Instructions for library staff on how to participate in a card sorting exercises to analyze library activities

1. Help improve the library’s
user experience
Background
Over the next few weeks, board member Michael Magoolaghan
will be conducting some user research to determine:
a) what activities library staff & patrons pursue at the library,
and
b) how we can make user’s interactions with the library even
more successful & satisfying than they are now.

2. How You Can Help
Library staff can help by participating in a series of card
sorting exercises. These will involve listing common
patron and staff activities and then sorting them
according to a variety of criteria.
You can also help by referring patrons who might be
interested in participating in these exercises to Michael.
He’ll be conducting weekend card-sorting sessions
with patrons in the area across from the circulation
desk for the next 5-6 weeks.

3. Staff Instructions - Week One
Using the sticky notes and Sharpie pens on the table
below, please do the following.
1. Under Staff Activities, create and post separate
sticky notes for each activity staff members pursue
during the course of a typical week. (For example:
check out books, answer reference questions, issue
library cards, etc.)
2. Under Patron Activities, post separate sticky
notes for activities library patrons might pursue
during the course of a typical week.

4. Final Step - Week One
3. Once you have a good list of sticky notes, sort the
stickies to place related and/or dependent activities
near each other. (See example below.)

6. What’s Next?
In a week or so, I’ll ask you to sort these same sticky
notes according to some different criteria. You’ll
re-sort the stickies each week for the next 5-6 weeks.
When the card sorting exercise is complete, I’ll share
the study’s findings with you at a library staff meeting.
At the end of the process we should have a detailed
list of specific things we can do to improve the end-
to-end user experience of the library for both patrons
and staff.

7. Thanks so much for your help!
I hope you enjoy this exercise.
Michael Magoolaghan
P.S. - If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at
mmagoola@comcast.net .

8. Staff Activities

9. Patron Activities