Taylor Community Library - Information Architecture

Problem

The Taylor Community Library functions as a department of the Taylor, Michigan city government. Library stakeholders identified the need to reassess and redesign the information architecture of the library website (http://taylor.lib.mi.us/814/Library) in order to:

Improve the overall user experience and usability.
Organize the content and navigation to better facilitate typical user tasks.

Approach

The scope of this project was distributed across a six-week timetable and included the following phases:

Weeks 1-2: Learning About and Understanding Users and Context

Taylor Community Library Interview Protocol and Research Insights Document Images — Taylor Community Library Interview Protocol and Research Insights

Using an interview protocol developed for the project, I met with library staff and also conducted a literature review in order to gain insight into the typical kinds of users that interact with the library site, the contextual nature of their use, and what information/activities are most desirable to them. User personas and prioritized site tasks were developed that helped to guide the project’s activities.

Taylor Community Library Site Tasks Ranked by User Persona Needs and Motivations Image — Taylor Community Library Site Tasks Ranked by User Persona Needs and Motivations

Week 3: Supporting Tasks with Content, Labeling & Taxonomy

A content analysis of the current site was completed and evaluated according to the prioritized list of site tasks by user persona. A classification scheme and navigation was developed to a support use case patterns, hierarchy of information and resources, and promote an intuitive interaction with site content for users. Finally, a site map was developed to support the classification scheme and navigation.

Taylor Community Library Website Content Inventory

Taylor Community Library Redesigned Site Map

Week 4: Assessing Labeling and Taxonomy

The classification scheme and navigation were tested with representative user participants and iterative revisions made based on test results. The redesigned site map was uploaded to the Treejack tree test program and 4 test subjects were recruited. Subjects were prompted to complete retrieval tasks that aligned with the prioritized site tasks.

Classification Scheme and Navigation Testing Report and Recommended Revisions

Week 5: Wireframes & Design Testing

Low-fidelity wireframes were produced to represent the redesigned IA of the library website’s homepage, navigation, and several key workflows. A second phase of participant testing was conducted. The wireframe mock-ups were uploaded to the Chalkmark first-click test program and 4 test subjects were recruited. Subjects were prompted to complete first-click workflow tasks that aligned with the prioritized site tasks. Data was collected through first-click heat map plots that represented where subjects clicked on the wireframes to accomplish the tasks presented.

Low-fidelity Wireframes and Sample Workflows for Taylor Community Library Site Redesign

Week 6: Analysis of Design Testing and Comprehensive Final Project Deliverable

Results of the final testing phase were analyzed and incorporated into the revised wireframes and sitemap.

Revised Wireframes for Taylor Community Library Website Redesign

Revised Sitemap for Taylor Community Library Website

Results

The initial motivations of the Taylor Community Library were to improve the overall user experience and usability, and to organize the site’s content and navigation to better facilitate typical user tasks. However, to effectively achieve these goals, I first needed to research and gain an understanding of who the users of the site were, and what motivations, use cases, and needs they had. The production of user personas and a targeted list of recommended designs for content, labeling, taxonomy, and the redesigned site allowed for the library’s goals for the project to be achieved. Ultimately, this provided a more pleasurable and productive experience for the patrons of the library’s digital properties.

Lessons Learned

Information derived from this research phase provided insight necessary for the development of prioritized tasks in which library website users are typically engaged. Priority level status was assigned based upon the frequency of inclusion and the subjective ranking of importance in research materials and interview sessions. This information guided the subsequent development of the redesigned site’s Information Architecture.
The testing results indicated that the wireframe designs and the underlying IA provided a sufficiently high-level of clarity, content, and organization to allow test subjects to accomplish all of the prioritized site tasks.
The inclusion of multiple workflow pathways allowed users to successfully accomplish tasks based on their preferences and individual motivations.
The user population for public library websites represents a diverse range of ethnographic groups. In order to continue offering the best user experience periodic user testing is essential to ensure continued task success and functionality by users. Website analytics, including but not limited to content and tool engagement, and query strings should be monitored as primary information resources.