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Enhancing User Experience at MIT Libraries: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Learn about MIT Libraries' User Experience Group specializing in understanding and improving user interactions with virtual and physical spaces. Explore the group's methods, scope, examples of work, challenges, and innovative services to benefit faculty, students, and researchers. Contact Nicole Hennig for more information.

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Enhancing User Experience at MIT Libraries: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

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  1. Understanding how MIT faculty, students, and researchers work The new MIT Libraries User Experience Group Nicole HennigHead, User Experience GroupMarch 7, 2011

  2. Why do libraries need a user experience group?

  3. Focus on... All aspects of the user’s interaction with the product or service: .... how it is perceived, learned, and used.

  4. virtual physical

  5. users

  6. physical + virtual UX design & strategy

  7. UX is multi-disciplinary - psychology - anthropology - sociology - computer science - graphic design - industrial design - cognitive science

  8. Ethnography Study of people and communities within their own environment

  9. Ethnographic methods Primary methods: - participant observation - formal/informal interviews

  10. The UX cycle discover feedback design prototype

  11. Scope - UX group • Assessmentuser needs studies, usability testing, surveys of our users' needs, gathering and interpreting stats on use of virtual and physical spaces • Virtual sites design and productionlibraries web site, including all web, mobile and other public-facing interfaces that we can control or customize • Physical locations design and strategythe design and strategy related to services in our libraries physical locations • Marketing & communicationWork together with Marketing & Communications area to set the direction for system-wide marketing and communication.

  12. UX group web manager web editor (.5) 3 UX librarians 4 other librarians, 20 % contributing role 1 web UI developer, 20% contributing role

  13. Examples of our work Lisa Horowitz

  14. web sites

  15. web sites

  16. mobile web sites later this year, MIT iPhone app Lisa Horowitz

  17. Continuous cycle of usability testing http://libstaff.mit.edu/usability/ Lisa Horowitz

  18. Study of Library Spaces A study of why, when, and how library spaces are used by the MIT community a. Hours study b. Task survey c. Flip charts

  19. Digital scholarship at MIT a study of how new technologies and formats are changing how MIT scholars find and use information - 15 users: undergrad, grad, faculty, researchers - keep a diary of their academic lives for 1 week in March or April - 1.5-hour interviews Lisa Horowitz

  20. Sample interview questions - Describe any tasks you did during the one-week period related to finding information, including understanding, organizing, sharing, citing, teaching, presenting, or publishing. - How is your studying or research changing because of new technologies? - What are some typical or common pain points in your processes? - For the tasks described above, how did you do them differently five years ago? What has become easier and what is still difficult? Lisa Horowitz

  21. MIT’s culture - figure it out on your own - didn’t always think of libraries as a place to get help - some unfamiliarity with our more innovative services

  22. Improvements made - more self-help services, video tutorials - liaisons program (Tracy’s group) - new marketing group

  23. A place to test new services Lisa Horowitz

  24. Some current betas

  25. Some betas “graduate”

  26. Some don’t

  27. Emerging technology subgroup Who: 3-4 members - any area of the libraries When: 1 semester only, then rotates to new members What:- each member chooses one technology to explore - research it during the semester - report findings back to the group - bring ideas that show promise to the UX strategy group Lisa Horowitz

  28. Marketing Lisa Horowitz

  29. Social media

  30. Workshops

  31. Challenges - meeting the needs of the diverse MIT communities - they are working globally, not just on campus at MIT - new & changing fields of study, more interdisciplinary work Lisa Horowitz

  32. Challenges - moving away from a focus on physical collections - new formats, not just text - changing technologies Lisa Horowitz

  33. Why have a User Experience Group? understanding our users expertise of our profession & our staff + leads to.... Lisa Horowitz

  34. Innovative services..... Lisa Horowitz

  35. ... that improve the work & lives of MIT students, faculty & researchers Lisa Horowitz

  36. Thank you! Nicole Hennighennig@mit.edu @nic221

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