Re: Designing future "catalogs" - where do the users come in?

> If the user's perspective doesn't come into play until the 
> usability testing stage, that's probably too late.

This depends on how you do your usability testing.

Usability experts all agree that if you wait to do user testing until the end of the process -- after the system has already been built -- then it's too late.

But if you bring users into the design process from the beginning, starting with focus groups, and then again at different iterations in the applications development lifecycle -- paper prototypes, wireframes, and so on -- you can get user feedback early and often enough to make useful design decisions.

You need user-feedback from the very beginning, before you write a line of code.  And I agree that simply talking to reference and instruction librarians is a poor substitute for actual end-users.

--Dave

==================
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu
________________________________________
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan [bgsloan2_at_YAHOO.COM]
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 8:57 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [NGC4LIB] Designing future "catalogs" - where do the users come in?

Every now and then I'm struck by the notion that library systems, generally, are designed BY librarians FOR librarians. I've had some people argue with this notion in the past, saying some library systems are difficult for even librarians to use. :-)

But I think you all get my drift...where in the process of designing a new "catalog" does user (patron) input come in? If the user's perspective doesn't come into play until the usability testing stage, that's probably too late.

I'll focus my question on one particular type of library as an example. Has anyone ever focused on the information-seeking behavior of students and faculty when developing the requirements for a "catalog" for an academic library? I'm not talking about holding a few focus groups early in the process. I'm talking about an in-depth look at studies of information-seeking behavior in a higher education environment. And I'm not talking about studies of how library users use library catalogs (although that would be useful information). I'm talking about the whole information-seeking environment...not just the part that the library controls.

I've been involved in several projects to develop requirements for OPACs. Generally, when we'd come to the "end-user requirements" part of the process, we'd listen to public services librarians describe catalog functionality that they THOUGHT users needed. Nothing against public services librarians...they're definitely closer to the end-user than catalogers and administrators. But they're still *librarians*, and they still view things through a librarian lens.

In short, how do we design systems that help users find what they really need, rather than designing systems where we librarians assume we know what users need?

Just some random thoughts on a rainy Friday...

Bernie Sloan