Making a local library's hidden resources easier to discover and borrow.
Client
Phoenixville Library
Industries
Library and information services
Services
UI & UX Design
Duration
2 week sprint
My Role
User research, synthesis, information architecture, wireframing, UI design, and usability testing. I was primarily responsible for the PDP and booking experience.
Overview
The Phoenixville Library is more than books, it offers a wide range of rentable items, from musical instruments to medical equipment. Most don't know that the opportunity to rent these out even exists.
During a two-week sprint, I collaborated with three other UX designers. We conducted user interviews, competitive analysis, affinity mapping, and usability testing to better understand the frustrations library users faced with the current system.
Our research revealed major pain points around navigation, item visibility, availability tracking, and the inability to reserve items online. In response, we designed a mobile app experience that made browsing and borrowing easier through categorized listings, real time availability updates, reservation alerts, digital library card access, access to setup guides, and integrated late fee payments.
The current site of the library makes it hard for users to even get to the page to see these items. But even if they can get there it feels very clunky and out of date. Items are left uncategorized with no way to see if the items are even available to rent out. But most importantly there’s no way to reserve these items online.
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Research
We conducted a series of user interviews both in-person and online. For my in-person interviews, I took a trip down to the Phoenixville library itself to talk with its real users.
When I visited the Library and asked an employee for permission to interview patrons, I was redirected several times until I was led to the libraries director’s office. Once there, I provided a detailed explanation of my project and its purpose. After addressing her concerns, she approved the interviews, and I was set loose on the population of the library.
In total I got 6 interviews, 8 in total from the team, 4 from library employees and 4 from library users.
Synthesis
The key insights gathered from these interviews showed that users wanted:
An easily accessible and categorized list of items in a feed
The ability to see availability at a glance
Alerts for when unavailable items are returned back to the library.
A way to quickly access their library card.
Guides on how to use the rented products if setup is needed
The ability to pay for any late fees
Addressing the users needs.
Here's a splayed out list showcasing how we brought attention to our users needs throughout the journey.
We sorted the Library’s offerings into four main navigation blocks and made it accessible at the main page.
Ensured users can identify item availability before proceeding to borrow.
Allowed users to set an alert for unavailable items they’re interested in, notifying them when they become available.
Allowed the library card to be accessible through the app, making it easily accessible when they rent / return items.
Provided an item usage guide / link to the official product guide website.
Allowed late fees payable through app, make it visible to give user a sense of responsibility to return items on time.
User testing
Using these initial wireframes, we conducted five usability tests, asking participants to: find and borrow a “Light tracing box” using the app. We then identified some shared comments and areas of confusion that needed improvement
On the Home Page, users were confused about the “days” displayed in the right corner of “Recently borrowed Item section.” It was meant to indicate the days left until return, but it wasn’t clear.
So to improve clarity, we added contextual guidance, changing it to “Due in # days.”
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On our PDP, Users misunderstood the status of availability, due to the light grey colored text.
Also, users didn’t notice that “1 week” refers to available rental duration.
To resolve this, we darkened the text for better readability, and clarified that the item is available for a 1-week “rental” period.
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Another issue on our PDP was that users struggled to find the “Borrow” button since it required scrolling down to access.
To fix this, we adjusted the layout, allowing the button to be visible without scrolling.
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Our most common issue we found, was confusion regarding our Booking Confirmation page.
After clicking the “Borrow” button on the PDP, users are directed to this ‘Booking Confirmation page’ which includes next-step instructions.
Our participants thought this page was only accessible once, which wasn't our intention since users need to access it again and again when they pick up, use, or return items.
So we separated the “Booking Confirmation” page from a newly created “booking details” page, making the information accessible at any time to solve this.
All THREE of these images will expand individually… isnt that neat? You just gotta click em!
Lastly, we found that users did not realize that clicking the ‘card icon’ would open the Library Card.
To address this, we added an additional guide to indicate that the icon is interactive.
These ones also expand!
Takeaways