Sharon Public Library
Sharon Public Library serves the informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs of all members of the community by providing access to a professional staff, and quality materials, programs and services. While the library has all of the resources to meet those needs, they are struggling to ensure these services are just as easily accessible in a digital format.
The Problem
The website is in dire need of a redesign from the ground up with emphasis on easy to access information and welcoming thematic elements. The current website is dated from a technological perspective, and while there is an abundance of information, it can be daunting for online library patrons to find that information (i.e. it could be organized much better).
The Objective
Review and reorganize the existing content to make it easier for patrons and site users to find exactly what it is they are looking for, be it the online catalog, information about preschool story times or downloading a meeting room application form.
Discovery
Research was conducted via stakeholder interviews to learn users’ current needs and future desires in regards to the library website. In addition, industry research was also done to supplement the output from the stakeholder interviews in an effort to learn more about users’ behaviors and patterns.
Once the research was completed, analysis of the findings was conducted and used to begin evaluating the current structure of the site and brainstorming changes. This phase created deliverables such as content analysis, classification scheme, and a sitemap, which helped the stakeholders understand where the current website’s weaknesses were and recommendations on how the content can be restructured to be more accessible and easier to find.
Conceptualize
The website’s labeling and taxonomy were thoroughly assessed, which included a deep dive into how the site’s content was named, described, grouped, classified, and labeled.
Based on the tasks current library website users are trying to complete, this helps to ensure buttons, navigation, and content groups are structured and labeled in a way that makes the content easily understood and quickly accessible.
Critique
The website’s labeling and taxonomy were thoroughly assessed, which included a deep dive into how the site’s content was named, described, grouped, classified, and labeled.
Based on the tasks current library website users are trying to complete, this helps to ensure buttons, navigation, and content groups are structured and labeled in a way that makes the content easily understood and quickly accessible.
Constraints
The biggest constraint for this project was the tight timeline considering this was a seven week project from start to finish, including:
Submitting the initial project proposal
Conducting stakeholder interviews
Performing industry research
Identification and creation of four key user personas
Site mapping
Website designs, feedback and iteration
Design Highlights
Redesign highlights include:
Persistent / sticky global navigation in the header
Search bar within persistent header to allow users constant and fast access to quick search
Addition of a "How Do I?" tab within primary navigation to provide quick access to common site questions and tasks identified in research
Lessons Learned
Iterate, iterate, iterate! Feedback is your friend. While I was pleased with my first iteration with the workflows and wires, my peers were able to ask questions and provide critique that urged me to look at the designs and workflows through additional viewpoints. This practice clearly showed how valuable it is to constantly elicit feedback throughout the entire UX process.
