Changes

Have you ever tried to fix an obvious (to you at least!) problem in Web usability or UX (user experience) problem only to face strong resistance from the library staff? Are you a strong advocate for making library resources, systems, services, and space as usable as possible, but do you often find yourself struggling to get the point across and/or obtain the crucial buy-in from colleagues and administrators?

There is no shortage of Web usability and UX guidelines. But applying them to a library and implementing desired changes often involves involve a long and slow process. To tackle this issue, this talk will focus on how to utilize the 'expert review' process (aka 'heuristic evaluation') as a preliminary or even preparatory step before embarking on more time-and-labor-intensive usability testing and user research. Several examples from simple fixes to more nuanced usability and UX issues in libraries will be discussed to your heart's content. The goal of this talk is to provide practical strategies for picking as many low-hanging fruits as possible to make a real (albeit small) difference to your library's Web usability and UX effectively and efficiently.