The next step in preparing for the card sort was to create a list of words and phrases that would be used for the card sort. A total of 64 items where created and written on index cards.

Card Sort Words

Music
Education
Math
English
Chemistry
Anthropology
Communications
MLA Style
APA Style
Chicago Manual of Style
Reserves
Library Card
Laptop Computer
Headphones
Digital Camera
Copiers
Hours
Group Study Rooms
Listening Rooms
Inter Library Loan
Library Catalog
Ask us (meebo)
AskUs 24/7
Audio Cd’s
Books
DVDs
Records
Citing a Source
Academic Search Complete
Books 24X7
Credo Reference
NAXOS
Films on Demand
JSTOR
PubMed
WorldCat
BearCat
44 Pierrpont Ave. Potsdam, NY 13676
library@potsdam.edu
315-267-2000
Borrowing Policy
Collection Development Policy
Course Reserves Policy
Noise Policy
Make Suggestion
Consultation Request
How do I get a library card?
How do I find a book on reserve?
Where are your copiers?
Can I sign out a group study room?
FAQ’s
Suggest an item for purchase
Jobs
Employment
Fines
Databases
Article
Do you have a Scanner?
Do you have a Fax Machine?
Print Poster
Crane Library
Crumb Library
University Archives
Electronic Books

After writing all of the terms onto the index cards it was now time to conduct the card sort.

Before even coming up with a list of words for the cart sort a list of items that should appear on the website was created. Here is the list of items that, I came up with:

• Hours for the Libraries
• Contact Information for both Crane and Crumb Library – address, phone, email
• Contact Form
• Libraries Catalog Access
• Electronic Database Access
• Inter Library Loan Access
• List of Equipment that can be borrowed – computers, digital cameras etc.
• Circulation Policy – for all items that can be borrowed from the libraries.

Crumb Circulation Desk.

This list of items came from working at the reference desk in the Crumb Library and talking to the circulation staff at both the Crane and Crumb Libraries. Talking to the circulation staff proved to be very important because they are the busiest service point in the library. Along with talking to staff, I spend a few days at the circulation desk in both libraries to observe and take notes about the types of questions people ask. It was like conducting data for a research project by observing human behavior.

In reading through the list that appears above you additional ideas to add or even take away items depending on your perspective. In looking back it would have been useful to talk with people who represent the target audience to find out what they need to have access too. This is something that you want to be careful with because a person may ask for things that in reality may not really help them with the task they are trying to accomplish. This reminds me of the Simpsons episode Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? where Homer gets the chance to design a car. During the episode he adds things to the car such as a large cup holder that gets in the way of the controls. The engineers are able to design the car and a prototype is built, but the cost bankrupts the company.

Circulation Desk

Desk at the Crane Library.

At the same time, I was contemplating what items should appear you may have additional ideas to add or may see a few things that you would take away. Every library would probably have at least a few of things on their list; However, each one is a little different serving a different community of patrons. What would your list contain? This was one of the most useful aspects in gathering information because the circulation desk is where we have the most interaction with the people who use the libraries.

The Crane Library circulation and reference desk are located next to each other at the same desk. After walking into the entrance of the library you see a large desk right in front of you. The first part of the desk that you see is staffed by someone who is responsible for circulation duties. The reference area of the desk is located at the far right of the desk. Essentially the desk in the Crane Library serves two service points one for circulation and another one for reference.

The view of the reference desk after you have just walked into the library and turned to your left or right.

On the other hand, the Crumb library has two different desks that are approximately 50 meters apart from each other. After entering the library the circulation desk is the first point of contact for people, so most questions often start here and than move to the reference desk. The reference desk is not in a persons field of vision because of its location unless a person turns to their immediate left or right after entering the building.

Most Common Questions

• May I have a laptop?
• Can I check this out?
• My professor put something on reserve – do you know where it is?
• The computer I’m using says it can’t find the printers. Why?
• The computer I’m using locked up. Why?
• Can I borrow a pair of headphones?
• Where can I find this book?/Ho do I find this book?
• What time do you open?/What time do you close?
• Dow you have a fax machine?
• Where are your copiers?
• Do you have a scanner?
• Are there any more computers?
• Can I sigh out a group study room?

Less Common Question

• Can you help me cite this?
• I’m looking for an article can you help me?

The questions that appear above are asked at both libraries; However, the Crumb Library receives a higher number of questions because it is the largest and busiest library on campus.

