Library Revolution

Now how on Earth did I get myself mixed up in this???

Anybody who lurks around business and marketing blogs like I do may have seen mention of the Conversation Age eBook project. It’s a collaborative project organized by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton. It will contain more than 100 essays about conversation, social media, etc. written by some really terrific creative minds… many of whom I read regularly to get fresh perspectives on issues that libraries face these days. Here is the list of contributors:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK

Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Mindblob (Luc)
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Pollinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman

I’m contributing an article about libraries, changing information needs, and conversation… a big topic to address in a small article, let me tell you! I hope my little submission can stand up to the undoubtedly amazing chapters these folks are adding to the mix.

And the best part of this exciting project is that all proceeds going to Variety - The Children’s Charity. Are we cool, or what?

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But who cares if nobody goes there?

Since the Web usability seminar last week, I’ve found myself engaged in a lot of conversations about how public libraries can make their Web sites more usable. Lots of great ideas have been flying around, and I’m really excited to see what kinds of changes will be coming down the road for the sites of public libraries in my area.

But there was one thing that wasn’t discussed at the seminar, and thus hasn’t gotten much attention around here. That’s the issue of findability.

OK, maybe this wasn’t 100% within the purview of the seminar, and maybe we have to tackle one problem at a time. There was limited time for the session, and we all have enough on our plates in trying to make our sites more usable.

But I think that while we try to create a more perfect Web presence for our libraries, we always have to have findability in the back of our minds. You can have the greatest site in the world, but if nobody is finding it, going to it, and actually using it, what’s the point? We need to keep this issue in mind while we’re embarking on redesigns - making our sites findable via searching, browsing, and completely by accident.

I’ve come to really like using Google Analytics. This was mentioned in the Web usability seminar, but in terms of the site overlay that you can use to see what parts of your site people clicking on. But it goes so much farther than that. I personally prefer the parts that tell you how people found your site to the parts that tell you what they did there. Armed with the knowledge of the sites they were referred from, the keywords they searched, and so on, it’s much easier to improve your site’s findability among your target audience. “How are they finding us?” Quickly turns into “How can we make finding us easier?”

That’s just an easy first step… I’d be interested to know what kinds of strategies libraries use to ensure that their sites are reaching their users??

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This week I attended an extremely interesting all-day Web Usability workshop given by Steve Krug. It was one of those programs where everything he says is really common sense, and you spend the whole time saying, “well, of course!” But sometimes the common sense stuff – the stuff right there under our noses – needs to be pointed out to us so that we really see it.

There was a ton to take away from the session, but here are some of the important points I took with me.

• Test. With real people. Get some real users (and not just librarians!!!) to use your site in front of you and really watch and analyze what they do. There’s more to it than that (outlines in his book, Don’t Make Me Think), but that’s the gist. You’d be surprised what you can learn… and how incorporating the feedback can improve the experience of your site for your users.

• Spot jargon… and start speaking English. This is so important for librarians! We all assume that everyone knows what “Virtual Reference” or “eAudiobooks” are… but if you’re not a librarian, it might a well be gibberish. Sure, with some thought users might decode what the jargon on your page means, but the whole point is that they shouldn’t have to. Because they won’t. Web users don’t read- they scan. And if the links on your page aren’t obviously meaningful, they’ll get skipped.

• If something doesn’t work, fix it. When things are difficult to use, I find that Librarians love to write a brochure to explain it. Why not just make it easier to use? Duh.

• Do as little as possible to fix it. Yes, yes, yes. It’s like Occam’s razor of Web design and usability. Little tweaks are often all that is necessary to make a big difference in the usability of a site. If someone can’t find your catalog, don’t throw in the towel on the whole site design – just make the button bigger. Or move it a little to the left. Or make it red. Couldn’t that also apply to “fixing” a lot of other library services?

• Accessibility is necessary – and doable. It can seem daunting to tackle the issue of creating a site that is accessible to patrons with disabilities. But it’s the ethical thing to do…. and the legal thing to do. And there are resources out there that make accessibility achievable. So use them!!

Oh, and did I mention listening to the input of real people, not just librarians???

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