User-Centered Design

Metatheory for the LIS Professional

David Sibley
October 20, 2016
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When designing any study, it is important to consider the framework and structure your

study or theory will take. Marcia Bates discusses several different models of metatheory in the

work, Theories of Information Behavior. In the field of Library and Information Studies, some

such models are better than others. For those who are concerned with the patron experience, the

User-Centered Design is one of the best suited. This model concerns itself with the end result

and usability by a user group. Originally concerned with technology, it can have applications in

other facets of our field. Many studies utilize this framework as their underpinning structure and

are perhaps one of the most popular of the meta-theory constructs in academia. This paper is

concerned with the development of the User-Centric Design and its use in studies. Two such

studies have been selected for examination to analyze the effectiveness of this meta-theory in

their implementation.

User-Centered Design became popularized in the late 1980s and 1990s with Don

Normans text, The Design of Everyday Things. Norman defined User-Centered Design (UCD

for the remainder of this paper) as a philosophy based on the interests of the user, with an

emphasis on making products usable and understandable. (Norman, 1988). In The Design of

Everyday Things, Norman also identified three conceptual models that are components of UCD:

the design model, the users model, and system image (Norman 1988). Others expanded on

Norman's work, including Jakob Nielson who wrote, Usability Engineering. Nielsons work was

focused on taking users step-by-step through the design process building user-friendly software.

In the ten chapters of the book, Nielson discussed the definition of usability, to heuristics,

assessments as well as designing interfaces for international users. Nielson is also beneficial

because he discusses other terms that also mean UCD. These terms are computer-human

interaction (CHI), human-computer interaction (HCI), man-machine interface (MMI), human-

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machine interface (MMI), operator-machine interface (OPI), and user interface design (UID).

Knowing these terms is vital by doing an online search for UCD will often field results using

these alternate phrasings.

Of course, it is important to mention that UCD was originally concerned with the

development software applications, but because of the explosion of technology and the

transformation of the library in the past thirty years, UCD is very to how LIS professionals

design and implement tools like OPACs. In his entry from the Annual Review of Information

Science and Technology, Y. Rogers stated that aspirations of overcoming the Digital Divide, by

providing universal accessibility, have become major concerns. (Rogers, 2004). UCD fits well

with LIS because, as professionals, we have decided that providing access to information is one

of our primary goals.

The two articles that I have selected are both concerned with library and information

science. Each focuses on a slightly different aspect. One concerns itself with the usability of

libguides while the other is discusses the issues that are faced by multilingual users. These are

both important articles for a variety of reasons, and it was interesting to see how the authors of

each article used UCD to look into the design aspects of these two unique issues.

Reading the User Interface (UI) design issues for multilingual users: a case study yielded

a conclusion that should be concerning to LIS professionals. The authors, Mahdi H. Miraz, Peter

S. Excell and Maaruf Ali, focused on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) since it is one

of the largest global websites with multi-language users from around the world. The study then

collected qualitative and quantitative data by observing focus groups, one-on-one tutoring

sessions, and structured and unstructured interviews (Miraz, Excell & Ali, 2014). The use of

focus groups was an excellent way to test the usability of the BBCs website as focus groups are
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designed based on a product's end user. The authors also established the issues that often go

hand in hand with the development of a multilingual website which includes amongst other

things: the cultural significance of colors, language selection, translation and localization of the

website (Miraz et al., 2014). The conclusion of the study found that English sites were superior

overall regarding various parameters such as design and interactivity. (Miraz et al., 2014).

While this study may have focused on the BBC, there are implications for libraries and other

information centers. An example of one issue is increasing access to our OPACs and library

websites to users whose first languages may not be English. This study lays the framework and a

design template that a library could use on a much smaller scale to survey its users on the library

websites usability.

The second article is much more library focused. In Usability Testing, User-Centered

Design, and LibGuides Subject Guides: A Case Study, Alec Sonsteby, and Jennifer DeJonghe

examine how usability testing is implemented in librarys to ensure user-friendly access to

library resources. In this case, the authors focused on the usability of LibGuides. For this study,

Sonsteby and DeJonghe did two rounds of tests. The first round consisted of five students and

one public patron and then made adjustments to the librarys LibGuides (Sonsteby & DeJonghe,

2013). The second used the same formula only it tested the usability of the LibGuides after the

adjustments had been made (Sonsteby & DeJonghe, 2013). This study was more qualitative in

nature relying on the experiences and inputs of the study participants. Interestingly enough, after

adjustments were made to the library LibGuides, the responses of the second round of

participants revealed that the authors had not been successful in their work. This study is

actually probably one of the best applications of UCD in terms of demonstrating how a library
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can actually carry out such research to determine the needs and ease of access of materials to its

users.

While both of these studies are excellent examples of how researchers can use UCD as

the underlying framework for a study, it is important to note that while UCD is useful, it is far

from perfect. In an article, Don Norman stated that Human-Centered Design (the evolution of

UCD in the years following his book's publication) could be harmful in some cases (Norman,

2005). Norman suggests to his readers that they might consider Activity-Centered Design as a

superior framework (Norman, 2005). One of the major issues of UCD, Norman mentions, is that

it may cause improvements in usability for some groups and individuals at the expense of others.

Another such concern is the fact that while UCD is useful (and it is important that Norman does

not advocate for ending its use), sometimes it may also over-emphasize the needs of users and

damage or drastically change the purpose of a product. These are problems that are very

important to consider in the construction of a study that may use as its basis, UCD.

UCD offers a great number of benefits to LIS professionals. Its applications in studies

allow researchers to develop and refine interfaces for increased access to library materials. It is a

method that is tried and true since it was popularized in the late 80s. From looking at the

research, one of the most important things to consider about UCD is if it is a framework that is

truly compatible with the study that an individual may want to research. However, for many

applications, especially those concerned with developing electronic user-interfaces, UCD

provides a comprehensive way to consider a user's needs.

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Works Cited:

Bates, M. (2005). An Introduction to Metatheories, Theories, and Models. In Theories of

Information Behavior (pp. 1-24). Medford, NJ: ASIST.

Miraz, M. H., Excell, P. S., & Ali, M. (2014, December 20). User interface (UI) design issues for
multilingual users: A case study.Universal Access in the Information Society, 15(3), 431-444.
doi:10.1007/s10209-014-0397-5

Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability engineering. Boston: Academic Press.

Norman, D. (2005). Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful - jnd.org. Retrieved October

21, 2016, from http://jnd.org/dn.mss/human-centered_design_considered_harmful.html

Norman, D. A. (1990). The design of everyday things. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Rogers, Y. (2004), New theoretical approaches for human-computer interaction. Ann. Rev. Info.
Sci. Tech., 38: 87143. doi: 10.1002/aris.1440380103

Sonsteby, A., & Dejonghe, J. (2013). Usability Testing, User-Centered Design, and LibGuides
Subject Guides: A Case Study.Journal of Web Librarianship, 7(1), 83-94.
doi:10.1080/19322909.2013.747366