Overdrive versus CloudLibrary
It was brought to my attention that an assessment of our two digital book services was in order because there is a perceived simplicity in only offering one service to our customers. This is that assessment.
Usability Stories
User stories are descriptions of actions that a user needs to be able to complete without assistance from another person. Speed is not necessarily a metric that shows one person’s success bettering another’s. Instead, success is its own reward to a user, and ease of understanding, and ease of remembering. To put it other words, ease of using. We call the measure of successful ease of use “usability.”
The following are the fundamental actions that are important to customers in regards to eBooks.
As a customer, I want to be able to find an available eBook I’m looking for so I can check it out from home.
As a customer, I want to be able to log in using my library card number so that I don’t have to manage a separate account.
As a customer, I want to be able to browse to a specific part of aforementioned eBook.
As a customer, I want to be able to be free to return aforementioned eBook before it is due to avoid fines.
Glossary
CL: CloudLibrary
OD: Overdrive
UX: User Experience
Bento: richlandlibrary.com + bento box search
Polaris: catalog.richlandlibrary.com search
API: Application programming interface: a tool-set for building application integration software.
0.0 ✕ Integrated Experiences: CloudLibrary Wins
Before a user can get to either of these services, there are considerable boundaries that prevent the user from ever reaching the final goal of reading a book on their device. Those who know the systems well all said “you have to really want it.” Originally, these factors were thought to be out of the scope of research, but they do skew the perceptions of users who have used one or both of the eBook services in the past or the present.
0.1 ✕ CL results are unlabelled in Bento
The CL logo is absent from the eBooks tag in Bento results, while OD’s logo is present. For a user hoping to find content on CL, they have to work out that OD results are on OD while results without any logo are the ones on CL.
0.2 ✕ “What’s That Little Circle?”
One user pointed to the Overdrive logo and asked me what it was supposed to be telling him. I felt the same way when I first started using the library. The “O” logo means something to users who are in the know, but it means absolutely nothing to a user that doesn’t know. Services like Zinio and Hoopla have the benefit of having their full logos displayed.
0.3 ✕ “Please log in again to download this item.”
1. Search for a title on Bento
2. Click “Download” on an OD eBook
3. Log in
4. Prompt appears “Please log in again to download this item”
5. Log in again
I think this only happens to users who are trying to check out an eBook on OD for the first time. In any case, it seems so senseless. This may have something to do with OD’s API, but more likely has to do with our implementation.
0.4 ✕ “Success! You’ve just checked out this Overdrive eBook. …Would you like to place a hold?”
In the case where the user already has an account, the “Download” button results in a similarly styled message that reads
Success! You’ve just checked out this Overdrive eBook. Go to your Overdrive app now to finish the download process and begin reading. Need help finding an app? Here are links to all of the Overdrive apps. Want to read in your browser? Visit Overdrive now.
You are given this message on the title’s details page, and the actionable button in most cases reads “Place A Hold.” Why? Because there are in many cases only one copy and that copy is checked out. Wait, but wasn’t it available to download just a second ago? Yes, it was. (the person who jumped ahead of you is…. yourself) But it can easily fool the user which leads down an even more insane rabbit hole.
0.5 ✕ The Holds Location Trap
This applies to both services and is a Bento bug.
- Search for a title on Bento
- Observe an eBook result
- Press “Available Now” button
- Proceed through a forced Log In
- “Available Now” page that asks you where you’d like to pick up your hold.
- Press “Place hold” button
- Error: “Requests are not permitted for this title. Contact the library for assistance.”
By step 5, one of two thoughts crosses the users’ minds.
- eBooks are to be picked up in person, which is false
- Our web site is broken, which is true
1.0 ✕ Browsing: CloudLibrary Wins
Both services tend to have repeats in their front-page content. A few users noted that looking at CL without any interaction was more pleasant. CL is offering more pre-sorted lists like Netflix which is an attractive feature to younger users. It’s a trade-off though; the strength of CL’s browsing doesn’t make up for its weaknesses in searching, and vice versa for OD.
