Shelf Reading Mobile Application
01 Overview
The Product
A mobile app for student workers, volunteers, and staff to help manage a range of common library tasks – from reshelving items to basic inventory. By replacing paper workflows, this product can save time and improve both efficiency and accuracy of the users' work.
Core Business Objectives
Driving this exploration described in this case study was the core business objective of meeting demands for libraries with dwindling human and financial resources to improve manual workflows.
My Role and Interactions with The Team
As the Sr. User Experience Designer assigned to this task, I met regularly with the products Business Analyst and two primary developers. I was responsible for creating a functional prototype that was desirable, useable, and feasible. Additionally, I worked to provide stills of the prototype to the user research team to upload and perform usability testing with libraries.
02 Discovering the Problem
- Paper logs are arduous to maintain
- Students may pull a book and place it on the cart for any number of reasons, it is easy to lose track of why an item was pulled from the shelf for review
- The process of pulling a misshelved item and making sure it gets to the right spot are often two different workflows
03 Defining the Root Problem
I poured over research previously performed for this produce and I was able to gain the following insights:
- Libraries need the ability to split lists of inventory across multiple devices so that more than one volunteer at a time is able to perform the shelf reading workflow.
- Items may be pulled from the shelf for many reasons but the most common were missing label, damage to the item, outdated content, item was misshelved
04 Problem Statement & Solution
How might we empower student workers to feel more confident when checking shelves for missing inventory and inventory that needs to be recycled or relabeled.
05 Defining What Needed Tested
Fortunately for me, I picked this project up in the middle of the concepts phase. Leveraging what was not working well with the original prototype, I was able to rethink the approach.
Reimagining the approach, I put together screens for how users might:
- Scan a barcode to tell the system where to start
- Mark an item as in the right place
- Mark an item as needing attention
- Pick from a list of common issues
- Add a note to the item
- Send the list to their manager
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06 Designing the Solution
I created a high-fidelity prototype using Axure RP that would allow usability research participants to interact with proposed features such as…
- Mark an item as on the shelf without issue
- Mark an item for review – note the reason
- Export finished list
- Go to last marked item
- Go to last marked item
Unfortunately, due to the nature of my contract position I was unable to see the outcome of the usability test performed for this project. 😥
07 Testing the Solution
Recommendation manager at the time
“I had the pleasure of being Courtney's manager as she transitioned in the user experience design industry. Her design thinking, strong collaborative and organizational skills, and focus on accessible design made her an immediate contributor that everyone enjoyed working with. When I think of Courtney, I think of the phrase, "A rising tide lifts all ships." I look forward to when we can work together again."
Binaebi Akah Calkins
Experience Design Manager at OCLC
To view more recommendations go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/csizemorecreative/
