My Account, Reimagined: Simplifying UMBC Library Access
THE PROBLEM
Why Users Struggle with Borrowing and Engagement?
Difficulty tracking borrowed books and managing material requests
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Lack of features for user engagement, limiting collaborative learning and resource sharing
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Lack of features in the current system that results in stretched staff resources and delays
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RESEARCH & INSIGHTS
Who are we solving for?
The primary users of the library website are students at UMBC. Undergraduate and graduate students rely on the platform to manage borrowed materials, access course-specific readings, and discover new resources to support their academic journey.
13,906 Students at UMBC
We recruited 14 participants, including both undergraduate (BS) and graduate (MS) students from different programs. These participants were regular users of the library website to request books for their courses.
Understanding the challenges and pain-points of students and library staff
To understand user needs and pain points, we conducted 30-minute semi-structured interviews with students. Additionally, we spoke with 3 library staff members who regularly interact with students. Here are the key insights from the interviews:
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Difficulty tracking due dates, resulting in fines due to missing automated reminders.
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Non-intuitive design complicates navigation and request submissions.
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Desire for personalized and curated reading lists to support research.
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Limited staffing causes delays in processing requests and inquiries.
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Absence of platforms for collaborative learning and resource sharing.
Overview
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) library plays a vital role in supporting students' academic journey, providing them access to resources, study materials, and research assistance. Despite its importance, many students face challenges when interacting with the library's digital system. The purpose of this case study is to explore and address these challenges, creating a more seamless and engaging library experience for students at UMBC.
Duration: 8 weeks
Team Size: 2 people
My Role in the project:
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Problem Identification
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User Interviews
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Ideation
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Wireframes & Prototyping
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Usability Study
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
How Might We?
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Track status of borrowed items effectively
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Provide recommendations to enhance user engagement
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Reduce load from the library staff
PROTOTYPES
Wireframing - from paper to digital
Before working on digital wireframes, we sketched out paper wireframes. This helped form the basis of our digital wireframes and helped us think about the key features of the "My Account" page might look.
My Account Page for Book Tracking
A centralized "My Account" page offering students a visual overview of borrowed books, due dates, renewal options, and interactive notifications to avoid overdue fines.
Social Book Club Feature
Design a feature that allows students to form or join book clubs, share their reading experiences, and organize discussions or study groups.
Streamlined Request Interface
Redesign the book request process to minimize steps and improve clarity.
Book Recommendations
A recommendation engine that uses course data to suggest relevant books and research materials to students.
PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Transforming Insights into Solutions
Our solutions revolve around revamping the existing website that provides provision to digitally track the borrowed items, get recommendations, and socialize with other students under their account.
Creating lo-fi prototypes to establish the main user flow
To help visualize and step through the main user flow, we created a low-fidelity prototype that illustrated how a user might request the book, look for more information about the book, and see the overview of the library account.
Conducting a usability study to identify improvements
A brief usability study of the lo-fi prototype provided a fresh perspective on key areas that needed work. The affinity diagram worked to categorize these insights before any further changes were made.
Implementing the changes post study to hi-fi mockups
Based on the insights from the usability studies, we applied the design changes like color-coded labels, visual cues for the number of days left for return/renewal, and recommended readings.
Interactive Prototype
Learnings
Through this design process, I gained valuable insights into the key needs and behaviors of the target users, specifically students. One of the most significant learnings was the importance of having a dashboard that provides an at-a-glance overview of borrowed materials. Students expressed a strong need to easily track books they had borrowed, including key information like due dates, renewal options, and return reminders.
If we had more time, we would:
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Conduct quantitative analysis to gather deeper insights into user behaviors and preferences.
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Identify any additional areas of need and ideate any new feature, e.g., providing a discussion forum.
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Introduce challenges, leaderboards, and achievements to encourage users to interact with the library resources.
Thank you for your time!
BRAINSTORMING IDEAS
Turning Insights into Action
We brainstormed several solutions through the rapid ideation technique. To arrive at potential solutions, we followed the "Diverge and Converge" approach.