100 Ways to Improve Usability in Your Library

100 Ways to Improve Usability in Your Library

1. general

   • • conduct a usability study, use common tems, library desirable and be friendly

2. website

   • • put a help link on every page,make your catalog search incredibly easy to find. create effective navigation

3. catalog and search

   • • provide a search history, offer a site search and check your logs.

4. availability

   • • make your most often used items prominent, use statistics, offer ebooks

5. staff

   • encourage blogging
     • allow your staff to evangelize for your library and get connected with patrons by encouraging them to blog.
     • • cross train: have staff in different departament train with each other, so that everyone has more knowledge to help library patrons when needed. create a staff that enjoys working together, and they'll be better prepared to serve the needs of patrons.
   • be available
     • make sure that you always have enough staff on hand to meet  the needs of your library's users
   • support professional development
     • encourage your staff  out seek out additional education in new media, technology, and other courses that  will help  them in the library
   • use a wiki
     • utilize a wiki for content management so that you can have an effective  internal sharing system

6. library environment

   • manage noise, use signs to make areas clear, handle conflict between patrons, be positive, create stations, offer individual and group spaces, create a clean presentation

7. interaction

   • ask staff to wear name tags, offer tours, have an active email address, ask users what they want and need, create exciting events, hold training classes, improve service to remote visitors.

8. computers

   • install firefox, designate catalog and internet computers, offer more laptops, allow patrons to use the tools they want, offer wi-fi

9. equipment

   • stay on top of maintenance and repairs, lend tools.

10. kid friendly

    • use multimedia for navigation, create reading nooks, give instructions.

11. fun tools

    • flickr, del.icio.us, librarything, facebook, diigo, twitter, ma.gnolia.com, libGuides, wikipedia, youtube.

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