Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Thanks, everyone for your examples and suggestions. Super helpful. Andrew On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 12:42 AM, Ranti Junus ranti.ju...@gmail.com wrote: Our library has a User Experience group. This is not a unit, but consists of 4 people whose part of work is related to user experience. This group's main focus primarily on the online experience: website, catalog, e-resources, and accessibility. We did quite a number of usability tests, shared the results with the stake holders, and recommended the changes. The changes that we recommended on our web presence tend to be small. The idea is not to do big change where it's very noticeable, but make it incremental so users won't get disoriented. Hence the frequent tests. For the accessibility part, I hired a blind student to assist me assessing our web presence and e-resources. We just hired a dedicated user experience librarian whose work would also include customer service assessments and user space area. ranti. On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries -- Bulk mail. Postage paid. -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Hi Andrew, At our small university, our usability librarian has the dual function in library assessment. Because of this, the position falls under our reference department in our organizational chart. The person also teaches some reference classes. All the best, Craig Boman Craig Boman, MLIS Applications Support Specialist University of Dayton Libraries 937-229-3674 cbom...@udayton.edu On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Haines, Anne ahai...@indiana.edu wrote: In addition to the team that Mark describes, the IUB Libraries' Discovery Research Services Department - which is part of public services, not IT - has several positions with significant UX responsibilities. We're currently hiring for a Discovery User Experience librarian to manage UX for our discovery tools services, and my position - Web Content Specialist - is responsible for content strategy on the Libraries' website (although not the catalog, digital projects, etc.). We're in the process of migrating to a shiny new Drupal site, btw, so don't look at our current (ancient!) site and wonder where we hid the content strategy. :) While it's fantastic to have a dedicated usability or UX librarian, I think it's also good to have more than one position with UX responsibilities written into the job description - less likely that way to have one lonely usability voice crying out in the wilderness and so on. Of course that depends on the size and culture of the library. The important part is to have it written into the job description, not just as part of a committee assignment. -Anne Anne Haines Web Content Specialist IUB Libraries, Discovery Research Services Herman B Wells Library W501 1320 E. Tenth St. | Bloomington, IN 47405 ahai...@indiana.edu 812-855-0103 -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Notess, Mark Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 2:16 PM To: CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person? We are spinning up a UX team at IU Bloomington Libraries-below is the current opening for the initial hire. More are anticipated. As library collections and services move increasingly online, we need to invest in the kind of staffing needed to create successful online experiences. We did formerly have a usability specialist, but we haven't had a dedicated team. The team will provide internal consulting to technology projects. Mark -- Mark Notess Head, User Experience and Digital Media Services Library Technologies Indiana University Bloomington Libraries +1.812.856.0494 mnot...@iu.edu -- User Experience Designer Rank: PAE-3IT Position#: 00039047 List #: 9631 FTE: 100% Job Summary: Provides interaction design consulting services to key technology-based projects. Works with stakeholders across IU Bloomington Libraries' departments to understand requirements in order to design web-based user interfaces, mobile user interfaces, and online visual elements. Performs usability testing and ensures accessibility of services. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a user experience discipline such as human-computer interaction design, interaction design, or related field and two years of experience in interface and visual design (as demonstrated by a portfolio) or a related professional position required. An equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience from which comparable skills can be acquired may be considered at a 2:1 ratio. Experience with interaction design, visual design, web design, mobile design; demonstrated experience with the relevant interaction and visual design tools (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent); and demonstrated experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Knowledge of and experience with academic libraries or higher education work environments preferred. Note: Submit a letter of interest and resume that provides evidence of the qualifications outlined and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references that can comment about your qualifications for the position. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to excellence through diversity. Indiana University has a strong commitment to principles of diversity and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and encourages applications from candidates with diverse cultural backgrounds. For more information about Indiana University-Bloomington go to www.iub.edu http://www.iub.edu/. To browse other open staff positions at Indiana University, please go to https://jobs.iu.edu https://jobs.iu.edu/ On 10/30/13 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.commailto: darby.li...@gmail.com
