Proposal for UX Subgroup

Owned by Jessica Kruppa
Aug 26, 2022
2 min read

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

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