Project Overview: 

The intent of this project is to provide research-informed recommendations for improving the online user experience and usability for the libraries at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). This report provides a detailed review of perceived problems that were discovered through a heuristic evaluation and content inventory of the site. Throughout our user research you will see evidence that supports our redesign recommendations.

Stakeholders: 

When reviewing the request sent by the library, it appeared that they wished to have a heuristic evaluation performed of their most popular webpages within their site. More specifically they wished to know how easy or difficult it is for their students/targeted users to find and locate information on the website for library spaces/facilities that are available to all students. 

The requested spaces and facilities to be tested are the following: 

• Library Homepage navigation

• What spaces/destinations exist within a location (for example, how easy is it to find out about the Digital Collaboration Studio).

• Finding spaces by specific need (quiet study space, silent study space, a study room I can reserve, computer lab, etc.).

• Where will you find the Health Sciences Library?

From the beginning of this project we have been in good contact with Kelley Martin who is our direct contact at UMKC. Kelley is the Assessment and User Research Coordinator at the University and was very helpful in supplying us with pertinent information for our user research. 

Project Objectives: 

Our evaluation of the website will provide clear design recommendations for UMKC library website regarding site design, user optimization, and informational clarity. We aim to improve the website’s learnability, findability, and delightfulness. By improving the weakest areas of the site, we will also have provided a positive impact in all other aspects of the website. Through our expertise we hope to create multiple designs that are reflective of the educational, collaborative, and diverse atmosphere that make up the UMKC university libraries.