed with a desirable outcome. The libraries provide authoritative and academic source of information; however, it is often hidden deep in the database or archive and only the trained experts are likely to get easy access to it.
3.3 Current situation in GSA Due to the recent fire, the GSA library was forced to close temporarily and moved its service point to Haldane building. Losing its physical space and collections certainly undermines the functionality of the library, but apart from its physical possession, the library still has rich resources to offer. Perhaps this is also an opportunity for us to think how can the library reveal its existing resources to students and encourage them to make full use of them beyond their interaction with physical space or books. Apparently, the GSA library shares the same problems with almost all other Poster of the information point academic libraries. But as a small library in an art school, it also bears some unique features. What is visible to us is that the library's collections are mostly about art and design, and most of them are presented with visualized images and even moving images. There are collections of artistic archives, old manuscripts and maps, artists' publications and a large number of magazines.
Artists' publications in GSA library 1. Borg, M. and Priestner, A. (2016). User experience in libraries. New York: Routledge, p.149.
What may not be visible but equally essential is the requirements of the students. As art and design students, they may have special needs and ways of learning which differentiate them with students majoring in other subjects, which will be discussed in the next chapter.
4.1 Card-sorting with students
PART 04
PART 04
WORKSHOPS & INSIGHTS
In this workshop with five students, my question was 'What help do you expect to get in each phase of your research/project process?'. I prepared some cards with possible answers for them to select the top 3-5 options which are most important to them. They can also add new answers or give different explanations to the words on the cards. I presented them with five different scenarios describing five stages of the research/project process, and let them talk about the most essential needs in these stages.
I held two workshops with GSA students and librarians. For the workshop with students, my aim was to understand their requirements from the school to support their studies. As for the librarians, I took the requirements of the students to them and asked what library would be able to offer to meet these demands.
Five stages and the most common needs.
From the workshop, I found that in the initial stages of gathering information, students wished for guidance on choosing from the large quantity of resources. This could be tutors' advice, peer students' recommendations or professional opinions obtained from the internet. What they care about most is to select the really useful reference to inform their projects. In the stages of obtaining certain materials from the library, they mainly require simpler access to what they want and easier ways to recover from the emerging problems. While engaging with the learning materials, the requirements of guidance and suggestions became important once again. They wish to further select important paragraphs from the books or journals with professional help. In conclusion, requirements which are commonly found throughout these stages are: carefully selected information, tools to organize the information and people to talk about how to use the information.
4.2 Brainstorming with librarians Three librarians from GSA took part in this workshop. I showed them the stages of students' project process and their 'wish list' in each phase. Through discussions, each librarian came up with more than two ideas targeting every pain point raised by students. After the brainstorm, I proposed a vote for the most feasible solutions. The librarians even went further to group these solutions into the 'already existing ones', 'aspects we are currently dedicated to' and what they 'definitely wish to achieve in the future'. After organizing these ideas, I found that the library staff have the desire and capability to put their efforts into the following areas: The first one is to provide more in-depth guidance. This includes many of the existing services such as reading lists and subject guides, the access to other libraries' resources, archives and museum collections and a set of research guidance called InfosmART. Some of them are far from perfection and need updates and enhancement to increase their easiness of use. And it is necessary that the library should teach the students how to use these services and tools.
What is special as art and design students is that, firstly, they need constant interaction with other people such as tutors, peers and their audience. Opportunities such as peer reviews are important for them because they need others' opinions to inspire or adjust their directions. Secondly, the types of their reference vary a lot from text to images, from sound to films. Some students seldom use the library because they are not required to read a lot but will frequently refer to images. This made me realize that what students are looking for is actually information, which can appear to be in various media forms as long as they are reliable and to the point.
Ideas proposed by librarians.
The second plan is based on the first one which is to further promote these existing resources and services to students, including more service points in the campus, promoting case studies of good library use, more staff on site to offer help and webchat allowing an instant reply. The main idea is to raise the students' awareness of what resources are available and valuable to them.