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Thanks for the discussion. As a side note, there may be helpful resources within your institution, like the Scholarly Commons here at UIUC Library. We provide an office space with windows and os x software that support usability testing, http://www.library.illinois.edu/sc/services/Usability_Testing/usability_testing.html . Brian Zelip Graduate Assistant, Scholarly Commons University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign zelip.me On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 10:00 AM, craig boman craig.bo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Andrew, At our small university, our usability librarian has the dual function in library assessment. Because of this, the position falls under our reference department in our organizational chart. The person also teaches some reference classes. All the best, Craig Boman Craig Boman, MLIS Applications Support Specialist University of Dayton Libraries 937-229-3674 cbom...@udayton.edu On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Haines, Anne ahai...@indiana.edu wrote: In addition to the team that Mark describes, the IUB Libraries' Discovery Research Services Department - which is part of public services, not IT - has several positions with significant UX responsibilities. We're currently hiring for a Discovery User Experience librarian to manage UX for our discovery tools services, and my position - Web Content Specialist - is responsible for content strategy on the Libraries' website (although not the catalog, digital projects, etc.). We're in the process of migrating to a shiny new Drupal site, btw, so don't look at our current (ancient!) site and wonder where we hid the content strategy. :) While it's fantastic to have a dedicated usability or UX librarian, I think it's also good to have more than one position with UX responsibilities written into the job description - less likely that way to have one lonely usability voice crying out in the wilderness and so on. Of course that depends on the size and culture of the library. The important part is to have it written into the job description, not just as part of a committee assignment. -Anne Anne Haines Web Content Specialist IUB Libraries, Discovery Research Services Herman B Wells Library W501 1320 E. Tenth St. | Bloomington, IN 47405 ahai...@indiana.edu 812-855-0103 -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Notess, Mark Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 2:16 PM To: CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person? We are spinning up a UX team at IU Bloomington Libraries-below is the current opening for the initial hire. More are anticipated. As library collections and services move increasingly online, we need to invest in the kind of staffing needed to create successful online experiences. We did formerly have a usability specialist, but we haven't had a dedicated team. The team will provide internal consulting to technology projects. Mark -- Mark Notess Head, User Experience and Digital Media Services Library Technologies Indiana University Bloomington Libraries +1.812.856.0494 mnot...@iu.edu -- User Experience Designer Rank: PAE-3IT Position#: 00039047 List #: 9631 FTE: 100% Job Summary: Provides interaction design consulting services to key technology-based projects. Works with stakeholders across IU Bloomington Libraries' departments to understand requirements in order to design web-based user interfaces, mobile user interfaces, and online visual elements. Performs usability testing and ensures accessibility of services. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a user experience discipline such as human-computer interaction design, interaction design, or related field and two years of experience in interface and visual design (as demonstrated by a portfolio) or a related professional position required. An equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience from which comparable skills can be acquired may be considered at a 2:1 ratio. Experience with interaction design, visual design, web design, mobile design; demonstrated experience with the relevant interaction and visual design tools (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent); and demonstrated experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Knowledge of and experience with academic libraries or higher education work environments preferred. Note: Submit a letter of interest and resume that provides evidence of the qualifications outlined and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references that can comment about your qualifications for the position. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to excellence through diversity. Indiana University
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Harvard library IT has one Usability and Interface Librarian reporting to the systems development group. Over the years this position has been invaluable in assessing usability of applications, in analyzing user workflows and accessibility, and in designing effective U/I's for both public facing and staff systems. A brief summary from the job description: The Library Technology Systems group in HUIT provides large-scale systems support to the libraries at Harvard. This involves providing public access to a wide variety of information resources located both at Harvard and elsewhere through a core set of systems and services including HOLLIS and other union catalogs, E-Research, and a growing numbers of applications for the management of digital library materials. The primary function of this position is to provide user interface design services in the system development cycle that improve our public presentation on our web sites, in our application interfaces, and in our publications and documentation, as well as to guide LTS system designs in the area of accessibility. Randy Stern -- Date:Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:24:09 -0400 From:Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.com Subject: Usability Person? Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
[CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
On Oct 30, 2013, at 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team… I do not think we have a usability person, per se. The position is sort of vacant. You can also try asking your question on usability4lib — http://dh.crc.nd.edu/sandbox/mailing-lists/usability4lib/ —ELM
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
I think this depends a bit on the size of your institution. Where I am at we have barely enough funding to have a small number of librarians. I think you are right in so far is places should have a dedicated usability person, but this is not always possible. On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.comwrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
