The subject guides on the UW Library site provide students with topic-specific research guidance, handcrafted by a subject expert librarian using the LibGuides content management system. The challenge of this project was to create guidelines for librarians that allowed them to redesign their guides in a way that addressed key usability issues while keeping in mind:

• The subjective nature of each subject
• Technical limitations of LibGuides
• The complexity of the change and time required to make it

RESULT

• Streamlined guides to focus on subject specific content and less general research information.
• Redesigned homepage to a 3 column design versus the previous 1 column.
• This research paper was accepted at the Library Assessment national conference in 2010. After presenting, librarians across the country have reached out regarding the research.

ROLE

• Research: Devised a research plan, created test documents, moderated 10 participants, analyzed data, created a highlights video, made recommendations, and presented findings to the UW Libraries staff.
• Project Management: Participant recruitment