PART 05
CASE STUDIES
4.3 Key insights 1. Students seek for information in large quantity and high quality. 2. Students need professional suggestions on selecting their references.
3. The library has rich resources of academic contents and professional guidance.
4. Library staff wish to promote their existing services to students.
With the insights of the students' requirements and what the library staff wish to offer, I went to search for relevant cases which address similar issues and have the potential application within the library setting. These cases range from e-commerce websites to newsletter platforms, from online platforms to physical environment. In studying these cases, my focus was mainly on these aspects: How do they provide suggestions and guidance and carefully curate the information; How do they build platforms to allow sharing and discussions among users.
PART 05
The next action of the library is to keep enlarging its digital contents, especially good examples of essays and dissertations to help students set up their own expectations of the outcome of their studies. The library also expressed the desire to become a platform to spark conversations among students. The staff are planning to enhance their collaboration with the students' union and advocate more workshops and peer discussions to promote the sharing of knowledge.
5.1 Suggestions and guidance Amazon.com is a good example of providing suggestions to help its users to make choices and decisions. When clicking into one item, it will display the relevant recommendations according to your interest and the historical searches. Other customers' rates and reviews also act as reference to assist the customer to know more about the item. All the data gathered from customers will enrich and improve the algorithm of Amazon's system to make more accurate recommendations.
Compared to the e-commerce website, Google Books provides more guidance on the reading material itself. Features such as the common terms and phrases appeared in this book and popular passages are considerably helpful for the readers to get the key information and decide whether the book is useful to them or which part to read.
5.2 Curation of information Morioka Shoten is a unique bookstore in Japan which only sells one book per week. The book is selected by a professional curation team who will also gather other materials related to this book such as artworks and handcrafts to present a small exhibition based on the theme of the book. The value is that it allows the readers to go from the book itself to a larger world of many relevant information. Although the quantity of the information may be restricted due to the limited space, the quality is definitely guaranteed by a careful curation.
Internet Archive has its advantages in the large amount of information and various forms of media. This non-profit organization dedicated to archive all the existing digital and physical resources in one place. They have been collaborating with many libraries in scanning books, collecting videos and audios and even dated software. When you search the archive, it will present all the relevant resources to you. The way these resources are displayed is also clear and intuitive with icons and thumbnail images showing the contents.
5.3 Discussion and sharing Medium is a publishing platform for people to read insightful articles. While reading, users can highlight the paragraphs which are important to them and make annotations. They can choose to keep these notes private or published. It also allows the users to write comments on the contents and give replies to others comments. These features have made sharing ideas quick and simple.
Another media platform in China called Douban also has a strong focus on sharing ideas. It has a database of almost all published books and users can upload their reading notes of either the whole book or each chapter. This enables the readers to see each other's thoughts and also help to transform the overwhelming heavy books into concise key points.
PART 06
OPPORTUNITIES & CONCEPTS
From the researches and insights, I understand that what the students really care about when doing their projects is seeking for information. The form of information does not matter as long as they are insightful and useful to them. The library has already had most of the information the students need. The next step is to advocate and promote these existing resources to students in efficient and accurate ways.
PART 06
Pinterest also encourages users to share. Users can follow other people or follow the particular boards others have created. Like subscription to newsletters, you will be notified once there is new content in the board you are following. For individual users, they can organize their pins into boards with different themes and share with others.
