Some things that came up in the UX discussion (well, the third of it I was
in) at the breakout session, about how to get your library to be more open
to UX:

Several libraries (Duke is one) use Steve Krug <http://www.sensible.com>'s
approach to getting buy-in on usability. They get a bunch of their
coworkers into a room (donut bribes are effective) and have them watch
actual students using their actual digital services--website or whatever.
It's very effective! For more information, read Don't Make Me
Think<http://www.sensible.com/dmmt.html>and Rocket
Surgery Made Easy <http://www.sensible.com/rsme.html>. It didn't come up in
session, but here's a pretty engaging
talk<http://matthew.reidsrow.com/articles/16>,
by Matthew Reidsma, about UX and this approach.

I apologize for the self promotion, but not all libraries' cultures allow
for the "big public test" approach. Mine ... might, now, but probably
wouldn't have, a couple of years ago. So this process went (is going) a
slightly different way in my library. I used a number of approaches to gain
trust and political capital, but eventually I totally overwhelmed my
coworkers with citations in what, when they can't hear me, I call "a gentle
manifesto"--internally, we call it "the Web Plan." Slides outlining the
tools/approaches/thought process I used and the Web Plan/Manifesto are both
available on ALA Connect <http://connect.ala.org/node/213994>.

One thing our approaches have in common: Steve Krug. Seriously, if you
haven't read *Don't Make Me Think*, please do! Whether you design websites
or not! There's a new edition! It takes less time than a cross-country
plane ride to read--how convenient for those of you at conference! ;)

And there were several other good tools, but I can't brain anymore. Please,
send 'em along!

-- 
Coral Sheldon-Hess
http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
@web_kunoichi


On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 9:50 AM, Sean Hannan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> OptimalWorkshop.com
>
> -Sean
> ________________________________________
> From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Coral
> Sheldon-Hess [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 9:48 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Usability resources
>
> Here is one Sumana mentioned:
> UserTesting.com
>
> What else is out there?
>
> - Coral
>
>
> --
> --
> Coral Sheldon-Hess
> http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
> @web_kunoichi
>