UX Systemwide Assessment FY11
This document articulates the UX objectives and implementation plans for the FY11 systemwide assessment.
Updated 2/1/11. (Also see UX FY11 Goals, which are local goals, separate from the systemwide assessment.)
FY11 UX Objectives
The list below are the objectives that we have agreed to pursue.
ETHNOGRAPHY/ASSESSMENT
Systemwide Objective: Understand our Users
1. UX objective: Explore how new technologies and formats are having an impact on how MIT scholars find, use, and share information for their study, research, and publishing.
Measures:
- Report of user study that describes how new technologies and formats are having an impact on how MIT scholars find, use, and share information for their study, research, and publishing.
- Tool: Digital scholarship study
- # of needs we already meet; # of needs we do not meet
- Tool: ethnographic study
The next item is both for the above objective and this one:
SPACE
Systemwide Objective: Transform library spaces
2. UX objective: Gather baseline data about how our spaces are currently being used and how well they meet our users’ needs.
Measures
- Counts of times when spaces are "saturated" -- "saturation" points - when all space/equipment is used
- Observation study (subset of user needs study)
- Ratio of hours booked to hours available for bookable rooms
- Room use statistics
- Ratio of seats used to seats available within the Libraries; in other spaces beyond dorms
- List of features of other study spaces (to determine why choose that space vs. Libraries, or vice versa)
- Space inventory
Possible Measures
- Service/Assistance
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- # of desk stats
- # door count?
- # hours spent staffing within service/assistance spaces
- # of staff per hour in service/assistance spaces
- Social/exhibits space
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- # of attendees to exhibits and events
- # exhibits per year
- demographics of people attending exhibits
- # of events held per year in our spaces
- # of exhibit locations
- total square footage of space allotted to social needs of users
- # of users who use library for social/networking
- Reading rooms
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- # seats
- # soft seating
- # of rest rooms near reading rooms
- percentage of reading room space allotted to stacks/browsing collections
- Collections
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- total # bays of print materials
- % of collection circulating at any one time
- # of sub-collections (browseries, new books displays, Sanborn maps, DVD collections, etc.)
- Instruction spaces
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- # of instruction spaces
- # seats allotted to instruction; # of seats in DIRC
- list of equipment allotted to instruction
- Equipment
- # of machines by type
- Reliability indicator (e.g., # of fix-lib tickets for machine X, Y, Z)
- # of public computers; ratio of public to MIT-only computers
- list of equipment by owner; id non-Libraries equipment
- # of electric outlets and locations
- Study rooms (individual and group)
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- total # of seats in all study rooms
- # of large screens available
- Storage
- total square footage allotted to this kind of space
- # of bays
- # of boxes
- % of collections in storage; total, books/journals/other
- # of storage locations
- cost of storage per square foot (or other?)
VIRTUAL
Systemwide Objective: Improve infrastructure for locating and accessing digital products
3. UX objective: Working with AMPS, create a new web portal to the video collections at MIT that highlights the excellence in teaching and the student learning experience at MIT.
Measures
- Increased # of views on specific videos highlighted by new site
- # of visitors to site
- Positive feedback from donor.
- Amount of PR generated by new site; # of twitter stories, news blog stories, etc.
- Tool: TechTV stats
- Tool: Google Analytics
- Tool: any feedback from donor
- Tool: PR searches
4. AMES/LDLC/UX objective: Improve the DSpace@MIT user interface.
Measures
- 75% of identified issues that are under UIG's control are addressed in this assessment year.
- All identified usability issues that are not under UIG's control are passed to developers.
- Tool: Old DSpace usability studies, recent DOME evaluation, and new evaluation by UIG to identify DSpace usability issues.
- Tool: Fall usability testing to confirm improvements.
Other units’ objectives that may potentially impact UX
Other units may require use of our tools to measure their objectives, or their work may impact our work. Draft objectives that units submitted that may potentially impact UX are listed here; not all objectives that were submitted are listed here. (For comprehensive list of up-to-date objectives, see FY11 Objectives.)
green - may become part of the usability or user needs studies
pink - may require UIG resources (other than usability)
1. Understand our users
- AMES objective: Understand how are users are getting to e-content that is accessible by way of Barton and other discovery interfaces.
- ID&LA (plus others) objective: Evaluate user behaviors to inform hours planning.
2. Improve customer service
- CSM objective: Develop patron-driven monograph-acquisition pilot.
- ID&LA objective: Develop uniform branding for request services, with fewer starting points, better cross promotion of services, and improved request management.
- M&C objective: Standardize marketing materials at service desks to provide clear, consistent and relevant information to our users that corresponds with established Libraries’ design standards.
3. Increase awareness
- IRS objective: Develop connections between undergraduates and library resources and services through their classes (in person instruction, course pages, other types of tutorials, stellar).
- LDLC objective: Increase the community’s awareness of their librarian.
4. Improve infrastructure for locating and accessing digital products (advisor = Mat)
- AMES objective: Improve off-campus access to e-books.
Preplanning for 11/22/10 meeting of "UX assessment leadership team" LS/NH/LRH: UX Assessment Plan 2011