The purpose of an online card application is to save people time in the library, and ideally, immediately provide them with a library barcode so that they can use library resources online.

Straightway we’re going to admit that our on the cheap online card application is not the ideal online card application solution. But it costs nothing, takes minimal staff time and saves patrons a bit of time. So. It is better than nothing, which is what most libraries have to offer.

Quick-n-Dirty Online Card Application
It’s a simple idea. Just embed a Google Form on your site. Include the details from your paper card application and tell it to email library staff whenever there’s a new submission. Staff then enter patron details into the ILS and have a card ready for them when they come to the library with whatever identification is needed. A nice touch would be to email or call (depending on what they’ve selected as a preference) when the card is ready for them to pick up. This can also serve as a reminder to bring the proper form of identification.

Ideally these emails would be forwarded to an address that’s checked hourly so that people can be promptly alerted that their cards are ready. Not as ideal but still somewhat within reason would be checking for emails at the end of the day and getting in touch with people then. No one in the circ department checking their email that often? You could always setup a filter in Gmail and forward these messages to a cellphone.

Whether you’re going to check hourly or daily, make sure you clearly state the time period in which people should expect to hear back from you. Then follow through with it.

Here’s what a form embedded in your website could look like:

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Protip: When creating a form like this you can customize the confirmation message people see after submitting the form. So instead of the default “Thanks. Your responses will appear in my spreadsheet” create a message like:

Thanks for joining us!

We’ll be in touch within a couple of hours to let you know when your card is ready. If you have any questions in the mean time, phone us at XXX.XXX.XXXX or email us at info@xyzlibrary.org.

P.S. For people that aren’t comfortable submitting their details online, the online card application page would be a good place for a PDF of the application for them to print, fill out, and bring in.

Better Typography, Fewer Boxes Please
A plea for more sensitivity to hierarchy, space, and scale in user interface design.

25 User Experience Videos That Are Worth Your Time

Usabilla
Remote usability testing

Form Design Inspiration

Site Search Best Practices
Louis Rosenfeld offers 13 site search design principles.

8 Best Practices for Mobile Site Design

Navigation is a Big Deal. You might be thinking that it’s such a big deal that short of a complete arcitectural overhaul of your site, there isn’t a whole lot of “tinkering” you can do to make any real difference. Well, hold on to your hats, because that’s exactly what this post is about: quick, easy changes you can make to your library website to improve navigation and wayfinding.

Consistent Labeling

There is nothing more disorienting than links labels that don’t match page titles. Imagine clicking a link called “Find Books” and ending up at a page called “Search The Library Catalogue”. After a while, your users might start associating their quest to find books with searching the catalogue, but why force them to make that cognitive leap when you can easily synchronize your link labels with your page titles? If the link says “Find Books”, that’s exactly what they should see (preferably in unapologetically large text) on the resulting page.

So, spend some time clicking around your site. Make sure the link labels you click on match the page titles that come up. If they don’t, change them.

Search

There is a usability theory out there that says that users only search a site when they can’t figure out how the site navigation works or when they lose the “scent” of what they’re looking for. While that might be true, in the strictest human-computer interaction sense, there is a whole subset of users who would rather just search your site to start with instead of clicking on navigation options. Blame Google.

If your library website doesn’t have a site search box, it should. Devote some template space to it so that users get used to seeing that search box in the same place on every page. Make the searchers happy and provide a simple wayfinding option at the same time.

Breadcrumbs

Think of breadcrumbs as the GPS of your website, the “You Are Here” marker that instantly orients users to where they are in your site’s architecture. Breadcrumbs are a perfect wayfinding tool because they provide a reminder to users about what section of the site they are in and how they got there.

If you don’t already have breadcrumbs on your site, there is no quick & dirty way to implement them unfortunately. But if you are using breadcrumbs, do a quick audit to make sure they are meaningful and provide some useful orientation to your users. Remember, your home page is not always the starting point for a lot of users (thank you, search engines), so make sure that every page has breadcrumbs that will also orient those who land on your site as a result of a search engine hit.

Next Up

#3: Online Library Card Application

Congrats to Kate at Central Washington University’s Brooks Library. She wrote a haiku that convinced us to give her site a UX Shakedown:

A school library
students disappear daily
New view? You betcha.

