[WEB4LIB] Re: Our usability test results distilled

[Chris Gray]

On Thu, 16 May 2002, Heinrich C. Kuhn wrote:

> > 9.	"I could figure out how to use it if I had to." - Test participant
> > If someone is not interested in what the library offers, it does not make
> > any difference how well-designed the library web site is.  (Memo to the
> > bibliographic instruction department:  "If you want to build a ship, don't
> > drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and
> > work, but rather teach them to long for the endless 
> > immensity of the sea." -
> > Antoine de Saint Exupery) 
> 
> How do I teach them to long for the endless immensity of
> the sea?

This is an excellent question.  As a suggestion for where to start, I
would highly recommend the section "Example 4: University Research Lab"
from Chapter 1 of Philip Greenspun's book
<http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/suck>.  Then read the whole chapter.

In a nutshell, avoid the "design recapitulates bureaucracy" trap.  Give
your users good content covering their initial interests right up front
and show them how to enrich that through what the library offers.  Your
community of users doesn't live in the library, they live in a university
or a college, in a city or a town.  Think of yourself not as building a
library site but as building a site in that larger community.  
Collaborate with that community.

For example, a university librarian could get a professor or a graduate
student working in a specific field to write a general article on a local
research or teaching specialty with links directly to important library
holdings that they rely on.  Make it possible for visitors to add comments
so that people can mention other resources they use or like.  The more
primary content on your site the more others will find it through search
engines and link to it.  If it blurs the distinction between the library's
web site and the web site's of academic departments, all the better.

Staff and patron contributed reviews of favorite novels would work wonders
for a public library site.  Think of it as content rich metadata.  A good
site to look at is Amazon.com.  Notice their "So You'd Like to...", "The
Page You Made", and "Friends & Favorites" features.

Chris Gray
Library Systems
University of Waterloo