Alternative Spring Break @UChicago Library

SOCIAL IMPACT

My recommendations helped make the university resources and archives more accessible to librarians, researchers, students, faculty and patrons of the library.

Also, getting an opportunity to create a sustainable and more data-driven model for the SCRC library’s newly redesigned website was extremely rewarding for me in terms of the experience I got in working for a service-based project.

It was equally exciting to have the scope of the project, perfectly in line with my specialization in Human-Computer Interaction, mainly User Experience (UX) Research and it was a proud moment for me to represent the UofM - School of Information (UMSI) to our prestigious neighboring university.

asb leadership committee

Being an information student, I saw Alternative Spring Break (ASB) 2017 conducted by University of Michigan - School of Information (UMSI) as a great chance to engage with our neighboring cities and understand about various social issues that they may have; over the course of the week.

I applied to volunteer and got selected to take up a role in its Leadership Committee as a Project Scoping Coordinator. 
Here, I identified ASB projects that require scoping and negotiated with the respective clients in order to best match their expectations from UMSi students and how we could ultimately make this venture worthwhile.

I then interacted with the participating organizations and students in order to match them with that scoped project and contributed in analyzing which projects require tighter scoping while which need broadening to fit the week-long program pattern.

research process

I conducted user interviews, mainly of the SCRC staff members and applied contextual inquiry principles to design an affinity map. It helped me build a relationship between the challenges users are facing and the redesigned elements of the website.
Analyzing the problem areas through a heuristic evaluation (based on Nielsen's heuristics), I drew some key findings:

• SCRC website redesigned and released in summer 2016, yet many users are struggling with basic site searching and internal navigation
   
• Staff members usually bookmark links (even level 1 navigation)
   
• Patrons or site visitors are pointed to do a Google search of the website (instead being directed to the SCRC site directly)

The RED BOX

Most of the navigation centered around the ‘Red Box’ on the right-side, which is a prominent element on the SCRC website.

• All of the primary navigation amongst majority of the users is centered around this box which renders other site elements. The most populated left-side navigation main menu remains underutilized.
   
• There is an evident lack of recognition amongst the site users.
   
• The site is appears to be not fully responsive to certain users which shifts the box’s location and makes it tough for users to locate.

primary challenges

• Users confused between label names and their grouping
   
• Users are clicking on University Archives, looking for the Photo Archives
   
• Redundancy amongst link labels causing confusion among users
   
• Search Finding Aids label present thrice on the same page, thereby creating an ambiguity

• Users are not able to find the SCRC department details

• There is confusion between Visit, About SCRC and Contact SCRC links

My Recommendations

Based on the interviews with staff members from across the department to gather information as well as a task-based study of the homepage's top-level navigation, I suggested the following recommendations:

• Links should be self-descriptive (if not, provide description on tooltip/more info.)
   
• Need for a sitemap/forum or FAQs section to address common concerns and queries
   
• Promotion of web exhibits and digital collection over social media platforms (increase outreach)
   
• Decrease redundancy over ‘Search Finding Aids’ link on the homepage
   
• Regrouping the Archives section to include relevant links
   
• Calendar Events and Live Feed requested on the homepage so as to engage the site user and keep them informed of the latest happenings at the SCRC.

I believe that these recommendations will help the Special Collections Research Center’s library website optimize and have a cohesive interface and continue to support in their mission of providing a more data-driven user experience to its users.