Help improve the library’s user experience

BackgroundOver the next few weeks, board member Michael Magoolaghan will be conducting some user research to determine:

a) what activities library staff & patrons pursue at the library, andb) how we can make user’s interactions with the library even more successful & satisfying than they are now.

Library staff can help by participating in a series of card sorting exercises. These will involve listing common patron and staff activities and then sorting them according to a variety of criteria.

You can also help by referring patrons who might be interested in participating in these exercises to Michael. He’ll be conducting weekend card-sorting sessions with patrons in the area across from the circulation desk for the next 5-6 weeks.

How You Can Help

Using the sticky notes and Sharpie pens on the table below, please do the following.

1. Under Staff Activities, create and post separate sticky notes for each activity staff members pursue during the course of a typical week. (For example: check out books, answer reference questions, issue library cards, etc.)

2. Under Patron Activities, post separate sticky notes for activities library patrons might pursue during the course of a typical week.

Staff Instructions - Week One

3. Once you have a good list of sticky notes, sort the stickies to place related and/or dependent activities near each other. (See example below.)

Final Step - Week One

What’s Next?

In a week or so, I’ll ask you to sort these same sticky notes according to some different criteria. You’ll re-sort the stickies each week for the next 5-6 weeks.

When the card sorting exercise is complete, I’ll share the study’s findings with you at a library staff meeting. At the end of the process we should have a detailed list of specific things we can do to improve the end-to-end user experience of the library for both patrons and staff.

Thanks so much for your help! I hope you enjoy this exercise.

Michael Magoolaghan

P.S. - If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at mmagoola@comcast.net .

Staff Activities

Patron Activities