Information Architecture Creation Part I

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Earlier this week Dan, Lauren, and myself got together for about an hour and half to start creating the information architecture for the college libraries website. We started off by briefly talking about the different categories that each group created during the card sort and how some items were easy for them to put into categories and others were not. After discussing the results briefly, I began to write down the common category names that were created by each group onto index cards and placed them on a large table.

Category Creation

The following items were written on index cards:

  • Citing a Source
  • Contact Us
  • Databases
  • FAQ’s
  • Libraries
  • Policies
  • Subject
  • About Us

The next step was to take the words used for the card sort and place them under these categories based upon the information that we gathered from the card sort a couple of weeks ago. As Dan and Lauren started to put things into categories, I mentioned that we do not have to use all of the items that appear on the index cards because some words and phrases were duplicated in one way or another. For example, the word ‘Jobs” was eliminate in favor of the word ‘Employment’. It was also decided that the phrase ‘print poster’ could be removed because it would only refer to a small number of students each semester who would be taking a class with a specific instructor. As part of the class a person from the libraries gives the class a presentation and the specific information they need.

In addition to the categories created during the card sort, we created a new category called ‘Help’ and placed the terms ‘Ask Us’ and ‘Consultation Request’ under it. At the moment this is a separate section; However, it will probably be incorporated into the design of the new college libraries website and thus the category could be eliminated. The advantage of incorporating it into the design is that the information would always be immediately available to someone making it easier for them to get assistance.

Along with eliminating duplicate items and creating new categories we talked briefly about the terms from the card sort that should probably be available on the home page of the college libraries website. The items that we came up with are:

  • Hours
  • Library Catalogs (BearCat, WorldCat)
  • Interlibrary Loan
  • Reserves

Interlibrary Loan is a unique term because of what it allows you to do. Please read through the previous post Category Similarities for additional information. The term ‘Reserves’ is also another item that is important, but it is also hard to determine the best location for it to be located. How do I find a book on reserve? is a very common question that gets ask by many students. From a faculty perspective they want to know how to put a book on reserve. The process of trying to find a book on reserve is a very convoluted process that is more difficult to do then it should be; Therefore, providing information on the process is very important.

Removed Categories

When we started to place things into different categories we eliminated the ‘Libraries’ category in favor of ‘About Us’ instead. The results of the card sort indicated that the four groups used these terms interchangeable and placed the same items under either category. The FAQ’s category has also been eliminated for a couple of reasons. The first is that several of the questions that were used for the card sort were either directional or yes or no in nature. These questions are:

  • Do you have a fax machine?
  • Can I sign out a group study room?
  • Do you have a scanner?
  • Where are your copies?

You may be asking yourself why would you want to eliminate a directional question such as ‘Where are your copiers?’ or ‘Where are your bathrooms?’ It is our belief that these questions can best be answered in person and that the target audience would not be using the website to find the answer to these questions. The remaining questions used during the cart sort are:

  • How do I get a library card?
  • How do I find a book on reserve?

It was decided that the information required to ask these questions could be found in various locations of the website. Therefore it was determined that the FAQ category could be eliminated without making it difficult for a person to complete a task.