ALTERNATIVE LIBRARY USER INTERFACE Proposal 8

THE EXISITING WEBSITE

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM The major functions of the current system are: Searching for books Loaning books Requesting books Renewing books

MY ALTERNATIVE: A ‘FOOTBALL’ METAPHOR In my opinion, using the metaphor of a football based interface fits in perfectly with the library theme. Below is a list of functions I would wish the interface to accommodate and next to them their respective alternatives in the system: Search for booksPlayer Search Loan booksLoan a player Request booksTransfer bid View popular booksLeague tables Renew booksPlayer contract negotiations Contact libraryPress conference View library infoView trophy cabinet Virtual library tourStadium tour Library newsBack page newspaper Library AccountClub account

THE HOMEPAGE LIVERPOOL LIBRARY WEBSITE ENTER

PREFERENCES PAGE Once the user has entered the site, they will be presented with the below page, which will ask them if they want to select their favourite team, which will automatically colour code the pages according to the team. It also asks them to select a font size and whether they want audio on or off: MY CLUB Please select a club: PremDiv1 Div2Div3National Please select a font size: Audio:OnOff CONTINUE

THE BENCH Once the user has set their preferences, they will be taken to ‘The Bench’ from where they can perform any task they so wish. The main theory behind this screen is that the user selects the member of a coaching staff which in the metaphor performs the task they want. They are aided by the fact that when they highlight the person, an explanation of their roles appears underneath: The explanation of each person’s role appears when they are highlighted. Each of their roles are explained on the next slides. THE BENCH

THE MANAGER The manager screen performs arguably the most important functions as you would expect with a football club. From this screen the user can: Search for a book Loan a book Read a book review So, for example if a user wanted to find a book, read a review of it and then loan it out, they would do the following: Hit the ‘Search for a book’ button Fill in the necessary search criteria Hit the ‘Read reviews’ button Go back out of the screen Hit the ‘Loan this book’ option Fill in correct details

THE CHAIRMAN From the Chairman screen, a number of different tasks can be carried out.These primarily include: Renewing books Checking your library account These tasks fit in with the idea of the chairman looking after accounts and contracts. To renew a book, the user would: Go to their library account View the books they have on loan Highlight the one they wish to renew Apply to renew it

HEAD OF P.R In my football/library metaphor, the Head of P.R screen performs the following functions: Allows the user to view general info about the library Shows the latest news Allows visits to publisher websites Gives a virtual tour of the library

THE SECRETARY Within a football club, they will be an appointed secretary, through which the club will receive correspondence. Along these lines, from this screen, the user can: Review a book Contact the library

CLOSURE In my opinion, one of the major flaws with the current system is that there is little closure – in that you are rarely notified when you have been successful in carrying out a task. In this system, whilst a task is being executed by the system, eg a search, a player will be positioning a ball on a penalty spot whilst a goalkeeper takes his stance. If the task is successful the player will score the penalty, if not the keeper will save it. This allows the user to know if they have executed a task correctly and will give them assurance they have done what they needed to do.