6.1 The search engine When it comes to seeking information, the search engine appears to be one of the best tools to achieve this as it determines what information will be presented to the users and how it will be presented. I found that on the current GSA library website, the resources are allocated separately in different sections and are displayed on different web pages even different websites and are sorted in various orders. When you search an item, the results shown are often limited to text materials and videos, which are only a small part of the whole collection. The majority of the resources are hiding from the search bar. The current action taken by the library to promote these resources is to update posts on library's home page, twitter and other social media platforms. However, I found this remains to be generic welcomes saying 'We have this, come and explore'. The problem is that it does not advocate what
exact information the students are looking for and push the information precisely to the people who truly need it. Instead of this generic promotion, what if the library impresses the users with 'This is the information you need, and you can find it in this collection'. When users inquire something through the search engine, it is a good opportunity for all the relevant resources to be revealed to them. As a result, the future scenario of the library's search engine will be more integrated in all forms and sources of information. The results may include images, magazines, reading lists or even sites to visit and experts to talk to. These results will be sorted by relevance to the key words input by users regardless of media types. In this way, the library can also expand its database beyond its collections to a broader context of what is happening in the academic world.
Separate information
Books
Journals
Integrated information
Videos Websites
Journals Books Newsletters
Videos
Images
Tutorials
Images Sites Tutorials
Reading lists
Different sections on GSA library website.
Reading lists
Zines
6.2 The social dimension
Constantly optimize the search engine.
Get better results for your inquiries.
As addressed in the insights, students also need suggestions and guidance on choosing and selecting the information. For art and design students, they require even more conversations with tutors and peers throughout their projects. Currently, this usually happens outside the library. Although there are learning support teams in the library for students to have drop-in sessions, few would attend. The existing research also suggested that students tend to request help in familiar ways and approaching their peers is far more comfortable than asking librarians. [1] So, what if the library could help to build a social network among students, researchers, tutors and librarians, and provide a platform to share information of selecting the right learning materials and thoughts on the contents? The value of a sharing network is threefold: Firstly, the shared information such as comments and reviews can help users to make their choices; Secondly, by sharing their thoughts after engaging with the knowledge, they will be able to get more ideas and inspiration from each other, which is particularly important for art and design students and researchers;
Share more information to the network.
Build your personal knowledge archive.
Together with the sharing platform, students also require tools to organize their references, which could be a personal knowledge archive integrated into the library's website. The current library account acts as just a record of loan history. But there already exists a 'Reading list' where users can save the books, create and share their lists. I hope to enhance this function and make it more streamlined.
Last but not least, the shared information can serve to improve the algorithm of the search engine. The more additional information is attached to the resources, the better result the users will get in their searches.
1. Borg, M. and Priestner, A. (2016). User experience in libraries. New York: Routledge, p.147.
The current 'My library account' and 'Reading list' interfaces.
7.1 Co-designing key features
PART 07
DESIGN, TEST & ITERATE
With the proposed ideas, I asked some students to co-design the key functions of the library's search engine and interfaces of its website. Embedded with the key features, I designed the wireframes and mock-ups of the new library website and took them to user tests and iterations.
PART 07
With the new features and interactions, I re-imagined the user journey of inquiring information and knowledge in the library and depicted the service blueprint of how different stakeholders will participate in this process.
I invited some students to define the key features and information they would like to see on the library's website and search engine, and made some rough prototypes together through discussions. First of all, I asked them what would they like to input in the search bar when searching for something, and they agreed on putting short phrases or 1-2 key words, which means they are used to performing the search by a topic and key words. Then I asked how they would like the search results to be filtered and sorted. And I found what they care most is the relevance to their topics and the authority of the information. As for the question of 'What media type do you want to see at the first place', they showed less care about it and wish to see the most relevant ones first regardless of media types. As for what information should be shown about an item (I took a book for example), students said they would like to see more detailed information about the book such as cover images, contents and information about the author. More important is the popularity of the item and how many people have recommended it. They would also like the item to be linked to other resources by relevant recommendations. To request for help, they would like to use the webchat and expect a human reply.
Feature 1: Card display Instead of a cascade of list, the card view gives the users more intuitive expression of what the items are like, and concentrate on the significant information such as popularity and relevance which can help users to make choices. The current list display shows only about 4 items on the screen, and the card display allows for more, approximately 6-8 per screen.
