information architecture
challenge
The Billings Public Library web site was out outdated and had several usability issues. The site needed a redesign. Based on a heuristic analysis of the web site site, the following issues were discovered.
Website had a large amount of information and was not easy for users to find the information they are searching for on the site.
Website technology is also outdated and needs updating to more modern best practices.
Hierarchy of information at the top of the web site was not organized in a way that is thematic.
Hierarchy of information mixes several organizational schemes including Topical, Audience, and Chronological which was ambiguous and confusing.
My Role
My role in this project was to identify problems with the Billings Public Library website, conduct user research with Librarians to understand tasks that most Library users need to perform on Library websites, create personas to represent the most common user types, and then create a new information hierarchy to make important tasks easier to discover. I tested the hierarchy by testing some common tasks that Library users needed to perform. Then I created wireframes to use in a usability study to see if users could complete specific tasks.
Process
“True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.”
In order to redefine the information architecture of the Billings Public Library website, the process included several steps: creating a project plan, conducting design discovery, creating information site maps, creating flows and wireframes and conducting a usability testing. During each stage of the process, there were multiple rounds of peer reviews and feedback so we could stay in constant communication with stakeholders. The results of each stage of the process are outlined in detail below.
Project Plan
Milestones & Timeline
To kick off the project, a project plan was created to clearly outline the steps in the process and also show tasks detailed out in a timeline. The steps were done over several weeks with several deliverables due along the way.
Design Discovery
The first steps in the process listed in the project plan included a number of activities around design discovery. For this project, we needed to find out what types of users visit the Billings Library website, determine what their most important tasks were and also what their main pain points were.
Most Common Tasks Per user
Interviews
Interviews were conducted with 3 different Librarians from three different libraries. The interview questions were created to find out demographic information and also understand what was important to these Library users. During the interviews the most common pain points were identified:
Main Pain Points
Search does not function like Google in many cases
Unclear when search is going beyond the library website
Users don’t want to filter searches up front
Younger users do not know how to research academic information
Booking rooms can sometimes be confusing or frustrating
Personas
Once the user interviews and synthesis was completed, I created personas representing the types of users that most frequently use library websites and outlined their needs based on the prior user research. Four main personas were created to represent the majority of user types who use library websites.
Content Audit
In the next part of the process, I conducted a site inventory of all the content on the Billings Public Library web site. I assessed whether content needed to be removed, added, moved, or possibly combined with other content.
Content audit of
Billings Public Library website
Site Map
After conducting a content audit, I then created a new site map to reorganize the information in order to match the top user tasks identified in the user interview and persona creation part of the process.
Solution
Once the site map was created, I created wireframes to show how the information would be laid out in a new website design. Using a testing site called Chalkmark, we conducted a user study on our wireframes of the Billings Public Library website to test our IA. In our user study, we recruited 7 participants from all over the United States who have previously used a public library or public library website in the last 7 years. We added wireframes into the testing tool. Users were asked to complete 12 high-priority library tasks. Tasks were chosen based on the findings of our previous research and user studies. After receiving the results of the findings, the wireframes were updated to reflect the insights.
Lessons Learned
Organizing information on a site as large as the Billings Public Library was very challenging:
Users don’t do what you assume they will do
Information and how it is organized can be very subjective
There is more than one way to organize a web site
Up-level as much of the top priority information as possible