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Are the current New York Public Library’s online services meeting researchers’ goals effectively?

Jan - May 2023
Navigating research in the digital age comes with its share of hurdles: from accessing online resources to wading through vast content libraries, the process can be time-consuming and riddled with obstacles that impede progress. Sensing this common struggle, the New York Public Library sought our expertise to explore the challenges researchers face and find ways to offer meaningful support.

In line with this mission, our team embarked on ethnographic studies aimed at understanding researchers' experiences with the library's services. After consulting with the NYPL team, we honed our research objective: to evaluate how researchers, distinct from non-researchers, utilize both online and offline resources provided by the New York Public Library in their daily research endeavors.

To conduct this thorough investigation, we engaged with researchers and Ph.D. students across various disciplines through interviews, workshops, and usability studies. Our inquiry unveiled three pivotal themes influencing researchers' interactions with NYPL's services: Discoverability, Accessibility, and Readability.

Significantly, we observed that many of the hurdles researchers faced stemmed from the library's digital infrastructure. Armed with these insights, we presented the NYPL team with key findings and proposed design directions aimed at enriching the library's web services.
CLIENT
New York Public Library
CONTRIBUTION
User Research, UX Ethnography, UX strategy
TEAM
Esha Mohol, Roey Wang, Yeatasmin Shiropa

Project Objective

The New York Public Library (NYPL), established in 1895, stands as a vital educational institution in New York City, housing an extensive collection of nearly 53 million items across 92 locations. Despite its size, the library is committed to adapting its services to the digital age and serving a diverse audience, including both researchers and non-researchers.

Facing the challenge of catering to this diverse user base while providing access to its vast holdings, the NYPL team grappled with the paradox of inclusivity versus acknowledging distinct user behaviors among researchers. Designing website features such as catalog filters and search functions proved challenging due to the wide-ranging user spectrum, particularly within the category of "researchers."

Researchers were assumed to possess a certain level of expertise and prefer scholarly search methods, but understanding their unique search and browsing habits was crucial. Hence, our research aimed to uncover how researchers differed from non-researchers in performing actions like searching keywords, refining search results, and accessing materials, shedding light on factors influencing their interactions with NYPL's digital products.

Methodology

Research Questions
  1. How might we define parameters for distinguishing 'researchers' from 'non-researchers'?
  2. What are the resources/ services offered by NYPL commonly used by researchers across diverse fields? 
  3. Why do researchers choose to utilize them?
  4. What does their research process typically look like? What do they prioritize during their research process?
  5. What are the challenges/roadblocks users face when using NYPL resources?
  6. How does the research process differ from online to in-person (and which is preferred/more utilized and why)?
  7. According to researchers, what are the other platforms outside of NYPL that are going the extra mile to aid their work?
Target Groups
Outlining a clear definition and criteria for distinguishing researchers from non-researchers was highly important for this study. At NYPL, a "researcher" is classified by the "intention to find authoritative material," not just by their background, experience, or training. This suggested that anyone with the intention, regardless of experience, is considered a researcher. Given this distinction, recruiting participants from diverse fields, gathering information about their research practices based on intention, and accommodating varying levels of experience were crucial to consider. We connected with five researchers from academic and applied research backgrounds:
  • Psychology
  • Medical Science
  • Art & History
  • Design Research
  • Library Science
Reseach Approach
  •  An On-site observation study (~6h) at NYPL with field-notes​
    • Our observational study at an NYPL center provided valuable insights into visitor behavior and interactions with the library environment. Based on observed ethnographic cues, it enabled us to formulate a hypothesis for distinguishing 'researchers' from other visitors. These observations were instrumental in creating an iceberg model to compare researchers' actions with their expressed thoughts and emotions, guiding our in-depth interview approach.
  • In-depth interviews followed involving usability testing of the NYPL desktop website with researchers from different fields ( 5 Participants,  available remotely/in-person )
    • In-depth interviews yielded detailed insights into researchers' needs, motivations, and decision-making processes when using NYPL's resources. Following this, a semi-structured usability evaluation of the NYPL website allowed participants to demonstrate their typical user flows. These evaluations revealed user scenarios and mental models, highlighting how the website facilitated efficient research.
  • An Ad-HOC interview with a librarian at NYPL ( 1 Participant, available on-site )
    • Brief, spontaneous 5-minute Ad-HOC interviews with NYPL librarians unveiled insights into researchers' preferred in-person services. We identified reasons users approached librarians, observed interaction patterns with assistants, and pinpointed everyday needs/issues requiring assistance.
  • Participatory workshop with researchers utilizing 'Dot Voting' and 'Forced Ranking' frameworks ( 5 Participants )
    • The participatory workshop aimed to validate our research findings, focusing on challenges and potential design directions to enhance NYPL's web services usability. Researchers were asked to vote and rank existing problems and feasible solutions based on their priorities. 
Onsite observation summaries
Onsite Observation Summaries (miro link)
Participatory Workshop Result
Participatory Workshop Result (miro link)
Component Library.jpg
Component Library

