Check it out

I’ve mentioned before that the Santa Clara Library District (SCCLD) revamped its online system, and I initially wasn’t massively impressed with the new interface.

Well, there’s more. And I’m gonna give you a for-instance:

My objections?

Point No. 1: The screen capture was taken after I’d clicked the Submit button to place Re: Jane on hold. The “in progress” loop just goes and goes every time I request a book, so they don’t appear to have optimized for Firefox. (I haven’t tested it with IE or Chrome, but if they can’t make it work properly with Firefox they just aren’t trying.) Meaning, it just hangs there until I close out the pop-up window.

I only know that the request has gone through by trying to submit a second time, whereupon I get a snippy error message telling me that I’ve already requested it.

This is bad design and apparently non-existant testing. And I’ve encountered this every time I’ve requested a hold since they brought the new system up.

So, I guess at least it’s consistent. Bad, but consistent.

Point No. 2: Yeah, okay—technically, Re: Jane is indeed a “previous” result, although it’s actually the result I’m in the process of requesting, so I’m not sure what this bit of information does.

(Point No. 2.5: I’m guessing that at some point in the past I’ve looked up Major Crimes in the SCCLD, but that wouldn’t have been in the last several months, so it’s kind of creepy that it’s showing up here. Like Target spitting out coupons for things I’ve purchased in the past that they only know about because they’re tracking my credit card. Ever since librarians told the Feds to get stuffed when they came snooping for patrons’ reading habits, I’d thought that records of what I borrow from the library get expunged the instant I check something back into the system. Well, if so, that obviously doesn’t apply to my online activities and I find this troubling.)

Point No. 3: Why is their algorithm set to suggest that I might want to borrow…the exact same book I’m in the process of looking at/requesting? Not once, but twice? Is this a feature catering for patrons with multiple personalities?

I know it’s very “customer-centric” and all Amazony to suggest other purchase ideas, but to make this feature actually a useful benefit, you’d have to program your system with other choices that are somehow related to the current option. Without being, you know, the same thing I already have in my basket.

For books, this would require entering some sort of synopsis, with keywords, and I’d have thought that out of scope for libraries on tight budgets. So this is kind of an empty flourish.

And my initial response to the new system is confirmed. I’m thinking you should have had a product manager or two involved.