Guiding Interface Design
with Ethnographic
Methods
ALA Annual 2013
Usability, the User Experience & Interface
Design
David Bietila
Web Program Director
dbietila@uchicago.edu
Gina Petersen
Human Resources Specialist
gmpetersen@uchicago.edu
The University of Chicago Library
Our Research Project
 Model the research practices of UChicago
graduate students
 Compare the approaches to research taken by
students with the approaches recommended by
Librarians
Seminar Paper Topics Included:
 Depictions of the Holocaust in Film
 Djinns in Islamic Poetry
 Hooliganism Crimes in 1950s China
Example Interview Questions
 What do you anticipate will be the most
difficult part of the research?
 How do you evaluate sources?
 How have you converted your topic into
a searchable phrase or keywords?
University of Chicago
LIBRARY
CATALOG
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Topic
Definition
Source
Discovery
Analysis
Writing
Topic
Definition
Source
Discovery
Analysis
Writing
Negative
portrayals of
Catholic Church
in media
Australian stolen
generations in
media
Post WWII forced
migration of
British children
Media coverage
of the discovery
of this story in
the 1980s
20 Australian
newspaper
articles
Ethnography
Postcoloniality
Media Analysis
Creation of social
categories in
media
Forgotten Austrialians
Stolen Generation
Child Migrant
Narratives
Anthropology
of Nationhood
Linguistic
Anthropology
State Selfimagination
Anthropology
of Ethics
National
Apologies
Simplifications
created by
culture of
liberalism
Interaction of
state and media
in creating social
categories
Anthropology
of Childhood
Focusing searches
I guess it’s a question of how ideas germinate.
I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for going
into the search, but when I find something that
will be helpful, I know that I found it.
-Study participant
Focusing searches
Browsing
“When I find a helpful book I like to go to the
stacks to see what’s around it, and I’ve
gotten fair amount of material that way.”
-Study participant
Browsing
Augmented Browsing
Checked out items
+
+
Other Locations
Ebooks
Feast and Famine
45,522,461 Results for…
Feast and Famine
58 Checkouts since 1985
487 Ebook views since 2010
15 Times on Course reserve
114 of 125 research libraries own
15 Scholarly reviews
43,664 Citations in Google Scholar
4,738 Citations in Zotero
4,475 Citations in Dissertations &
Theses
Limited Database Usage
Perceptions of Librarians
“I think [subject specialists are] this high up and
far away kind of person. I don’t know what they
are doing in the library. Being Indiana Jones
collecting books or something.”
-Study participant
Perceptions of Librarians
Perceptions of Librarians
Implementing Change
 How do we translate findings into
change within our organization?
Thank you!
Full report available at:
www.lib.uchicago.edu/gradstudy
David Bietila dbietila@uchicago.edu
Gina Petersen gmpetersen@uchicago.edu