Years of previous user research showed that undergraduate students struggled to onboard to Library Search, a significant barrier to student success.
What we wanted to find out was: What are the specific points in the search flow that cause the most confusion? Are there any UI design solutions that we could implement as "quick wins" to address these pain points?
To understand novice users' pain points, I conducted 11 interviews with library staff who directly work with incoming students teaching them how to do research. I also conducted 2 usability tests of the website with sophmores who had limited experience with Library Search.
Here are the highlights from that research:
Incoming students have a ‘Google bias’ from their extensive prior internet search experience, where the best answer is handed to them instantly with zero "digging." However, library discovery is intentionally designed to shift students from passive consumers to active agents, requiring them to critically evaluate materials, a mismatch in expectations which causes friction and frustration.
Many students receive limited library instruction, meaning they don't understand fundamental terminology such as catalogs, databases, and licensed material. This makes Library Search's information architecture essentially meaningless to them until they learn these distinctions.
Students have a STRONG preference for online materials. Ambiguous format labels cause students to fail to recognize that "Book" entries may offer immediate online access, causing students to miss valuable resources.
I translated my findings into a set of evidence-based design recommendations. I provided Figma mockups and the research results as the basis of my designs. This served as the blueprint for the UI/UX designer’s final implementation.
I handed off my mockups to the design and development teams, who iterated and tested several options in order to land on the final designs.
It is now immediately clear whether a book can be accessed online:
Users can now see what types of materials are included in each "bucket" of content:
Users can now evaluate results by more than just their titles within the search results:
Our benchmarking survey showed a 5% lift in user satisfaction post-UI updates. While several factors likely contributed to this, librarians have shared that the new designs reduce the need for them to provide basic navigation support, freeing them up to focus on deeper research instruction with students.
