1. Is Your Library’s Website an
OBSTACLE COURSE?
Laura Solomon
Library Services Manager
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
@laurasolomon
Meanlaura.com

2. Today’s agenda: 01 02 03 Rethinking site visitors Four case studies.
The big take-aways

3. THE CONCEPTS

5. CONCEPT #1
Users are TASK-DRIVEN.

6. We have to get out of the user’s way
LIBRARY WEBSITE

7. “People only notice design when it’s bad.”
Erik Spiekermann, typographer

8. Users don’t care about your design. Unless it’s bad.
CONCEPT #2
Users don’t care about your design. Unless it’s bad.

9. Why do libraries attempt to recreate the wheel?
Ignorance
Willful ignorance

10. Eugen Eşanu, Designer & Founder of Laroche.co
“Before reinventing the wheel, you have to understand the value (time, effort, knowledge) that went into what you are trying to disrupt and innovate.”
Eugen Eşanu, Designer & Founder of Laroche.co

11. Ignoring well-known conventions hurts users.
CONCEPT #3
Ignoring well-known conventions hurts users.

13. “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
W. Edwards Deming, data scientist

14. CONCEPT #4
Anecdotes are not data.

15. The four main concepts:
Users are TASK-DRIVEN.
Concept #3
Concept #2
Ignoring well-known conventions hurts users..
Users don’t care about your design. Unless it’s bad.
Concept #4
Anecdotes are not data..

16. THE CASE STUDIES

17. Eugen Eşanu, Designer & Founder of Laroche.co
When a person uses your site, you forget that she shouldn’t spend time thinking about…
Where am I?
Where should I begin?
Where the f* did they put _____ ?
What are the most important things on this page?
Why did they call it that way?
Is that an ad or part of the site?
Eugen Eşanu, Designer & Founder of Laroche.co

18. CASE STUDY #1

19. OBSTACLE #1: The logo

20. OBSTACLE #2: The navigation

21. OBSTACLE #3: The jargon

22. Problematic library jargon
Catalog or discovery tool: “catalog,” “COPAC,” “LINK+,” “Engine Orange”
Fulfillment: “Find UIC”, “360Link”, “Get it,” “location”
Journal and database terminology: “Databases,” “Periodical,” “Serial”
Research links: “Research guides,” “Reference Sources,” “E-shelf,” “Collections”
Locations: “Course reserves,” “Reference”

23. Hoa Loranger, “Avoid Category Names That Suck”
“Categories and hypertext act as signs and should give people a strong indication of what will happen before they click the link. People avoid clicking unknown items, or even worse, ignore them altogether.”
 Hoa Loranger, “Avoid Category Names That Suck”

24. OBSTACLE #4: The search

25. OBSTACLES, CASE STUDY #1
SEARCH
JARGON
NAVIGATION
LOGO

26. CASE STUDY #2

27. OBSTACLE #1: Multiple searches

28. MENTAL MODELS

30. OBSTACLE #2: Redundant links

31. OBSTACLE #3: Icons without recognition or context

32. OBSTACLES, CASE STUDY #2
ICONS
REDUNDANCY
SEARCH

33. CASE STUDY #3

34. OBSTACLE #1: Wall O’ Text

35. Jakob Nielsen, “How Users Read on the Web”
“They don't. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.”
 Jakob Nielsen, “How Users Read on the Web”
October 1, 1997

36. https://www. business2community

37. OBSTACLE #2: Problematic links

38. OTHER OBSTACLES

39. OBSTACLES, CASE STUDY #3
OTHERS
LINKS
TEXT

40. CASE STUDY #4

41. OBSTACLE #1: Placeholder text

42. OBSTACLE #2: Contrast

43. https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker

44. OBSTACLE #3: The carousel

46. “Users have learned to ignore content that resembles ads, is close to ads, or appears in locations traditionally dedicated to ads.”
Kara Pernice, “Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop”

48. Carousel pros & cons LIBRARY USER Cons Pros Poor for accessibility
Slows site down
Users almost universally ignore these
Often not usable on mobile
Solves no problems for the user . e
Pros
Solves internal territory fights
Crams more on the homepage
Looks “cool” .
LIBRARY
USER

49. OBSTACLES, CASE STUDY #4
CAROUSELS
CONTRAST
PLACEHOLDERS

50. THE BIG TAKE-AWAYS

51. How libraries create obstacles
“The best user experience is the one the user doesn’t notice.”
Danny Halarewich
IGNORANCE
ANECDOTES
LIBRARY FIRST

52. Stay in touch! Laura Solomon laura@oplin.ohio.gov www.meanlaura.com