This week has been very busy with having three sessions of card sorts. In looking back at the week it was not a good idea to have three sessions taking place on three consecutive days. If you plan on doing a card sort with different groups, I would highly recommend that you allow for at least a day off in between each one or have schedule them take place over a two work period.

Here is what are schedule looked like for the card sort:

• Tuesday 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Wednesday 2:20 p.m. to 3:30 p.m
• Thursday 10 a.m to 11 a.m.

The reason for selecting three days in a row at three different times was to make it easier to recruit people and to schedule a group study room within the Crumb Library. About the only thing that made these times easy to work with was the ability to schedule a group study room. When taking a look at the dates it looks like things would not be all that time consuming; However, this was not the case.

I was the only person that was conducting the card sort which had the advantage of consistency. When talking to each group about the card sort allowed for consistency. After each group had completed the card sort my work really only just began. Once the participants where finished organizing the words on the index cards into categories we would talk for a few minutes about the terms and phrases on the cards.

Once the participants left it was time to take some pictures of the organization of the cards. Without having the use of a ladder it made taking pictures challenging because it was not possible to take a direct over head shot of the cards on the table. Instead all of the pictures were taken at an angle which presented its own unique issues.

Along with taking pictures it was time to collect the cards and keep them into categories. By keeping the cards into categories it made it easier to create an HTML document that represented the categories and items that belonged in each one. Future posts will contain the results of the card sorts. Most of my time was spent between taking pictures, keeping things organized, and recording the results by writing a web page. If the card sort dates were spread out over time it would have made it easier to upload pictures and record the results.

Lets use the following terms for a simple card sort example.

• apple
• banana
• beans
• carrot
• celery
• corn
• cow
• orange
• peach
• shoe

Each of these terms will be written on a different index card and will be given to the people who are participating in the card sort. You can than ask people to organize the items into different categories. After people are finished organization the content into categories it is time to ask them how they would name each category. At this point you will want to give the participants some blank index cards and ask them to write down the name of each category on one of the index cards.

Using the items listed above a group of people might organize the terms into the following categories.

Vegetables

• Corn
• Celery
• Carrot
• Beans

Fruit

• Peach
• Orange
• Banana
• Apple

Other

• Cow
• Shoe

After the index cards have been arranged into different categories you will have the opportunity to talk with the participants about why they put items into certain groups. This is your opportunity to find out several different things from why things were grouped together in a certain way to understanding why a term was confusing. In talking to participants you may find that you need to rename or remove certain words to make it easier for a person to locate the information that they would be searching for in a website.

We keep mentioning the phrase card sort, but what exactly does it mean. A card sort is a way that allows you to understand how people organize certain items together into categories. A grocery store would be one example of how items get organized. Regardless of what grocery store you walk into the items in that store will be grouped together in a certain way. For example, fruits and vegetables will be in one location of the store and milk and dairy products will be located together. Whether you go into a Krogers, Price Chopper, Farmer Jack etc. the way they group items will be very similar. By grouping items together in a certain way makes it easier for a person to locate and find the items that they need. No matter where you live in the country the layout of a grocery store will be very similar to you whether you live in California or Main.

Advantages

The advantage of grouping similar items together is useful for both a store and the consumer. This application also applies to websites because it gives people a sense of familiarity and helps them to locate the item they are looking for. In a grocery store this helps people because they get accustomed to seeing certain types of food grouped together. Wallmart has a slightly different take on the wording that they use on signs, but by grouping similar food items together like other stores helps people find what they need. For example, milk and dairy products appear in one location of the store and right next to them are frozen foods. This helps people because all of the products that require reregistration or need to be frozen are located in one location making it easier for a person to locate these type of products. It is also helps the store create a more officiant layout allowing all of the refrigeration and electrical components located in one location. To learn more about why people use the internet please read the post Part III Kick Off Meeting.

Getting Ready for the Card Sort

Now that we have an understanding of the importance of a card sort lets briefly talk about what you need to do to get ready to conduct one. The first element is to come up with a list of words and short phrases that represent the content that would appear in a website. For example, phone number, address, and email address of the organization. When creating this list of items you may notice that you may have written down some words that really mean the same thing. If you notice this happening you have two different choices to make (neither one is right or wrong). First you can keep the redundant words or second you can eliminate the words that are similar to each other. The advantage of using all of the words is that this will give you the opportunity to ask people during the card sort which word will be the most recognizable and easy to understand. The disadvantage is that it has the potential of confusing the participants and will make the card sort take longer.

