Executive Summary for UX Project:

This report discusses the process of creating a set of empathy tools based on user research of three librarians from the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system. The librarians all work with the library acquisition software Koha. These participants were interviewed about their work before being observed going through their normal responsibilities. With this data, a set of empathy tools was created that shows how the Koha software is typically used, and that presents some information about who the typical Koha user might be, as well as the most common joys and frustrations that users experience when using the software.

The empathy tools created include: a set of three theoretical user scenarios that present a detailed description of theoretical Koha users completing common tasks within the software; three personas that generalize the goals and feelings of the users; and two journey maps that chart the path of users utilizing Koha.

All of the empathy tools were created based on the data collected during the interviews and site observations of the librarians. A group interview was conducted with all three librarians to learn about their process and identify any joys or difficulties they had with Koha. Another research objective was to identify any accessibility measures used at the library. After the interviews, two of the librarians were observed going through their typical tasks to further understand how they use Koha firsthand. All of the research was recorded and referenced later to make the empathy tools.

The research showed that the librarians enjoyed the Koha software. It is an open-source program with an active support community, which the librarians really enjoy. It is also browser-based, which helps the librarians feel comfortable with the software due to its similarity to normal web sites. They have occasional frustrations with vague error messages or crashes, but overall they find Koha to be very easy to use and enjoyable.

When asked about accessibility, the librarians all confirmed that they want the library to be an inclusive space, but they were not sure what exact measures were in place at the library. They did mention a special computer for patrons with visual impairments, but were unsure of other steps that had been enacted at the library.

The following sections will explain the research methods utilized during this project, detail the project’s key findings about users’ experience with Koha, and introduce the empathy tools that were created for this project.