NERCOMP EVENT
Usability in Libraries and Beyond
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“ On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave.” --Jakob Nielsen
Watching a first-time user grapple with one’s website can be an eye-opening and humbling experience. Navigation schemes, vocabulary, site architecture, and design elements can all act to help or hinder users who wish to avail themselves of your online services. Usability refers both to how easy an interface is to use, and also to the process of studying and improving the user experience.
In this day-long program, presenters who are involved in exciting usability initiatives throughout the Northeast come together to provide an overview of usability principles and research methodology. Examples of changes that have been implemented based on evidence from usability testing will be shown and discussed. Sessions will include interactive components that will provide participants with the opportunity to try out some usability testing methods and practice implementing changes based upon evidence.
Many (but not all) of the day’s speakers come from libraries, and several examples will focus on the particular usability challenges that arise from the disconnect between librarians’ and users’ worldviews. Nevertheless, the information and activities in this workshop will benefit anyone who has responsibility for maintaining a web presence.
Participants should come away with a greater understanding of and appreciation for:
• How an understanding of users’ actual needs and behavior can inform design choices
• The implications of design choices for various groups, including people with disabilities
• Different types of usability research methods, including anthropological/ethnographic methods, laboratory techniques, and rapid, wide-scale Web-based testing software
Workshop Organizer/Host: Emily Alling from Marlboro College and Kelcy Shepherd from University of Massachusetts Amherst
Date/Time:
Monday, November 09, 2009
9:00am - 3:00pm
Registration begins at 8:00am
Location:
UMASS Amherst
Campus Center
First Floor
Amherst, MA
Special instructions:
Getting to the Campus Center Parking Garage… From Massachusetts Avenue (after exiting from Route 116) At the second set of lights turn left onto Commonwealth Avenue – Boyden Gymnasium is on the corner of Commonwealth & Massachusetts Avenues. At the next set of lights turn right onto Campus Center Way and proceed up Campus Center Way – The entrance to the Campus Center Parking Garage is at the top of the hill on the right.
Parking is available in the Campus Center Garage, pick up your parking pass at the registration desk and pay $5 when leaving.
Park on the 2nd floor of the parking garage and walk thru the hallway into the Student Center and go down to the first floor.
Pricing:
NERCOMP Members: $112
Non-Members: $237
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Additional Information
Event Schedule:
8:00am – 9:00am Registration and Coffee
9:00am – 9:15am Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:15am – 10:15am Using Users Studies to Improve Libraries
Speaker: Susan Gibbons, Vice-Provost and Dean of Libraries, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Since 2003, the River Campus Libraries of the University of Rochester have been using ethnographic and anthropological methodologies to improve library services, facilities, and its digital presence. This presentation will highlight several examples to demonstrate the progression from exploration, to insight, to action.
10:15am – 10:30am Break
10:30am – 11:15am Usability Lab as a Collaborative Platform for Applied Research, Experiential Learning, and Community Services
Speakers:
Linnea Johnson , Assistant Manager of Information Technology, Adjunct Faculty
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College
Rong Tang, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, GSLIS Usability Lab, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College
The Simmons GSLIS Usability Lab, established in September 2008 by a grant from the Simmons Pottruck Technology Resource Center, fosters collaborative research, enhances experiential learning, and provides services to communities with usability needs. As an innovative, state-of-the-art testing facility, the Usability Lab not only improves and advances GSLIS faculty and student research experiences, but also offers a unique infrastructure with specialized software, equipment, and support enabling external researchers to perform evaluation of new and existing technologies within their organizations. The Lab provides training and tours to researchers, students, and alumni interested in usability testing. Additionally, the Lab functions as the primary research environment for projects of several Longwood Medical Area institutions. Our presentation will outline the steps required for establishing a Usability Lab, implementing equipment/software, training personnel, and providing high quality services. We will also discuss our plan for sustainability of the Lab through evolving economic climates and present our vision for future development of the Lab.
11:15am – 12:15pm User-Centered Web Design At The New York Public Library
Speaker: Michael Lascarides, User Analyst, Digital Experience Group, New York Public Library
The Digital Experience Group of The New York Public Library was established to create public- and staff-facing online tools and content, such as the NYPL Digital Gallery, NYPL.org, and NYPL blogs. One tool developed at the Library is Infomaki, an open-source “lightweight” usability testing application. Designed to evaluate new designs and uncover insights about our patrons one question at a time, it is geared towards lowering the cognitive load on the respondent and maximizing response rates (the tool has captured well over 100,000 responses from over 10,000 respondents to date). Infomaki is not intended to be a formal research tool; rather, its strength lies in lowering the turnaround time between formulating a question and getting a response to that question form the general public.
In this session, user analyst and lead Infomaki developer Michael Lascarides will present the NYPL’s successes and failures in incorporating results from Infomaki and other usability testing methods into our workflow, and lead a discussion about the relative strengths and weaknesses of various feedback-gathering tools in the digital librarian’s toolkit.
12:15pm – 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm – 1:45pm Universal Usability: How Design Choices Affect Accessibility
Speaker: Julie Strothman, User Experience Researcher, Project Manager, Landmark College Institute for Research and Training
Have you ever tried filling out a form using only your keyboard? Getting information from a web page with your eyes closed? Do you know anyone who is aging or who has minimal technical familiarity? The internet should serve as an equalizer for people challenged by location, ability, language, etc. However, it is easy to miss the mark if you do not have a sense of how design choices actually affect usability and accessibility. This session will include simulations of web surfing by people with a variety of disabilities. Participants will learn to recognize and evaluate access issues and will have opportunities to practice improving accessibility of text, electronic documents, and images.
