user experience

OverDrive’s Upcoming APIs to Allow Ebook Checkouts from OPAC

By Matt Enis on April 26, 2013

OverDrive’s most recent agreement touts plans for “deep API integration” with Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III) products, including Sierra and the Encore Discovery Services Platform, including new API updates that “will include the ability to check out and place a hold on ebooks from a library’s online catalog,” according to a company announcement. The integration will also enable a “seamless experience,” within OverDrive’s Content Reserve collection portal, offering the option of viewing a library’s physical and digital holdings side-by-side

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ebooks, ILS, LJ, overdrive, TDS, user experience

Midwest Tape Launches Hoopla Pilot for Pay-Per-Circ Streaming Media

By Matt Enis on March 4, 2013

A beta test for hoopla, the new digital content platform from Midwest Tape, was launched on Friday at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), and will expand during the next several weeks to include tests at several other libraries.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: LJ, streaming, TDS, user experience

InfoCommons Offers Vision of Brooklyn’s Future

By Matt Enis on January 15, 2013

The Brooklyn Public Library on Tuesday unveiled its Central Library’s Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons area—a new public space designed to complement the building’s history while pointing toward the library’s future. The 5,500 square foot area “is really what I consider the nucleus around which our future service delivery strategies will revolve,” Richard Reyes-Gavilan, BPL’s Chief Librarian, told a group of librarians gathered from throughout the region to preview the space last week.

Filed Under: Featured, Technology Tagged With: Brooklyn Public Library, central library, interior design, LJ, TDS, user experience

OverDrive, 3M kick off 2013 with Promising Ebook Developments

By Matt Enis on January 3, 2013

The Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL), Pioneer Library System (PLS), Hennepin County Library (HCL), and Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) were among several library systems that broke single-day ebook and audiobook-lending records this past Christmas, according to an announcement by OverDrive.In separate news, 3M last month achieved a milestone in its goal to make ebook searching a completely seamless experience.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: discovery, ebooks, ILS, LJ, overdrive, TDS, user experience

Pew: More Patrons Using Mobile Devices to Access Library Websites

By Matt Enis on December 31, 2012

Thirteen percent of people aged 16 and older in the United States have used a mobile device to visit a library website or otherwise access library services, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. This percentage has more than doubled since 2009 the report notes, citing an earlier survey conducted by researchers at the University of Washington.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: LJ, Mobile, TDS, user experience

Less Clutter, More Useful | The User Experience

By Aaron Schmidt on November 13, 2012 2 Comments

Clutter -- Attribution-NonCommercial License

Keeping libraries free from clutter shouldn’t be solely the purview of the fastidious. It’s something we all can and should be able to achieve. With less clutter, people will have an easier time of finding what they want, and they’ll have a more peaceful experience. Conversely, clutter in and around the library is a user experience issue we all must address.

Filed Under: LJ in Print, Managing Libraries, The User Experience Tagged With: clutter, design, user experience