Library Website Redesign Project

I began contributing to the library’s website redesign in early 2021 to provide assistance with gathering user feedback, usability testing, and best practices. This was of particular importance given the fact that the library website was our users’ main point of engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, even as in-person campus activities resumed, online interactions with the library continued to increase. My work on this team helped ensure that the website continued to meet the information needs of SJSU faculty, staff, and students to support their academic success.

In order to better understand the needs of the library’s website users, our team performed a number of UX research activities including a survey to assess website usage, a card sort to inform the structuring of our navigational menu, usability tests to assess proposed changes, and interviews to learn about frustrations with the site.

Our initial survey helped us identify quick fixes on the site, including streamlining the process to book study rooms (which were in high demand during the return to campus). It also allowed us to perform quick visual updates to the site to highlight specific services and addressed confusing language on the site.

Confusion in navigating the site led our team to run a series of card sorts, which allowed us to directly see how users would organize information on the website. The findings from the card sorts informed changes to the structural layout of the library’s homepage along with an updated drop-down menu.

Lastly, we ran a series of usability tests and interviews to assess the changes we made. These changes can be seen in the image below, which includes a reworked menu across the top of the page, elevated frequently used services (such as study rooms and technology loans), and less empty space to give the website a more completed feel. The usability tests and interviews validated the changes in this round, with the majority of participants being able to successfully complete typical tasks on a library website (booking a study room, searching for articles, etc.).