Enhancing user experience: applying a student-focused approach to library website design

Abstract

This brief presentation highlights the experiences and lessons learned from a comprehensive redesign of an undergraduate library website that focused on enhancing the user experience for undergraduate students. The project team consisted of four library staff members: a graphic designer, an IT specialist, and two librarians. The main challenge the team faced was developing a user experience (UX) protocol that prioritized the perspectives of students while also garnering support from library staff for the proposed changes to our existing assessment practices.

Prior to the project’s launch in Fall 2023, previous website redesign efforts primarily considered the opinions of library staff and faculty. Consequently, the website’s information architecture and tone of voice were flagged as potential areas of improvement during the redesign process. This concern was validated when the team collaborated with upper-year anthropology students conducting ethnographic studies of the library website. In both discussions with the students and in their formal reports, it became clear that they found the website to be inaccessible, confusing, and unwelcoming to students. To that end, the project team developed a UX protocol that sought to prioritize student perspectives as well as best practices in accessible and inclusive web design.

This presentation will provide a brief overview of the project, key examples of student-focused user experience tools we applied, and our observations and lessons learned as we continue to assess and refine the library website.

Learning Outcomes – Participants will:

1. Understand how to implement student-focused user experience practices in a web design project 2. Consider methods of encouraging library staff buy-in for student-focused website design 3. Identify ways to sustainably collect and implement student feedback on an ongoing basis