[Web4lib] RE: library automation vendors

[David Walker]

>> So I wonder what is it that libraries 
>> are going to stop doing to invest in 
>> usability testing and interface development?

I don't think we really need to *stop* doing things to invest in
usability testing and interface development.  We just need to scale-back
our activities in other areas.

I would also perhaps put that question on its head and ask: How are we
already underutilizing our collections and resources in reference and
instruction precisely *because* we are not putting resources into web
development.

Let me explain:

>> It seems that a lot of this work is being 
>> done on an ad hoc basis by committees.  

This is a great observation on so many levels, and true in many places.
I know several libraries where the library web site and all the new
systems, like link resolvers and federated search systems, are being
worked on and managed by committees of librarians.

In too many libraries, we're pulling non-technical people off of the
reverence desk, out of cataloging, and out of instructional sessions to
assist with the interface and roll out of these systems.  These are
people who don't have the expertise to really do those tasks well, and
committee structures make that doubly ineffective.

And so here's the real kicker --  You can't escape the rapid growth and
increasing reliance on web technology in libraries, or the fact that our
users regularly struggle with it every day.

If we don't hire talented, tech-savvy people to do programming,
interface design, and usability testing, then we have to pull
non-technical people away from what they do well to work on these tasks
-- tasks for which they usually have no training or expertise, thus
hurting both the usability of these systems *and* those areas they
normally work in.

Likewise, too many instructional and reference encounters these days
simply involve interface explanations.  In order to even make sense out
of the dizzying array of databases and disconnected local systems in an
academic library, you have to focus a fair amount of your time helping
users with mechanics -- click here, look there, select this, don't click
on that because that's not what you want, etc.

If we spent more resources making our systems easier to use in the first
place, we wouldn't need to do that.  We could focus our reference and
instruction services more on helping users with the really challenging
aspects of research.  Right now, we're doing a lot of (unnecessary)
bad-interface explanation, and loosing whole groups of users because of
it.

Investing in the right people in the right places can let everyone do
their jobs more effectively, even allowing libraries to do more with
less people.  Sound utopian?  I don't think it is.  We've made these
type of decisions here, and are already reaping the rewards.

--Dave

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David Walker
Web Development Librarian
Library
Cal State San Marcos
760-750-4379
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