Intro
The UW Libraries' UX Cafe began as a pilot of small-scale, walk-up usability sessions to get feedback from users to improve the University of Washington Libraries online services and resources. The inspiration for it came from Zoe Chao, the UX librarian at Penn State. She wanted a way to continuously solicit student feedback and started a weekly free coffee station at the library.
At UW we usually conduct formal usability tests for larger projects that take a significant amount of time and resources to plan. There are a lot of times when we could get feedback on smaller issues through a lightweight study instead. Before starting the pilot we brainstormed some ideas of what to test and came up with ideas such as new icons, website changes, service labels, how students find citation help, even Libraries signage.
Process
The type of data we were looking for influenced what research methods we chose. We also needed tests that could be accomplished in a short amount of time. Our ideal UX Cafe session was made up of a facilitator and a notetaker. We asked people to think out loud to help us understand what they were doing. And, we asked why questions to get them talking.
For the pilot, we set up a table for a few hours each week in Odegaard library. Anyone could stop and participate in 5-10 minute usability tests or answer questions in exchange for a cookie or muffin.
What We Did
- A card sort assessment of Odegaard Undergraduate Library website's basic information architecture.
- Navigation Tree Testing to evaluate findability in four main UW Library website sections.
- Testing to evaluate how patrons interact with facets when searching for library materials.
- A simple survey to determine the best icon for items labeled "Archive Materials" in the UW Libraries' catalog.
- Testing aimed at finding out what students think of the scope options in the basic and advanced search bars.
- Paper prototype testing to determine initial reactions to interface and concepts of new UW Library unit pages.
Outcome
Having a weekly time and space to test users turned out to be a workable solution for an iterative design process. The UX Cafe is a great method for getting user feedback quickly and we have continued to use it!