Findings / Recommendations

Overall Findings:
1.  Researchers’ work is best supported by environments that foster deep focus and allow them to work in solitude.
"Most of the research work I do is from my bedroom or the school library - I need to declutter and peacefully to sit in one place, to actually get work done."
2.  Researchers have a heavy reliance on digital infrastructures to conduct, gather, and organize research.
"I prefer online resources because it saves me the time and effort of commuting. Besides, everything is available online."
"I’d like it if when you’re reading on an iPad, you can write notes with your pencil and annotate."
3.  Using the NYPL Website creates several pain points that hinders the discoverability, accessibility and readability of resources. 
"I wonder if the librarians use a better system because they can always find my wanted information that I can’t."
"I don’t want to keep track of my email to see what I’ve requested and received."
Persona: An "Ideal Researcher" Who Can Utilize NYPL's Services
User Profile.png
User Journey.png
Finding 1: Discoverability
1. Researchers struggle to use the search feature on the NYPL website to its full potential. 
  • Keyword searches are not always accurate, or expected results don’t match 
  • Researchers (especially when just starting) take longer to discover the affordances of the advanced search feature as it is not intuitive/user-friendly and inconsistent. 

2. Researchers experience limitations in using filters to locate research material
  • Researchers find it especially difficult to discover and search for specific digital artifacts when the title or author of that artifact is unknown
  • Researchers need better classification to organize the search results.
Discoverability Prob
Recommendation 1
  • Improving the search by introducing visually appealing UI components
  • Including advanced search and filters along with a citation tool from the start to avoid multiple steps
  • New users can be presented with a pop-up tutorial for leveraging NYPL web services in their best interests
  • Potential to conduct a user study focused on filters to introduce more research roles and field-specific filters
Mockup_ Search.png
Mockup of an updated and advanced primary search option
Mockup_ Pop-up tutorial.png
Mockup Of Pop-up Tutorial For Research Page
Finding 2: Accessibility
1. Researchers want the digital infrastructure of the library to aid their personal struggles and disabilities
  • Introverted researchers want to minimize social interactions while availing of library services. 
  • Researchers with neurodivergence, such as ADHD, need more organized infrastructures to record and track their research progress. 
  • Researchers noted that the library database should reflect a broader range of literature representing marginalized communities. 
Accessibility Prob
"There is still a lack of digital resources -books and audiobooks on queer literary materials."
2. Researchers experience interruptions in the process of accessing research materials
  • Switching in and out of NYPL website due to excessive provision of external links
  • Multiple logins are required to access the same material
Recommendation 2
  • Prioritizing nesting user activities within the NYPL website interface using their NYPL membership only
  • Introducing a system where users can track and organize their research materials by ‘projects’ as a part of their account activity
  • Improve representation of marginalized communities by bringing to light a wider collection of literature in all formats (audio, video, text, etc)
  • Strengthening research support on the website by acknowledging that interaction with librarian staff should be researchers’ last resort
Mockup of Progress tracker and research material organization page
Mockup Of Progress Tracker And Research Material Organization Page
Finding 3: Readability
1. Researchers faced several readability issues while navigating through the NYPL website
  • NYPL collection is vast but may not always be relevant to their researchers’ topic-specific needs, making it challenging to streamline the navigation process
  • Important call-to-action buttons are not prominently displayed on the website; e.g., ‘download pdf’ is located in the sidebar and is not always available
  • DOI is not hyperlinked, causing users to take additional steps to locate research materials  
  • The organizational layout doesn’t correlate well with the research process steps. (Eg. Location services and events precede “Get Research Support” in terms of visibility through the navigational flow on the website)
Readability Prob
Issues With The Information Hierarchy On The Research Page
Recommendation 3
  • Ensuring that important research-specific services are illustrated early in the web flow by attributing a dedicated section on the homepage
  • Reorganizing text-heavy pages in a visually appealing manner to support scroll + pan and converting important links to prominent Call-to-action buttons
  • Potential to conduct an in-depth card sorting test to evaluate the efficiency of existing labels on the website for every section
Call-to-action button mock up
​Mock-up of Call-to-action Buttons
Mock-up of readability improvement
Mock-up of moving important research-specific services up

Conclusion

In summary, meaningful design for a product or service hinges on a thorough understanding of users' contexts, needs, and behaviors, with ethnography playing a vital role. In a collaborative 4-month project with the New York Public Library (NYPL), our goal was to explore the NYPL community, identify their needs, and shape design decisions through ethnographic methods.

Our project utilized quantitative research methodologies, including observational studies, interviews, usability evaluations, and workshops, revealing three key themes: discoverability, accessibility, and readability, crucial for NYPL website users, especially researchers.

Presenting our findings to the NYPL team led to discussions on enhancing support for individuals with disabilities and redesigning the Research page to prioritize resources. This project refined my skills in scoping research, planning fieldwork, conducting ethical research, moderating interviews, designing frameworks, and presenting findings professionally.
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