1:45pm - 3:00pm Better Products and Services by Understanding the User: Talk to People, Don’t be Shy!
Speaker: Candace Brooks, Design Researcher, Strategist and Assistant Professor of Industrial Design, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
Design research remains largely an obscure practice outside of the product design industry. With roots in anthropology and ethnography, design research strives to understand people. Armed with this knowledge, design researchers believe that user’s needs are met more readily, which yields better products and services.
My goal for this talk is to share with you what design research is, its value within the product design industry and how you can use simple tools in your daily work to help you better serve your customers/users.
3:00pm Wrap-up, Closing Remarks and Evaluations
Speaker:
Susan Gibbons
Susan Gibbons is Vice Provost and the Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester. Ms. Gibbons earned an MLS and M.A. in history from Indiana University, professional MBA from the University of Massachusetts and an Ed.D at University of Rochester.
Most recently, Ms. Gibbons’ research has focused on methodologies for user studies, the alignment of academic libraries with the needs of Net Generation students, university press publishing, and the future of academic librarianship in the digital age. In 2007 she published The Academic Library and the Net Generation Student and Studying Students: the Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester, for which Ms. Gibbons was co-editor. She was named one of Library Journal’s 2005 “Movers & Shakers” and in 2006 was a Visiting Program Officer for the Association for Research Libraries.
Speaker:
Linnea Johnson
Linnea Johnson is the Assistant Manager of Information Technology for GSLIS and Manager of GSLIS Usability Lab. Linnea got her B.A. from Simmons in 2001 majoring in Communications and minoring in Graphic Design. She joined the GSLIS Technology Team in November of 2001, which she currently manages along with the GSLIS Usability Lab. She graduated from the GSLIS program in 2004. She is also a GSLIS Adjunct Faculty member and teaches the Technology for Information Professionals course, LIS 488. She has been working in the Technology field for over 12 years with specific teaching and research interest in: Information Technology, Technology Management, Organization, and Leadership, Social Computing and User Behavior, Social Networking and Media, Web 2.0/3.0, User-Generated Content, Usability Testing, and Cloud Computing. She is also an active Twitter user and can be found in the Twitterverse at http://twitter.com/leonnea
Speaker:
Michael Lascarides
Michael Lascarides is the User Analyst for the Digital Experience Group of the New York Public Library. He has been a web designer, programmer and information architect since 1996 for clients ranging from finance to fashion and education to e-commerce. He teaches web design and information architecture at School of Visual Arts and New York University.
Speaker:
Candace Brooks
Candace Brooks is a Boston area design researcher and strategist as well as an adjunct professor. She uses psychology, product design and design research to design better and more useful products for the end user. As a user advocate, she is interested in people, how they do things, namely how they use products and what motivates them. For Candace, the user is the center of the universe for product and service design.
Practicing Design Research allows Candace to employ the full range of her education. Candace studied psychology at Boston University (B.A.), industrial design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (B.F.A.) and completed her graduate studies in Human-Centered Product Design at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (MDes).
Candace’s professional background includes working for both consultancies and corporations including Steelcase, Bose, Staples, CVS, Kimberly-Clark, Medela, Sanford Brands, Procter & Gamble, Rust-o-leum, Insight Product Development and Ximedica.
In recent years Candace has taught industrial design classes at MassArt including design research, studio design classes, design principles as well as portfolio and presentation.
Speaker:
Julie Strothman
Julie Strothman, M.S., is a user experience researcher and project manager with the Landmark College Institute for Research and Training. Ms. Strothman brings 15 years of project management experience to LCIRT grants and projects, with a focus on projects geared to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Ms. Strothman manages Landmark College’s Universal Design and Usability Lab, leading evaluation and design activities to create satisfying online experiences for people, regardless of the tools they use to pull meaning from a screen. Recent projects include evaluations and design recommendations for: community college websites, algebra learning resources, online courses for educators, library websites, a national student internship website redesign and a commercial research website.
Speaker:
Rong Tang
Rong Tang is an Associate Professor of Library Information Science and the Director of GSLIS Usability Lab, Simmons College. She received her PhD from the School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research spans user generated metadata, user studies and needs assessment, mental models of online searching, bibliometrics and citation behavior research, library technology and automation planning, usability testing and information service evaluation. She has conducted research related to user behavior funded by the American Psychological Association (APA), OCLC (Online Computer Library Center)/ALISE (Association of Library Information Science Education), and the Advanced Research and Development Activity of U.S. Department of Defense. One of her publications was the 2008 Bohdan S. Wynar/ALISE Research Paper Competition Winner. She is also 2008 Simmons Sloan Fellow for Faculty Leadership and Career Flexibility. Presently, she leads multiple collaborative projects of usability evaluation of biomedical research portals or intranets, partnering with Harvard Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI) and Biomedical Research Institute of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners Health Care.
Related Media Files:
http://64.3.162.168/media/20091109-LascaridesUsability.pdf
http://64.3.162.168/media/NERCOMPusability_tangjohnsonfinal.pdf
http://64.3.162.168/media/nercomp_usabilityGibbons.pdf
http://64.3.162.168/media/BrooksUsability 110909.pdf
http://64.3.162.168/media/universal-usability-strotham.pdf
Contact Information:
Lisa DiMauro
860-345-2081
ldimauro@nercomp.org
Hotel Information:
Rooms are available at the Campus Center Hotel located right on campus.
Rooms are reserved under Block Number NER09C, the rate is $107 per night. The room block will be released on October 23.
Call the hotel directly at: 1-413-549-6000 ext 78047
For additional information go to:
http://www.aux.umass.edu/hotel/
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