Feature 4: Tags and reviews Tags of each item can give the users a quick understanding of the key characteristic of it. Not confined to specific subject or course, what is on the tags can be any condensed description such as 'highly recommend' or 'super useful'. Users can add tags to contribute to the descriptions, and the most popular tags will appear on the page.
1
2
Reviews also help users to make choices. Unlike the common social website, users of the library's site can judge the authority of the reviews by referring to who wrote the review -- may it be a tutor or a peer student, or someone they have known in the same course. In this way, users can make their own decisions instead of just following the majority.
3
Feature 2: 'Load more' A research at Grand Valley State University has shown that when using the search engine, over 50% of the clicks on each page of results were on the first three items. [1] Not to mention the items on the second page and after. So, I assume the most relevant results will be shown first but in limited numbers. If the users cannot find what they want, they can load more results. It will not be an infinite scroll but the users can choose how many results they would like to see. Feature 3: Webchat For students, librarians are nearly the last people they would turn to when they have research problems.[2] Reasons of this are partially due to the reluctance of time-consuming face to face conversations and the disappointment when no instant solutions are offered. A webchat could allow conversations with librarians even when the users are not in the library. A chat record and the replies give an indication that your concern is really heard and processed by someone.
1.Borg, Matt and Reidsma, Matthew, "Holistic UX: Harness Your Library’s Data Fetish to Solve the Right Problems" (2016). Books and Contributions to Books. Paper 9. 2. Borg, M. and Priestner, A. (2016). User experience in libraries. New York: Routledge, p.147.
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5
Feature 5: Publish and follow the lists On the personal library account page, users can view the lists they have created and choose to publish or keep them private. They can also follow other lists, tags or people. Once there are new items added into the list they have followed, they will be notified with an e-mail.
7.2 Prototyping Reading list
Log in
Personal account
Search results
View the list of a course, subject or tag
Item info
Write a review
Add a tag
Save to list
Load more results Webchat
Email of notification
Suggest a purchase
7.3 User test and iteration Previous design:
Still can t ďŹ nd what you re looking for? Try Suggest a purchase or Contribute an item
New version:
Chat with us
+
Still can t ďŹ nd what you re looking for? Chat to us or suggest a purchase!
Suggest a purchase
Iteration 2: Suggest a purchase I took the paper prototypes to three students and asked them to perform tasks on the new website such as saving an item to their own list and share it, writing a review and reporting a problem to the librarians. The students said it feels more streamlined and easier than the current website. And I also got some valuable feedbacks on how to improve the experience. Iteration 1: Entrance to suggest a purchase The most common feedback is that users always ignore the 'suggest a purchase' at the bottom of the page and go directly to the webchat when they cannot find what they want. The reason is that the entrance for 'suggest a purchase' is not eye-catching enough compared to the webchat button. The 'suggest a purchase' is also confusing with 'contribute an item', as users do not know the difference between these two buttons.
I merged the 'suggest a purchase' and 'contribute an item' into one function as I assume that users have to go through the librarians first before adding an item to the library's collections. So, this can be a suggestion to purchase any type of resources. I added 'Resource type' for users to choose from, and allow for more than one suggestion to be submitted together. Considering some tutors may recommend reference materials out of the library collection, this can be useful for them and students taking the courses. Previous design:
New version: Notice
Name Email Title
Item 01
Author
Resource type
Additional information
Title Author Additional information
In the new version, I add a button for 'suggest a purchase'. When hovering the cursor on the icon, it will spread out to show the function of this button, which is more explicit to users.
Notice
+ More Submit
Submit
+
Iteration 3: Five-star rating system Another feedback I have got is about writing the reviews. Users said they expected to gain more overview about the items such as a general score or if someone likes it or not. So, I added a five-star rating system to the users' reviews to help them get a quick general overview of how useful this item may be. Previous design:
New version:
Reviews:
Reviews:
Previous design:
32 borrows this year 20 likes 18 reviews
Write a review
Save
New version:
20 saves 32 borrows this year 18 mark as very useful
Subject
How useful do you find this?
