Circulations
Modernizing the checkout process cutting transaction time by 24%.
The Challenge
The circulation desk is the front line of the library, a dynamic bustling hub where librarians must manage the constant flow of patrons and materials. When the checkout line is backing up, a young mother is trying to soothe her screaming child, and the end of the day is approaching, efficiency is paramount.
We needed to bring the library checkout process to the modern age redesigning it for efficiency while keeping all of the many additional actions the librarian would need easily accessible.
My Role
Lead UI/UX designer
- User Research
- Journey Mapping
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
- User Testing
The Approach
- Work directly with the product manager, customers, and engineering to determine user goals, identify process pain points, and clarify project requirements.
- Design an easy to use workflow that leverages customer insights to solve identified pain points like important checkout actions being in entirely separate workflows.
- Validate the experience with usability testing and customer feedback.
User Research Key Findings
After performing user interviews and working with customers in our strategic partner program we were able to identify some key opportunities with the redesign.
- Speed matters. Librarians want to be able to complete as much of the process as possible without having to interact with the keyboard and mouse.
- Previous workflows required librarians to navigate to multiple areas of the software to complete all actions that might be needed during the checkout process.
- Needs to be volunteer friendly. The software must be easy to learn and able to limit how much personally identifiable patron data is available during the checkout process.
Wireframing and Prototyping
Leveraging our internal design system I built out wireframes and prototypes. These were presented to product management and other stakeholders to get buyoff after which I ran usability tests to validate the workflow and correct any potential issues.
User Testing
The flows tested well overall.
Surprising problem spots included things like:
- Since patron information was the only menu option without a notifications badge and it was at the top, users incorrectly assumed it was a header.
- Some K-12 libraries needed to be able to suppress all blocks when performing checkouts.
The Results
Based upon our internal metrics, checkout transaction time decreased by 24% allowing librarians to serve more patrons efficiently.
Customer Feedback
Tiana, a librarian at INFOhio, which includes more than 2300 school libraries and 1.1 million students shared the following:
“When I saw how easy it was to use and how my workflow was so much quicker, it was a done deal and I haven’t stopped using it since.”
Allisha, a librarian at INFOhio
"With BLUEcloud Circ I feel like I can be interrupted at any moment and I’m not going to feel like, oh my gosh, I don’t know where I was. It’s just so nice and time saving. I love it!"
