Help the Library Receive Candy: The ILL Usability Project at Reed College
- Conference Year
- Online Northwest 2017
- Session
- 2
- Type
- Breakout Session
- Presenters
- Eric Alwine, Reed College
- Annie Downey, Reed College
- Abstract
This session examines the methods and results of a usability project assessing the Reed College Library’s interlibrary loan (ILL) program. Employing a service design approach (including “guerrilla”-style web usability studies, user surveys, and student worker interviews), the Reed Library User Experience (LUX) team worked closely with library users and staff to understand the various processes that make up the ILL user experience.
Though this session will focus on Reed’s ILL usability project as its example, it will be especially concerned with exploring tools and methods that could be used to conduct similar projects at other institutions.
- Learning Outcomes
Attendees will leave this session with simple and low cost strategies for conducting ongoing usability studies of interlibrary loan (and other) services. They will also be introduced to the service design methodology as a viable method for understanding user needs and expectations of library services.
- Links