Building the Digital Branch: Designing Effective Library Websites

Building the Digital Branch designing effective library websites David Lee King Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library davidleeking.com

Deﬁning the Digital Branch

about the library no collection traditional website no staff no interaction no meetings

it’s about the library... it's not THE library

digital branch... building staff collection community

a digital branch has... building

a digital branch has... staff

real staff http://flickr.com/photos/freedryk/2170438778/ http://flickr.com/photos/osuvalleylibrary/523383761/ http://flickr.com/photos/olympiclibrarian/303827560/in/ set-72157600282345979/

a digital branch has... collection

real collection http://ﬂickr.com/photos/lollyknit/2154242047/ http://ﬂickr.com/photos/chrisbrogan/2704762582/

a digital branch has... community

real community

a digital branch is the actual library, just online

A Guide to Usability

What is usability?

Creating your test: Questions • ﬁgure out what to test • create a question that tests that • write speciﬁc questions

Test Description • “The goal of this study is to evaluate how people ﬁnd information using our website. I will ask 15 questions and would like you to think out loud while looking for the answer. I will time you, and will stop you after 3 minutes have passed. Don’t worry if you can’t ﬁnd the answer every time–we are testing our Web site, not you! Each answer can be found using the library’s Web site. The test should take no more than 20 minutes. Do you have any questions?”

Volunteers

Administer the test • Think of this step as the consumer “taste test” • Administering the test is the easiest part of a usability study. • read the explanation, whip out your stopwatch, and say “go.”

Analyzing the test

Here are some common types of problems you’ll ﬁnd: • Wording Problems • Design Problems • Complete your usability test, redesign, and then … do it all again.

ﬂickr.com/photos/dunk/152121217/ Live Card Sorting

handout #1

Q&A Time!

Gathering Info & Planning

handout #2

how I mindjet summarize ﬁndings

Q&A Time!

Building it!

handout #3

sitemap pic Sitemap here - what to do with it

Creative Brief - Purpose - Goals - Primary Audience - Why viewers use section - Tasks section accomplishes - Content requirements - Functionality requirements

mockup pic & explanation

touching base with everyone ﬂickr.com/photos/armgov/4618925191/

release date ﬂickr.com/photos/heartrush/376989166/

Q&A Time!

What’s Next?

the day after Opening Day

web analytics

rinse, repeat ﬂickr.com/photos/eszter/340295962/

Q&A Time!

Creating Community Online

ﬂickr.com/photos/thecrazyﬁlmgirl/3248283617/

ﬂickr.com/photos/ky_olsen/3133347219/

listen for ... ﬂickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/1359721335/

how to listen ﬂickr.com/photos/lanuiop/401252404/

ﬂickr.com/photos/jliba/3496259672/ friending

ﬂickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/3424301792/ start conversations

multimedia ﬂickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/3424967893/

stuff to remember

checking in ﬂickr.com/photos/nanpalmero/4432186135/

treat the mayor!

respond

ﬂickr.com/photos/orqwith/4325166853/ new service? start here...

Planning for Expansion

Q&A Time!

http://www.davidleeking.com	270
http://bookmobilize.wordpress.com	232
http://infoventurer.com	41
http://stephenslighthouse.com	16
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://www.univie.ac.at	1

Building the Digital Branch: Designing Effective Library Websites

by David King on Aug 05, 2010

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Building the Digital Branch: Designing Effective Library Websites Presentation Transcript