We have been lucky to have a full time interaction designer within our library IT group for about 6 years. It makes a world of difference in the quality of our products; it also helps with letting the engineers focus on engineering, and the librarians focus on being librarians (rather than trying to design for patrons). - Tom On Oct 30, 2013, at 8:24 AM, Andrew Darby wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
We are exceptionally fortunate to have a 3-person User Experience department to support the developers who work on the website, the catalog, the digital library, and the repository. http://www.lib.umich.edu/library-information-technology/user-experience-department -- Ken Varnum | Web Systems Manager | MLibrary - University of Michigan - Ann Arbor var...@umich.edu | @varnum | http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum | 734-615-3287 On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:51 AM, Tom Cramer tcra...@stanford.edu wrote: We have been lucky to have a full time interaction designer within our library IT group for about 6 years. It makes a world of difference in the quality of our products; it also helps with letting the engineers focus on engineering, and the librarians focus on being librarians (rather than trying to design for patrons). - Tom On Oct 30, 2013, at 8:24 AM, Andrew Darby wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Here at Cornell, we have a usability group of about 15 people that includes librarians, developers, designers, and other staff. We serve as a centralized resource for usability testing for new or returning websites and other development projects. A few of the members have 10% of their time formally allocated to usability work, while the rest treat it as regular committee work. For many of our new projects, the developers and designers involved also serve in the usability group; since there's so much overlap, we're able to ensure that usability testing is kept a significant component of the development process. I think it's been a successful approach, and the team has done a lot of good work over the last few years. -- Matt Matt Connolly Software Developer, DLIT Cornell University Library On Oct 30, 2013, at 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
I think, where budgets allow, this is an increasingly common function / position. I am a Front End Librarian and I oversee development, user experience, and content strategy. I am part of systems but I liaise most often with our Marketing Department [because we have one ... ]. My friend Amanda is literally the User Experience Librarian at the Darien Library, so this is a thing with precedent. I agree with one of the other commenters that a dedicated UX person makes a world of difference - and, honestly, it's probably better if that person is less librarian than not. The big hurdle we've had to jump across was coming to grips that our librarians aren't users, so their weigh-in on content and services is skewed toward the jargon-y, mega-search-fields, we're-not-google-and-we-are-proud opinion. Staying on top of usability, accessibility, content strategy, dev, and performance [because a fast website is integral to a good user experience] is a full-time job. It's the kind of job you do outside of the 40-hour week. If you can get away with it, don't bundle this stuff in with other major roles. Organizationally, this person or team should be afforded a little bit of autonomy from the other departments. Design committees--especially in higher-ed--are power struggles, and it benefits no one when the user-experience people/person can be pressured into bad design decisions. Oh, and pay them well :) :) :). // Michael! I write about the web and front-end librarianship at www.ns4lib.com -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ken Varnum Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12:00 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person? We are exceptionally fortunate to have a 3-person User Experience department to support the developers who work on the website, the catalog, the digital library, and the repository. http://www.lib.umich.edu/library-information-technology/user-experience-department -- Ken Varnum | Web Systems Manager | MLibrary - University of Michigan - Ann Arbor var...@umich.edu | @varnum | http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum | 734-615-3287 On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:51 AM, Tom Cramer tcra...@stanford.edu wrote: We have been lucky to have a full time interaction designer within our library IT group for about 6 years. It makes a world of difference in the quality of our products; it also helps with letting the engineers focus on engineering, and the librarians focus on being librarians (rather than trying to design for patrons). - Tom On Oct 30, 2013, at 8:24 AM, Andrew Darby wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
It is nice to see a growing appreciation for UX in our domain. Michael, librarians ARE users, but I understand what you're saying in that they've had too much influence, and have unfortunately brought bias to the design process that has created obstacles for other users. Andrew, your original post focused on a Usability person. The way I see it, Usability skills are a subset of User Experience. If you can hire two people, awesome. If I had to choose one, I would go for a User Experience person. It is at least one full-time job, ideally of higher rank due to its big picture nature. I like the idea of a usability committee or working group, with the UX expert as a chair. Below are a few skills/abilities of my ideal User Experience Designer. It's unlikely you will get them all in one candidate, but it may give you an idea of which niches you need to fill, given your current team: * Creativity and Audacity * Design is inherently mixed with organization and culture, and in order to solve design problems they have to be willing to rethink and change long-standing traditions and culture. This person can question EVERYTHING without being abrasive. * Diplomacy and Influence * You can't do the above without being good at building relationships, forming consensus, negotiating, etc. Ideally the position would have enough power in the org to be at the table for major decisions, but then again, influence does not always