We’re looking forward to clicking through the site and giving her some recommendations!

Summary

You can make your website more effective by making it smaller, using less words and by being friendly.

Article

Think of the content on your site in two ways:

• the broad picture of what is on your site
• the narrower scope of how this stuff is presented

Both are important and both need continual attention.

Less is Less (& That’s Good)
We bet that your library’s website has too many pages. You might think that there’s no harm in keeping pages around just in case someone needs the info there. You’re probably wrong. More stuff on your site means that:

• it takes more time to make sure it is still relevant and up to date.
• your patrons are forced to sift through junk to find what they really need.
• your navigation has to be increasingly complicated.

It is better to have a website consisting of 25 effective pages that are well written and answer people’s questions than it is to have 50 sloppy pages that aren’t as useful.

You should look at every page on your website. You might cry a little bit during the process but if you do, let it be a lesson.

Making the Cut
Caution. This is dangerous stuff. People can get territorial about content related to their part of the library. Even if they haven’t updated it in 10 months. With any luck you’re in a situation where you can prune away and deselect pages just like you would a print collection. But you might not be so lucky.

Hopefully you have web analytics to see what people are using and what people aren’t using. If not, install Google Analytics now. It is free and easy. Wait a few months for an accurate report and you’ll have some data to back up your pruning shears. Any pages that people haven’t looked at in a few months need to go. It is really quite liberating!

Pages that are getting hit the most should be priorities for the next step of improving your content.

There are other big picture content issues that are just as important. More questions you can ask yourself or your web team are:

• Who has the final say about content on your site?
• What process is creating the stuff that goes on your site?

Write for the web
People using your site want to accomplish something or have a question answered. Your content is supposed to make these things happen. In other words, your content is the reason people visit your site.

In general, library websites have too many words. If you only do one thing with the content on your library website, do this:

Remove as many words as possible.

Just like superfluous pages get in the way of people finding what they want, so do superfluous words. The information on your site should be grab and go. Provide an apple tree that patrons can pick from rather than forcing them to sit through a 7 course meal. For a visual example, see our post Making Content Shine.

Make it Scannable
Since you got rid of a bunch of useless pages in the previous step you’ll have an easier time going through every page again. This time, though, make your pages scannable by providing plenty of subheadings above relatively short paragraphs. We’re skeptical of paragraphs more than 4 sentences long. If you’re unconvinced of the utility of this, do a five second test on a before and after page.

Also, review every page with your users’ needs in mind. Ask yourself why they would come to each page. Those reasons are their trigger words. Use them. Bold them.

Be Nice
Does the tone of our content reflect how friendly you are face to face? If so, either your content is conversational and welcoming or you need to be more friendly face to face. As you’re rewriting content you should be writing as if you’re answering questions asked by a really good friend.

Additional Resources
The first step in today’s post is just the tip of a content strategy iceberg. Read Kristina Halvorson’s Content Strategy for the Web to learn more about big picture thinking about what is on your website.

For a comprehensive look at writing for the web, check out Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Reddish. It is super good.

Next up

#02 Navigation & Wayfinding

Connie asks:

What are your favourite tools for wireframing and prototyping sites? I’m especially interested in online interactive prototyping, since I am usually working on sites where the audience is spread out geographically.

Great question, Connie! Here are some wireframing tools we like:

Pen & paper
Why? Fast, cheap, easy, and the tech doesn’t get in the way of expressing ideas. Plus, getting away from the computer helps us concentrate and makes us more creative.

OmniGraffle
Why? Easy to use and great stencils are available for free, including some for the iPhone.

You’ll notice that we didn’t list any online tools. We’ve never used them in a production setting, but we have played around with Gliffy and HotGloo and think they’re pretty nice.

Bonus

- Check out this wiremaps concept.
- 20 Steps to Better Wireframing

A Note of Caution

As useful as they can be internally for designers, wireframes as client deliverables might not always be appropriate.

Got a UX type question? Leave a comment or get in touch!

Don’t forget, we’re giving away one of our best services. Convince us why we should help you and we’ll review your website.

Read all about our UX Shakedown Contest.