2. Erica Reynolds
Librarian, Former IT Manager, &
Current Director of Library Partnership
Development at BiblioCommons
@queequegs
erica@bibliocommons.com
15. Where to Observe?
• Physical Library
• Online Library
• The Exciting Place In Between
16. It’s not just about finding what’s not
working. It’s also finding what is.
Avoid biasing your observations with negative or positive
presumptions. Just look and listen without judgment.
17. Tools & Activities
• Walk in the patron’s path
• Simple observations
• Interviews: On the fly and Scheduled
• Secret shoppers
18. Walk in the patron’s path
• In person
– Decide: Why are you coming to the library today?
– Do it once as a new patron and once as a current
patron.
– Commit! Start and end as a patron. Park in the
patron’s lot. Leave from the patron’s lot. Don’t get side
tracked.
– Bring a notebook and pen or some way to record your
experience. Note everything that catches your
interest—positive, not-so-positive, and neutral.
– Extra credit: do it all from a wheelchair
19. Walk in the patron’s path
• Online:
– Decide: Why are you coming to the library’s
website today?
– Do it once as a new patron (start at Google)
and once as a current patron.
– Commit! Start and end as a patron. Don’t get
side tracked.
– Record your experience. Note everything that
catches your interest—positive, not-so-
positive, and neutral.
20. Walk in the patron’s path
• In between: Mobile & More:
– As a new patron: You’ve just moved to town, and
want to visit the public library. From your phone, what
do you do? Can you find the library online via your
phone? Is there an app? Can you find library hours
and locations easily? Walk through the experience.
– As a current patron:
• You just received an email (on your phone) from the library
that a title is coming due. Can you renew it from your phone?
What happens next?
• You just received an email (on your phone) that a hold is
ready to be picked up. How can you figure out if the location
is open and what if you forgot how to get there? Walk through
it until you’ve got your title in your hand and you’ve checked it
out.
21. Simple observations
• Sit, look, and listen
• Watch people as they come in
• What do they do, where do they go?
• Record what you see experience (it’s easy to
just bring your laptop out on the floor for this)
• Is it different in the evening, on a weekend?
• Watch people use your website (position
yourself by your public computers)
22. Interviews: On the fly
• As people use the library, ask them
questions. Let them know that you’re looking
at how to improve library services, and ask if
it’s ok that you ask a few questions—no more
than 5 minutes of their time.
• Don’t ask leading questions. Stay neutral.
• If patrons are using their own devices or one
of your in-house computers, feel free to ask
about how they use the library’s wifi or
website.
23. Interviews: On the fly
Possible simple questions as people arrive:
• Why did you come to the library today?
• How often do you visit the library?
• How often do you visit other library
locations (if applicable)?
24. Interviews: On the fly
Possible simple questions as people leave:
• Why did you come to the library today?
• Did you accomplish what you had hoped?
• What else did you do while you were at
the library today? (Use the computers,
look at the new book shelf, etc.)
25. Interviews: On the fly
Possible simple questions about the library’s
technology:
• How often do you use the library’s
computers?
• What do you use the library’s computers for?
• How often do you use the library’s website?
• What do you use the library’s website for?
• How often do you use the library’s wifi?
26. Interviews: Scheduled
• Scheduled interviews give you a chance for more
time and more of a script to observe and hear
more about the patrons in-library experience,
online experience and/or mobile experience.
• Keep them to 30-45 minutes at most.
• 2 library folks to 1 patron works well (adults)
• If you’re talking with teens or kids, get permission
and let them outnumber you. (2 library folks to 4
kids for example.)
• Remind them there are no wrong answers, and
you’re just interested in hearing about their
experience.
27. Interviews: Scheduled
• What to ask? The sky’s the limit! Everything
from general questions to more formal
usability studies. Ideas:
• Describe a recent library experience you had.
What stood out for you?
• How do you normally use the library?
• If they regularly use your website, give them
a blank page and ask them to draw it.
• Have a computer available, and ask them to
use your website/catalog as they normally
would.
28. Secret shoppers
• All ages
• No librarians allowed
• Out of town guests are very helpful for this
• Give them some common tasks
• Ask them to record their experiences right
away so that they remember and interview
them right afterwards
29. Share your results
• After you conduct a few observations or
interviews, and you want to do more, make a
plan for easily sharing the results with others.
• Set up an online survey to enter your results
and to provide quick reports and charts (if
applicable)
• Even if it’s just 1 page (which would be
great!) others will appreciate hearing about
your observations and findings
30. Analysis & Response
• Any low hanging fruit you could easily
improve?
• What was really working and should be
commended, shared, celebrated?
• Were any major issues identified?
• Now that you did some basic looking,
would more targeted observations/studies
be helpful?
• Perhaps a pilot project as a start?
36. For patrons coming in, what are
they looking for?
• Known titles/picking up holds?
• Just browsing for something good?
• A Mix?
Known
title
Something
Good
• More adult browsers on the
weekends
• Families saw coming to the library
as a regular family social activity
40. Chicago Public Library
• Conducted in-person interviews, observations
and reviewed site stats
• Even very active patrons were often unaware
of the majority of library services
• Patrons were attracted to the label “Hidden
Gems”
• Most patrons weren’t interested in traditional
research but very interested in information
around life events, aspirations, and activities
(planning a wedding, learning a language,
travel, cooking, etc.)
41. Page Views on Chicago’s Previous
Site (excluding home page)
Search (52%)
My Account (33%)
Browse (4%)
Locations (4%)
Events (2%)
Help (1.5%)
Online Resources (1%)
Services (1%)
About (0.5)
85%
42. In case you’d like to do more with
usability studies…
“The Secret to
Patron-Centered
Web Design: Cheap,
Easy and Powerful
Usability Techniques”
Computers in
Libraries
Jun 2008