come from hierarchical rank. * Usability Interviewing, Testing, and Analytics * Understanding, empathizing with, and advocating for ALL the users of your systems is critical, and collecting data to form and back up your arguments is a prerequisite. UX people have to talk to users about their goals, test ideas with prototypes, and collect and interpret stats/analytics. Testing is not only about whether a feature could be improved, but whether it should be there at all. This person can identify and prioritize the right problems to solve. * Visual Thinking/Literacy * The person should have a good design sense, and be able to put the elements and principles of design to work in the idea pitch, information architecture, and design process. * Content Strategy * What is the overall vision of the org and how is that message delivered? What message is currently being delivered via neglect of an overall strategy? The lack of a content strategy is one reason why so many library websites are filled with pages that are piles of links. * Interaction Design * In libraries, where budgets can be an issue, this person should be able to put together wireframes, prototypes, and final HTML/CSS/JS designs. As Tom mentioned, this could be an entirely different, more technical position, but it's a great asset if you can find it. -Shaun P.S. - Don't feel tied into current position titles. Google has an Über Tech Lead for Search Quality and User Happiness! On 10/30/13 12:33 PM, Michael Schofield wrote: I think, where budgets allow, this is an increasingly common function / position. I am a Front End Librarian and I oversee development, user experience, and content strategy. I am part of systems but I liaise most often with our Marketing Department [because we have one ... ]. My friend Amanda is literally the User Experience Librarian at the Darien Library, so this is a thing with precedent. I agree with one of the other commenters that a dedicated UX person makes a world of difference - and, honestly, it's probably better if that person is less librarian than not. The big hurdle we've had to jump across was coming to grips that our librarians aren't users, so their weigh-in on content and services is skewed toward the jargon-y, mega-search-fields, we're-not-google-and-we-are-proud opinion. Staying on top of usability, accessibility, content strategy, dev, and performance [because a fast website is integral to a good user experience] is a full-time job. It's the kind of job you do outside of the 40-hour week. If you can get away with it, don't bundle this stuff in with other major roles. Organizationally, this person or team should be afforded a little bit of autonomy from the other departments. Design committees--especially in higher-ed--are power struggles, and it benefits no one when the user-experience people/person can be pressured into bad design decisions. Oh, and pay them well :) :) :). // Michael! I write about the web and front-end librarianship at www.ns4lib.com -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ken Varnum Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12:00 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person? We are exceptionally fortunate to have a 3-person User Experience department to support the developers who work on the website, the catalog, the digital library, and the repository. http://www.lib.umich.edu/library-information-technology/user-experience
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
We are spinning up a UX team at IU Bloomington Libraries—below is the current opening for the initial hire. More are anticipated. As library collections and services move increasingly online, we need to invest in the kind of staffing needed to create successful online experiences. We did formerly have a usability specialist, but we haven't had a dedicated team. The team will provide internal consulting to technology projects. Mark -- Mark Notess Head, User Experience and Digital Media Services Library Technologies Indiana University Bloomington Libraries +1.812.856.0494 mnot...@iu.edu -- User Experience Designer Rank: PAE-3IT Position#: 00039047 List #: 9631 FTE: 100% Job Summary: Provides interaction design consulting services to key technology-based projects. Works with stakeholders across IU Bloomington Libraries’ departments to understand requirements in order to design web-based user interfaces, mobile user interfaces, and online visual elements. Performs usability testing and ensures accessibility of services. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a user experience discipline such as human-computer interaction design, interaction design, or related field and two years of experience in interface and visual design (as demonstrated by a portfolio) or a related professional position required. An equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience from which comparable skills can be acquired may be considered at a 2:1 ratio. Experience with interaction design, visual design, web design, mobile design; demonstrated experience with the relevant interaction and visual design tools (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent); and demonstrated experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Knowledge of and experience with academic libraries or higher education work environments preferred. Note: Submit a letter of interest and resume that provides evidence of the qualifications outlined and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references that can comment about your qualifications for the position. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to excellence through diversity. Indiana University has a strong commitment to principles of diversity and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and encourages applications from candidates with diverse cultural backgrounds. For more information about Indiana University-Bloomington go to www.iub.edu http://www.iub.edu/. To browse other open staff positions at Indiana University, please go to https://jobs.iu.edu https://jobs.iu.edu/ On 10/30/13 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.commailto:darby.li...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