Course
Tag with
Tag with
+ +
Subject
Your review
Course Your review
Save to
How useful do you find this?
If the users have borrowed physical materials such as books, they will receive an email inviting them to rate the books they have borrowed and leave a review after returning them. By clicking the links in the e-mail, they will be led to the library's website to complete this task.
Submit
Submit
You have just returned these books. Tell others how useful do you find.
Iteration 4: Invitation to write a review Students also raised the concern that they usually do not have much motivation in writing the reviews proactively, so they expected easier ways and wanted to see some guidance leading them to do it. To achieve this, I replaced the 'write a review' button with a question asking 'How useful do you find this item', and click on the stars will lead users to the pop-up window to write a brief review.
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7.4 Final outcome
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Service design: from insight to implementation
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7.5 Improvement and comparison
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interior decoration (190,050) computer systems (63,870) computer networks (20,345) architectural design (10,028)
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Media Type Books (120,016)
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Service design: from insight to implementation By Polaine, Andrew
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2018 (23,016)
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English, 2014
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7.6 Service blueprint
TOUCHPOINTS
Search bar Search results page
Item info pages List pages
Log in window Pop-up form Email
Log in window Pop-up form
Library External websites Physical places People and events
Webchat
Learning materials in any form
Library Email
Library website pop-up window
Save to my list
Personal account page
Share my lists
USER ACTIONS Search a topic
Acquire the item
Select
RECOVER FROM PROBLEMS
Suggest a purchase
Engage with the knowledge
Return/finish using the resources
Write reviews
Report a missing item
FRONTSTAGE
Display the results.
Show item info, tags, reviews, relevant recommendations...
Input data in the forms.
Input data in the forms.
Guidance on how to acquire the item.
Chat with words and images.
Get the email invitation to write a review.
Input data in the forms.
Click to publish the list.
BACKSTAGE
Search for the relevant resources and sort in right order.
Search for relevant recommendations.
Send the message to learning resource staff.
Add the item to your list and update the personal account.
Update the popularity of the item.
Send the message to the librarian at work.
Update the personal account record.
Update the item’s info and popularity.
Update the database.
Staff review the suggestions, decide what to add to the collections, update the database, purchase and notify the person by email.
Notify the people who are following you or your list by emails.
Alert the librarians if the item is on high demand.
The librarian read the message and reply.
SUPPORT
Archives and Collections; Reviews from others. eMagazines; Zine library; Lux Scotland Collection; Moving Image Library; Special Collections;
Notify the people who are following you by emails.
In the new journey, users' aims can be searching for a particular item by its title, or just search information about a general topic. Instead of starting from external websites, I assume that they would start with the library's search engine, and complete the tasks of search and select on the library's website.
In the final stage, users are led back to the library's website by emails inviting them to write a review for the resources they have acquired and share this to others. I also take how to help users to recover from the problems into consideration. The user flow should allow instant contact with the librarians when users meet obstacles. For instance, if they fail to find what they are looking for, or fail to obtain that material from the library, they are able to report the problems and get feedbacks as soon as possible.
PART 08
REFLECTION
Though the semester has come to an end, I feel the project itself still has a long way to go with many potentials for further development and perfection. In this section, I reflected on the limitations of my research and design and questioned myself what could have been done better. There are mainly three aspects I would like to reflect on: The consideration of broader target groups and user behaviours; The motivation to share knowledge; The technical constraints.
PART 08
After these stages, users' interactions with the information and knowledge can then go beyond the library itself and take place in a broader context engaging with various digital and physical resources such as visiting places and talking to people.
