Proposal for UX Subgroup

1. Problem Statement

• Discovery team's stated Objective was to improve the user experience of UCLS

• "To improve the experience of discovery and delivery for users across the UC Libraries through iterative research and development."

• However, over the past six months the group has not engaged in any coordinated user research or usability testing

• The group's agendas have been dominated by requests and topics brought forward by the other groups (e-resources, fulfillment, resource management, etc.)

• This is understandable since the work of most of the other groups has some kind of effect on the Discovery layer

• But usability and accessibility are extremely important and we must find a way to make time to address them

• Additionally, the set of people in the UC Libraries best suited to make decisions about the topics brought by the other groups that affect Discovery has only a partial overlap with the set of people best suited to perform user research and interface design.

2. Proposed Solution

• Create a new SILS subteam dedicated to UX

• The purpose of this group will be to:

• coordinate user research (interviews, usability tests, accessibility audits, etc.)

• coordinate an iterative process to design recommended solutions

• Optional: coordinate the sharing of implementations of the design solutions in a shared code repository (this could remain in the Discovery Group)

3. Considerations

• There will be some overlap between the Discovery and UX Subgroups, both in terms of their domains and their memberships

• Therefore, one possible arrangement of these two groups is for one of them to be a subcommittee within the other.

4. Alternative Solution

• Another option would be to expand the size of the current Discovery Group and allow more than one member per campus

• This would enable the group to include both experts in Alma/Primo who have understanding of the interrelation between the Discovery layer and the other functional areas as well as experts in UX

• The Discovery group currently meets biweekly. With an expanded membership, the group could meet weekly, alternating agendas between a UX focus and general Discovery topics and allow the members to choose which of the two sets of meetings they attend

• A small subset of the group would be expected to attend both sets of meetings to ensure good communication and coordination between them