I've worked at numerous places in the past few years: 1. Dedicated Designer + UX person (non-librarian, large academic library). The web team consisted of 4-5 people, one of which was solely dedicated to design (including graphics design), user interface, and user experience. It made a really big difference to the look of the website and doing actual user testing. 2. I was the acting web services librarian and it was just one component of my job (in a medium sized, bordering on large academic library). I unfortunately rarely had time to do as much user testing as I would've liked, but set aside time for it. The library also has a web committee which would provide staff input, and a student advisory committee exists to provide feedback (in general, though I took over one of their meetings to focus on the website). 3. There is a dedicated User Experience librarian (in a small-ish college library), however, this is user experience in general, including the physical library. Currently, this means that she is too busy to really focus on the website because she takes care of the learning commons and other aspects of user experience. To provide a bit more context though, the website is in an IT controlled CMS, so not a huge amount of customization can be done. 4. In my current organization, there are 2 librarians, so there is no room for dedicated positions and I'll be in charge of the website and any user experience/user testing, which will simply have to be done on an as needed basis. If you can have it, a specific person tends to work better whether it's full time or part of a full time position depends on how much work you think is needed. If you have a team where there are programmers already, I would suggest focusing on the design/creativity/architecture side of things with technical know how (but not necessarily a coder). It also seems to work best if they reside in the systems/IT team, but working closely with other staff. As to qualifications, the only thing I might add to Shaun's list is universal design accessibility. On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Notess, Mark mnot...@iu.edu wrote: We are spinning up a UX team at IU Bloomington Libraries—below is the current opening for the initial hire. More are anticipated. As library collections and services move increasingly online, we need to invest in the kind of staffing needed to create successful online experiences. We did formerly have a usability specialist, but we haven't had a dedicated team. The team will provide internal consulting to technology projects. Mark -- Mark Notess Head, User Experience and Digital Media Services Library Technologies Indiana University Bloomington Libraries +1.812.856.0494 mnot...@iu.edu -- User Experience Designer Rank: PAE-3IT Position#: 00039047 List #: 9631 FTE: 100% Job Summary: Provides interaction design consulting services to key technology-based projects. Works with stakeholders across IU Bloomington Libraries’ departments to understand requirements in order to design web-based user interfaces, mobile user interfaces, and online visual elements. Performs usability testing and ensures accessibility of services. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a user experience discipline such as human-computer interaction design, interaction design, or related field and two years of experience in interface and visual design (as demonstrated by a portfolio) or a related professional position required. An equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience from which comparable skills can be acquired may be considered at a 2:1 ratio. Experience with interaction design, visual design, web design, mobile design; demonstrated experience with the relevant interaction and visual design tools (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent); and demonstrated experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Knowledge of and experience with academic libraries or higher education work environments preferred. Note: Submit a letter of interest and resume that provides evidence of the qualifications outlined and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references that can comment about your qualifications for the position. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to excellence through diversity. Indiana University has a strong commitment to principles of diversity and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and encourages applications from candidates with diverse cultural backgrounds. For more information about Indiana University-Bloomington go to www.iub.edu http://www.iub.edu/. To browse other open staff positions at Indiana University, please go to
Re: [CODE4LIB] Usability Person?
Our library has a User Experience group. This is not a unit, but consists of 4 people whose part of work is related to user experience. This group's main focus primarily on the online experience: website, catalog, e-resources, and accessibility. We did quite a number of usability tests, shared the results with the stake holders, and recommended the changes. The changes that we recommended on our web presence tend to be small. The idea is not to do big change where it's very noticeable, but make it incremental so users won't get disoriented. Hence the frequent tests. For the accessibility part, I hired a blind student to assist me assessing our web presence and e-resources. We just hired a dedicated user experience librarian whose work would also include customer service assessments and user space area. ranti. On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Andrew Darby darby.li...@gmail.comwrote: Hello, all. This is perhaps a bit off-topic, but I was wondering how many of you have a dedicated usability person as part of your development team. Right now, we have a sort of ad hoc Usability Team, and I'd like to make a pitch for hiring someone who will have the time and inclination to manage this effort more effectively. Anything you'd care to share (on-list or off-) would be welcome. I'm especially curious about whether or not this is a full-time responsibility for someone in your organization or if it's shared with another job function; if you find this position is working out well or you wish you'd spent the money on more robots instead; where this person resides in your org chart; what sort of qualifications you looked for when hiring; etc. Thanks, Andrew -- Andrew Darby Head, Web Emerging Technologies University of Miami Libraries -- Bulk mail. Postage paid.
