Increasing adoption of library resources by new visitors at the University of Alberta
Made for
The University of Alberta’s Libraries, which offer a vast collection of books, journals, and digital material to support over 40k+ students, faculty, and researchers across 4 campuses.
Made in
6 weeks
Responsibilities
Research Planning, Usability Testing, Client Management & UX Design
Client goals
The University of Alberta’s Library wanted to understand how their website can be more useful to students by...
Reducing the need to visit the library help desk when navigating through the website.
Understanding how the library’s services can be made more engaging for visitors
Recognizing how the website can supplement students in their academic journeys.
Structuring the research
After walkthroughs of the website, we were able to narrow down on our research goals
Determine whether a new user can understand and navigate to the variety of resources and features offered by the library website
Learn about the features students use most frequently and their experience using them.
Providing recommendations to improve the organization, clarity, and usability of the website and its content.
Assess the usability and usefulness of the Library Services page for various services like booking study spaces, finding course material, research + publishing etc.
Conducting tests
We conducted a moderated usability test on the live UofA Library website to attain insights
Recruitment
A screener survey was created to find suitable participants based on their previous usage of the library.
It was sent out via the University’s Weekly Digest and a Student Library Committee.
We received 26 responses to the screener.
Testing
We tested with 8 current University of Alberta students.
I personally conducted 2 and observed 2!
Our cohort was a good mix of different levels of education and exposure to the website.
1 PhD, 1 Graduate and 6 Undergraduate
Tests usually lasted 30-45 mins and were conducted via Zoom
Key Findings
We uncovered 4 key opportunities to improve the usability of the website
RESEARCH INSIGHT
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
Users do not scroll below the first fold on the home page.
The home page could be restructured to provide more relevant content for regular students.
People struggled to locate services on the Services page, even with prior experience.
Library services could be more personalized and organized to be easier to browse.
The utility of subject guides was unclear and ambiguous grouping of guides led to confusion in usage.
Discovery of subject guides could be easier by making the grouping and navigation simpler.
Users are looking for the current day’s hours and want to know which library is suitable for them.
The visit planning process can be supplemented with relevant supporting information.
Other behavioural insights
Researching with the Library
Students were not sure how resources like ejournals and databases on the library are helpful for research, as they did not know how to use them.
Getting course material
Interviewees would usually get their course material from the course page on the university LMS instead of the library and said these might not be up to date.
Booking study spaces
If needed, students google “book study space ualberta”. They want to compare various rooms by the facilities available at different locations.
Seeking academic help
Students preferred seeking support regarding coursework through their professors as they are not sure how the library can help them
Recommendation #1
The home page can be redesigned to be more relevant to a regular student while maintaining its strong hero section.
Existing home page
What works
The search functionality’s prominence on screen makes it convenient to use.
The links to research tools like Databases and eJournals also seem generally useful.
Opportunity for improvement
The content on the rest of the page lacks relevance to a student who is not deeply into research.
Recommended solution
Hero section
We maintained the core structure of this section while tweaking certain elements to improve their understandability.
These links were not understandable on their own, so we have added descriptions to them.
Since people used google to find services, the option to search the site is made more prominent.
Adding “How to Use...” guide in the main navigation increases its discoverability for new users.
Further sections
We completed reimagined the remaining wesbite by adding new sections that cater to the needs of students along with those of researchers.
Highlighted some key aspects of the “How to Use..” guide in a more graphical format to make it more engaging.
Gave “Featured Services” more real estate for smoother discovery of the most in demand services.
We found “Research” is the most common reason why people use the library.
Therefore, added a section aimed to showcase relevant resources to help start research projects.
Due to lack of conclusive data, decided to keep the News, Events and Workshops sections unchanged
Looked to add graphical elements like icons and images to make the website more engaging.
Recommendation #2
Library Services page can be structured in a way that is less overwhelming and easy to navigate.
Existing services page
What works
Categorization of services is intuitive and makes finding services easier if you know what you are looking for
Opportunity for improvement
The organization of the page was seen as cluttered.
Some services were unclear by just their names making discovery difficult.
Users preferred to use google to find the most used services than navigating through this page.
Recommended solution
We continued with the categorical assortment but changed the structure of the page to a list based layout. With this we aim to reduce cognitive load by providing a linear browsing experience which displays lesser information on the screen.
Added search to reduce the friction in finding known services.
Added a sticky side panel for seamless navigation between various categories.
Users mentioned, not all functionality is relevant to students, so proposed a Audience filter to find relevant services.
Included descriptions to help new users understand each service clearly.
Surfaced the most popular services on top for faster access.
Recommendation #3
Discovery of subject guides can be improved by making groups easier to browse.
Existing guides page
What works
Users can scan by category before narrowing in to find a specific guide. They can also easily access category specific databases.
Opportunity for improvement
Browsing can be made easier by reducing the clicks required in finding specific guides or guides by type.
Helping students understand what subject guides are and how to use them would increase their relevance.
Recommended solution
We brought out the various subjects to the main guides page to reduce the effort in navigating between different guide pages. To do this, we arranged the categories as collapsible accordions that quickly reveal all subjects under them.
Opening the accordion shows all the subjects under a category, along with a link to all databases under it.
Showed Popular guides on the side panel
The A-Z list of databases also brought out here as a quick link
Included a description explaining the concept of guides
Showed all types of guides as tabs
for faster navigation
Added options to narrow the results using search bar and sort
Recommendation #4
Hours and Locations require more contextual information to help decide which library to visit.
Existing hours+locations page
What works
The side panel has links that are easy to use and helpful. The “Jump to Location” links allow quick navigation.
Opportunity for improvement
Users wanted to know which campus the libraries are located on and the type of each library, to compare which is most suitable for them,
People mainly want to know the day’s hours.
Recommended solution
We adjusted the layout to show more locations in one view, while also segregating them by their location and type. We also added the day’s hours to each location to supplement faster decision making.
Added “Today’s hours” to each location for faster checking
Locations categorised by campus and other types
Maintained the side panel as is
To all of this, our clients said...
“Bravo! You gave us a lot to think about, in terms of
actionable pieces, that we can take forward.”
While the library website is undergoing a major migration project, our research has validated and set a strong foundation for tackling some key problem areas already in their future pipeline. We look forward to seeing how our results shape UAlberta’s library website!
Behind the scenes
A Test I conducted
Kick off call
UAlberta
Reps
Final presentation
UAlberta
Reps
Insight affinity mapping
The team 💫
Azka, Atharva, Natalie, Arnav
A big thank you to my great team for making this project fun and Prof. Madhav Tankha for his valuable guidance throughout the course of the project.
