Brief
"Book Season," a digital platform for Fulton County Public Libraries to enhance community engagement and streamline administrative processes, addressing working adults' needs for efficient, community-oriented library interaction
Team Members: Annie Zhang, Doris Tao, Eli Marietta, Tanmaie Kailash
Term Project
Duration: 16 weeks
My role: I was involved in all stages of the research process, lead the ideation and design phases, and conducted evaluation tests
Year: 2024
Problem Space
Our research reveals a significant interest among working adults in Fulton County in utilizing library spaces not just as repositories of books but as vibrant community hubs that facilitate personal and professional growth. These adults, despite their limited time availability, express a strong desire to engage in library activities that cater to their interests and contribute to community building.
Challenges
Limited Time
Working adults have constrained schedules
Resource Constraints
The Fulton County library system faces dwindling financial support
Misalignment of Services
Events provided by the library are mostly for kids
Our Goal
Improving the experience of working/studying adult patrons of the Fulton County Public Library System in engaging with their local libraries.
Target Audience
Primary User Group
Working adults in Fulton County who want to read more books
Stakeholders
Fulton County Library System
Local Government
Social Organizations
Research Activities
1. Exsiting Systems
Fulton County Library System
The Fulton County Library System's website serves as a digital library but lacks a dedicated mobile app. It offers extensive digital resources and allows event filtering by audience, date, and location, which benefits mobile users who need to access information on-the-go. However, the site's design isn't optimized for mobile use, with excessive scrolling needed to navigate the homepage and images that extend beyond screen width. The hamburger menu is poorly organized, requiring further scrolling, contrary to best practices which suggest making essential content easily accessible. Additionally, the event section doesn't allow for filtering by specific weekdays, compromising user control and freedom, though weekdays are mentioned in event descriptions.
2. Semi-structured Interview
We wanted to better understand how working/studying adult patrons in Fulton County currently use their local public libraries, what pain points currently exist in the practices they employ, and what solutions to these observed pain-points could also benefit libraries. So we construct 5 semi-structured interviews, 2 with the Stakeholders and 3 with the users.
Affinity Map
We used affinity mapping as our data analysis method, in order to inductively come to shared beliefs, pain-points, and/or desires displayed by all of our interviewees.
Key Findings
Patrons wish they could track the status of the libraries’ physical spaces better
In the interest of saving their already limited time, patrons express wanting to be able to track temporary qualities such as how crowded library spaces are, or how safe a location is at a time, before going to the location. While the concept of how safe a place is rather nebulous and ill-defined, including features to track current statuses of physical spaces within the library in our digital platform may help a users assessment of the same, while increasing time efficiency.
Patrons value the feeling of community and approachability of library spaces
Beyond the physical and digital resources the library provides, patrons appreciate the sense of community and warmth the space engenders. This implies that a successful solution should find a way to preserve this community aspect, where people may be able to interact with each other as if it were a third place.
Patrons find multiple library resources useful outside of borrowing physical books, however, patrons encounter multiple difficulties with these resources
All patrons describe libraries, and access provided by their library cards, as having utility outside of physically borrowing books. Examples of such uses are access to publicly available technology, study spaces, and ability to use library integrated apps like Libby and Mango Languages. However, patrons describe many issues with such services such as their usability compared to competing solutions.
Patrons are motivated to engage with the library to develop their personal interests and community
Patrons describe how their primary motivations to use public libraries is to pursue interests separate from the content learnt in school or for their future career. Such interests include topics such as language learning. Patrons also cite how engaging in workshops such as teaching Origami lessons increased their feeling of community.
Task Analysis
HTA 1: Borrow Books from the Library
HTA 2: Look for a Studying Space
Design Requirements
The system should give the ability to track permanent and temporary characteristics about resources available at the library
The system should encourage prosocial behavior by contributing to a shared feeling of community and approachability
The system should house information about library logistics (i.e., funding), library resources (i.e., eBook apps), and provide alternate methods for finding more information as needed
The system should actively help patrons pursue their interests
The system should respect users’ limited time and energy
The system should provide information about different libraries within the county
The system should make information pertinent to the patrons accessible digitally in tandem with physical services
The system should appeal to adult users of different class backgrounds
Design Concepts
Lowfi Sketches
Signup
Swipe Function
Chat Room
Market Space
Profile
Style Guide
Final Design
Sign Up
Onboarding starts when the user clicks 'Create Account' on the app's initial screen. The process involves a series of steps designed to personalize their experience by recommending specific types of books and library preferences within Fulton County. Users must create a username and password, and confirm the password to enable signing in from different devices or to stay logged in. They can specify if they have a library card; if so, they're prompted to enter it. Without a card, users can locate a nearby library, apply online at the Fulton County Public Library website, or opt to continue without a card. The system then asks which library branches they prefer for book recommendations, with 'All branches' as the default choice, adjustable as needed. Users also set their desired app usage time and the number of book recommendations. They select preferred book languages, with English pre-selected, and conclude by choosing their favorite book genres to tailor the book selection process further.
Swiping Function
After registering, users land on the main screen featuring a swiping interface, an engaging way to discover system-recommended books. Each book cover displays crucial information such as the title, author, and estimated reading time. Tapping on the cover reveals a synopsis of the book. Users can refine their recommendations by selecting genres, such as Science Fiction, from a filter button at the top of the screen. Additionally, users can access their library card via a button in the header. Swiping right on a book not only adds the user to a related chat room but also triggers a notification—a small red dot on the chat icon—alerting them to the new chat room.
Chat room
When users tap the chat room icon on the bottom menu bar, they enter the chat room flow. Initially, they'll see a list of chat rooms they're participating in, with unread messages highlighted in red. Users can organize their chat rooms using filters and pin their favorite chats to the top of the page. Inside a chat room, the interface is traditional; users can click on spoiler text to reveal hidden messages and use the text bar to send spoiler alerts, book snippets, or emojis. Users can also access chat room settings to modify the room's name or picture and view the reading progress of the group and individual members. If users exceed their self-set time limit on the app, they'll receive a pop-up notification reminding them of their overtime. Users also can check the profiles of other people inside chat rooms, they add this other person as a friend, or block them. The users also can browse other users' suggested books and recent activities from their profile.
Market Space
The Marketplace primarily enables patrons to quickly find books through categorized browsing and search functions.
Patrons can explore book recommendations in sections like "Recommended," "Popular this Month," and "New Collections," which are tailored to help them discover books in specific categories.
Additionally, users can save books to a personal bookshelf for later reference.Clicking on a book cover takes users to a detailed page with information about the title, author, their reading progress, and a summary. Users can choose to borrow books either online, which includes direct downloads or transfers to third-party software, or offline, which provides the library address and shelf location for physical retrieval.On the book details page, users have the option to join chat rooms related to the book. This feature is selective; users can see the available slots and choose their chat room. The page also displays reviews from other patrons, helping users make informed decisions about reading the book or joining a related chat room.
Profile
The profile function allows patrons to control what information other users can see about them, as well as adjust overall settings. Users can change core elements like their profile photo and username, in addition to specifying preferred branches, languages, genres, and reading time. Patrons also have additional room to express themselves by adding books to the “Books I Love” category and creating reactions for each book (e.g., reviews, summaries, etc.) Furthermore, our team prioritized privacy with each of these profile elements by allowing the user to change their visibility (i.e., make them hidden or visible).