After creating a list of items that represent your organization it is time to get a stack of index cards. Each word or phrase that you have come up with will be written on a separate index card. We have come up with 63 words and phrases for the card sort that we will be doing in a few weeks. The only reason for mentioning this number is that the librarians here at the Crumb Library are always talking about numbers (this number is for all of you who like numbers). For example, this book has been circulated 10 times in the last three years or the library contains 30, 000 books. There is really know set number of index cards that you should have or not have. They are a representation of the information and things that people are looking for as it relates to your organization.

Once you have gotten your index cards ready you need to recruit people to participate, which is the most difficult part of the process. If you have been reading along you have noticed that we are having difficulty finding people who want to participate in the card sort. If you would be interested in participating please conduct me or someone in the libraries. When looking for people to participate you want to find people who represent your target audience. For more information about the target audience for the SUNY Potsdam College Libraries please read through the Guidelines webpage. You do not want to ask people who are in your organization to participate in the card sort because they already are familiar with the words that you have written down on the index cards.

Conducting a Card Sort

After getting ready for the card sort and soliciting volunteers to the best of your ability it is now time to actually do one. When meeting with a group it is usually helpful to give them a brief overview of the card sort and thank them for participating. A description of the card sort could be something like “Today we will be doing a card sort which is taking a list of words written down on index cards and organizing them into categories.” It is helpful to write down some words on index cards that are not related to your organization and demonstrate what you are asking people to do. After a brief demonstration and explanation you will want to give the participants the stack of index cards that you have written on and ask them to organize them into logical categories. At this point in time you will want to let everyone know that there maybe some words that they do not know or that do not fit into a group. You can ask them to set aside these index cards that have words on them that they do not understand.

After giving the participants the index cards it is probably a good idea to leave the room, so that you do not influence any of the decisions that people will make. I will say something like “I will come back in about 25 minutes and see how you are doing”. As stated earlier this is your opportunity to get an unbiased opinion from the target audience on how they would organize the words that they where given. After coming back to see how everyone is going I will ask the group still needs more time to finish or if they are done. If they are finished, I will give them some blank index cards and ask them to write down the word that best describes each category of words that came up with.

This is also a great chance to ask the participants questions that will help you to understand why they have categorized the words together the way they have and find out what words did not make sense to them. One thing that is very important during the process is to keep an open mind and listen to what people have to say (let them tell you why they made the decisions that they did). When we conduct a card sort we will be doing it at three times with three different groups of people. This is important because it will allow us to see how different groups of people categorize the words that we have written down. It will also show certain trends on how people organize the information that the libraries makes available to people. We may learn that nobody knows that “Credo Reference” is an electronic reference tool. By learning how the target audience categorizes words together will help us develop a website that makes it easy for people to located the information they need. The college libraries website will be created for our target audience and not librarians.

Patrick is ready to run card sorts with our community to begin our information architecture work, and the first question in any volunteer enterprise is “how do we get people to participate?”

Well, by asking.

Then by begging.

Then by arm-twisting.

Also, try offering incentives. Like coffee or pizza.

(I haven’t been forced to the Pizza Extreme. Yet.)

As the Voice Of The Library, I took two initial approaches to finding volunteers for the card sort. First, I sent an email to Dr. Tom Baker, the head of our Honors Program, and asked if he would solicit student volunteers for us. We, as The Libraries and as members of the campus community, have a strong existing relationship with Dr. Baker and with the Honors Program, so this was an easy way to reach out to several hundred students to ask for help. I offered a gift certificate for free coffee at the cafe to any student who volunteered, and before the day was over I had 3 volunteers.

Then I sent out an email to our faculty liaisons to the library. This group consists of one faculty member from each of our academic departments, with whom we work on Collection Development and libraries’ communication issues. And, when needed, I use them as a sounding board, informal advisory group… and pool of potential volunteers. (I also offered them coffee.)

If these two solicitations fail to get us enough volunteers to fill the three card sort sessions, we will move on to the next step: Begging. This means asking for volunteers personally, from amongst our friends, colleagues, coworkers, student workers, students in classes, library regulars… and offering coffee.

If that fails, arm-twisting is next. That means I, as Director of Libraries, start calling in favors. I try to save these for stuff that matters, but this project counts in that category.

(Or I offer to buy pizza. We’ll see.)