8.1 User groups and behaviours In this project, I assumed the main users to be the students. But in the design phase, I realized that the library's search engine and website is also frequently used by researchers and tutors. So, what should be done is to go back to interview people from these groups to understand their habits of using the library and find out if there is any difference from the students. Even if the students are the target users, it is still important to know what they could contribute to students' learning through the library. For example, I would imagine that the tutors could perhaps take more responsibility in reviewing the items in library's collections, making recommendations and contributing to the reading lists, whereas researchers' roles can be both contributing and in-taking information. Therefore, it may also bring about different limitations of authority when they are using the library's website. For instance, a student can only view the lists of a subject, while the teacher working in that specialism has the access to edit the lists.
8.2 Motivation to share Students have expressed their concern in the user test that they were afraid that few people would like to spend time and effort to write reviews. Apart from making this process easier, I still need to explore students' opinions towards sharing knowledge and try to stimulate their motivation to engage in this social platform and sharing with each other. For example, if a set of rules is established that who shares more information in high quality will get some kind of rewards, it might be helpful to encourage students to participate.
8.3 Technical constraints I emailed the learning technology staff at GSA library but unfortunately, they are currently away from work. The information I have got is that the library website is built on Wordpress and the catalogue is a separate identity. As shown on the web page, it is powered by CAPITA, a library management software. What I would like to investigate further is whether my design is feasible and how it can be realized through the algorithm of the search engine.
In conclusion, I am looking forward to seeing more
libraries take actions in integrating their information and resources in the future, and I hope to see more students could take responsibilities to share knowledge either voluntarily or through platforms provided by schools and libraries. This project is just one small step towards the future innovations in academic libraries, and I believe that probing deep into the users' requirements should become the new mindset of the libraries to achieve these innovations.
REFERENCE Allison, D. (2013). The patron-driven Gabridge, T., Gaskell, M. and library. Oxford, UK: Chandos Pub. Stout, A. (2008). Information Seeking through Students’ Eyes: The Borg, M. and Priestner, A. (2016). MIT Photo Diary Study. College & User experience in libraries. New Research Libraries, 69(6), pp.510York: Routledge. 523. Borg, Matt and Reidsma, Matthew, "Holistic UX: Harness Your Library’s Data Fetish to Solve the Right Problems" (2016). Books and Contributions to Books. Paper 9.
Goodman, V. (2011). Qualitative research and the modern library. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing. GSA Learning Resources Annual Survey 2015-2018.
Chow, A. and Bucknall, T. (2012). Library technology and user services. Lanclos, D. (2016, July 27). Oxford: Chandos Publishing. Embracing an Ethnographic Agenda: Context, Collaboration, DESIGN THINKING FOR and Complexity. https://doi. LIBRARIES. (2018). 1st ed. [ebook] org/10.31235/osf.io/ktw5a IDEO. Available at: http:// designthinkingforlibraries.com Priestner, A. (2017). User [Accessed 17 Aug. 2018]. experience in libraries Yearbook 2017. 1st ed. UX in Libraries. Duke, L. and Asher, A. (2012). College libraries and student culture Reidsma, M. (2015). Matthew What we now know. Chicago: Reidsma : More than Usable. [online] American library association. Matthew.reidsrow.com. Available at: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/ Foster, N. and Gibbons, S. articles/134 [Accessed 17 Aug. (2007). Studying Students The 2018]. Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester. Chicago. Foster, N.(2013). Studying Students A second look. Chicago.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The completion of this project is attributed to many people's support. First and foremost, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Iain Reid, who has given me valuable suggestions on research methods and guided my research directions. Also, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the tutors, Elio, Rachael, Michael, Kirsty, Marianne, Brian and Jonathan, who have offered me more than insightful feedbacks and instructions in interim reviews, peer reviews and tutorial sessions. Also, many thanks to my friends and peer students, Weirong, Quinnie, Zoe, Yifang and many others who have participated in my interviews, peer reviews, co-design workshops and user tests. This project could not have been developed so smoothly without the contribution of their thoughts and opinions. Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to the staff from GSA library for their time and efforts in participating my interviews and workshop and for their fabulous ideas which greatly enrich the content of this project.
T H A N K YO U FOR READING!