Product Selections
Redefining the library's content selection process reducing the costs of purchasing books and other materials by over 30%.
The Challenge
Purchasing materials consumes a large portion of library budgets, and trying to find the best price across multiple vendors can be a time consuming task. Navigating between separate vendor sites, figuring out bulk discounts, and managing different currencies for multiple member libraries becomes a nearly impossible task.
My Role
Lead UI/UX designer
- User Research
- Journey Mapping
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
- Customer and Stakeholder Presentations
This contract took place over the course of years, and the product continues to be developed further as additional customers use the product.
The Approach
Working directly with our customers, I helped identify areas with much needed improvements.
- 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 multiple vendor price comparison and multi library bulk discounts.
- Validate the experience with usability testing and customer feedback.
User Research and Key Findings
Identified problems
- Librarians feel like there’s never enough money to purchase everything they should.
- Member libraries could number in the hundreds. Need to be able to select for multiple at once.
- New or rushed staff may not have time or know how to properly vet items. How can we help them?
Additional concerns
- Dealing with money we need to have robust tracking and accountability.
- Needs to be flexible and customizable since local laws may vary.
- Must be able to stop partway through the list and pick up again half way through.
Ways to speed up the workflow
- Aggregate all sources in one list and default to the best pricing.
- Include user defined selection templates letting users easily select for multiple libraries at a time.
- Social metrics - Help new selectors know what might be a good item to select based upon what other libraries are selecting.
User Journey Mapping and Workflows
I created journey maps and workflows and gained buyoff from key stakeholders.
Prototyping
I created wireframes and iterated on them incorporating feedback from design reviews, product management, engineering, and the SAPLN board.
The Results
Huge time savings
Took a disjointed, time intensive process and streamlined it into a single efficient workflow saving library staff an immense amount of time.
Saved over 30% on purchases
In addition to that based on their internal metrics, the SAPLN board reported that the improved selection workflow has allowed them to cut the costs of materials acquisitions by over 30%.
