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One of the presenters was Kimberley Johnson, who is a User Experience Researcher at Google. I found her presentation really interesting as she applied Google's design theories to the world of libraries. She pointed out that Google aims to organise the world's information and make it accessible and useful, which is very much in line with the aim of libraries. Her presentation highlighted the importance of the user experience; if users don't like the experience they'll just go somewhere else. The interface is important but it must be backed up by substance, so there's no point having an amazing front-page for your library web-site if there's nothing useful behind it, users just won’t use it.
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A user may come up with their own solution to an issue but that may not necessarily be the best solution, we need to explore all possible solutions and go through cycles of trying ideas and if they’re not successful enough try something else, with the involvement of users at every stage.
At Google they can analyse logs of searches (as librarians can with chat reference), but that is not enough, it is essential to talk to people to find out what is really happening. Research through feedback forms and suggestion boxes can also be helpful.
Libraries can plan what they are going to do, then put those plans to their users and get feedback. Once a new service is in place, it must still be evaluated. Users are not always very good at evaluating their experience, they may say something is good but by watching them you can see that it could be improved – so user observation is very useful.
She also said that every conversation is a learning opportunity; if patrons keep coming to you with the same problems you will realise there is an issue. It was recommended to keep track of all reference desk conversations so that patterns of need can be recognised enabling the library to consider what can be done to meet those needs.
Google has the attitude that “it is never the user’s fault”. So, if users keep using library software in the ‘wrong’ way, we must build tools to meet the users needs by adapting services to meet them where they are – not by criticising them for doing it wrong!
The three key points of the presentation were:
- Involve users at every stage.
- Every conversation is an opportunity.
- It's never the users fault.