Library holds: a usability study

The problem

I noticed friends giving up when placing a hold on library books and wondered whether the site or the readers were the problem.

What needed to be done

Run a small usability study and recommend the highest-value improvements.

How the right problem was found

I tested the live site with eight readers across ages 19 to 74 on their own devices. Six could not find where to choose a pickup branch. I ranked issues by how many people hit them and how badly, and mocked up fixes for the top three.

The outcome, measured

I shared the report with the library, which fixed the pickup branch label and moved the hold button.

8

Participants

6 of 8

Participants who missed the pickup choice

2

Fixes shipped by the library

Skills and tools