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Reasons for having the instruction librarians handle library website design
First, let me say that this is EXACTLY how people should put together their PowerPoints to submit to E-LIS. They used the notes field to record what they said during the presentation and tied it to each slide. See how much easier it is to learn from their presentation if you couldn’t make it to the conference!
Paul, Kathryn and Raworth, Rebecca and Bebbington, Tina and Stuart, Nancy. Building the instruction-optional Web site : Evaluating user centered design in libraries. In WILU 2009, Montreal, Quebec (Canada), 25-27 May 2009. (PDF)
You have to check out this presentation. These librarians did a fabulous job of designing and implementing a study of their website. Not only that, they make recommendations from what they learned.
To quote slide 12 “We believe that instead of focusing our energies on teaching students how to navigate library resources, we should focus our instruction expertise on library website design. We should be working harder to remove the barriers of our users and that instruction librarians become active participants in website design and website usability.”
Amen sisters! I’ve been saying that for years!
Recently, we had a guest speaker at my IHL (Institition of Higher Learning), which I missed, but I heard that he had done some secret shopping of our website before arriving. According to several sources, he pointed out many flaws with the IHL’s website, but said that the library’s website was “perfect.”
Why do I think it is that we have achieved such a high level of effectiveness? Because the librarian who handles all the instruction also does the website (that’s me in case you didn’t figure it out). PLUS, all of my coworkers let me know as soon as they notice any trends in students struggling to use or find something so it can be immediately tweaked to improve its usability.
Of course, there are still many things I’d like to fix and change, but when will I ever be totally happy with it, right? lol Still, the point is that when you have a website where the design is tied into instruction, you have happy patrons.
Oh, also refer to slide 10 of this presentation. Some great stuff there on other aspects of web design I didn’t know before!!
Posted by Laurie on June 4th, 2009 under Laurie speaks!Search:
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