OD offers 129 “Subjects”, and features the following 4 that seem permanently fixed:
— Most Popular
— Newly Added
— New Children & Teen Titles
— Try Something Different
CL offers 104 subjects, featuring 5 that seem regularly curated:
— Nonfiction
— Exciting Action, Mysteries, & Thrillers
— Great Romance Titles
— Most Popular This Month
— (Auto) Biographies
1.1 Overdrive is subtractive; CloudLibrary is additive
OD treats its browsing users like they are looking for something specific. Their interface uses facets so that by selecting a subject, you make a cross section of their catalog. With each additional subject you click, it further limits the results to meet all of your parameters. It’s actually just a method of searching without using keywords. This is a design choice that often comes along with advanced (faceted) search because it’s convenient to maintain; the browsing page is the search results page, and vice versa.
CL on the other hand treats its browsing users like they are just looking for anything that catches their eye. They start you out with a few categories that are a little more specific which encourages the user to play around and customize which categories they want to follow. Following works much in the same way it does on Twitter or Pinterest. Thus, you can view a feed that includes things that you’re most likely to be interested in. I think this is a more pure method of browsing; it’s more modern, it’s more personal, and most importantly it more closely mimics the experience of browsing physical material.
2.0 ✕ Searching: Overdrive Wins
Search in these apps is not our users’ first interaction, but it is the most important. You might think that this functionality is largely irrelevant since customers can search through Polaris, but each service offers a search function of their own. It becomes more relevant once we direct the user to the app where they inevitably decide that it’s easier to just stay there rather than going back and forth to and from Polaris. As stated in the Browsing section, search is OD’s greatest strength, and while it may be weaker at browsing, search is more valuable to the user.
2.1 ✕ Who had better results? It was kind of a tie.
There are a lot of ways to run tests on a search engine. Essentially I test if the results that come back are what the user expected.
Here are a few examples:
— “hary poter” CloudLibrary wins
— “potter harry” Both succeed
— “jk rowling” Both fail
— “j k rowling” Overdrive wins
Both services have flaws. It’s tough to say which behaviors are more common than others, and they both failed and succeeded about the same number of times.
2.2 ✕ Advanced Filtering
When a user feels betrayed by normal searching tools, that’s typically when they reach for advanced filtering. OD offers a lot more filtering options.
CloudLibrary’s filters:
- Availability
- Format (eBooks, Audiobooks, or both)*
*a bit of a misnomer because there is presently just 1 audiobook in the entire collection
Overdrive’s filters:
- Availability
- Format (eBooks, Audiobooks, Kindle compatible, EPUB, PDF, mp3, streaming video, Overdrive Read, Overdrive Listen)
- Date added (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months)
- Author
- ISBN
- Subjects
- Languages
- Audience
2.3 ✕ Browsing on OD is actually just Searching
What might make for an uninspiring browsing experience on OD, it’s great when the user changes their minds and decides to look for something specific. OD’s faceted results page is mutable, and each parameter allows multiple selections to make for extremely specific searches.
2.4 ✕ Autocomplete
OD makes an attempt to correct the user while they are still typing in their search terms by offering autocompleted terms with corrected spelling/punctuation, but they do not do anything to help the user once they’ve submitted their query. CL offers no such nicety.
3.0 ✕ Signing Up: CloudLibrary Wins
Linking your library to OD is a painful experience. I myself have searched my library dozens of times. It really makes users crazy. I watched a staff member struggle with this process for 40 minutes. CL onboarding consistently takes users less than 5 minutes.
4.0 ✕ Logging In: CloudLibrary Wins
When a user logs in to either service with their library card (which is the most preferred method), the system asks you to identify your library up front every time.
4.1 ✕ Overdrive seems to forget my library
Once logged in, it’s then just unfathomable to the user that the library location information is not saved — especially if they’ve been through login in the past. It is such a confusing experience for users that it can wreck the rest of the session. CL on the other hand is extremely easy every time. You do have to select your library, but it’s done in a guided way where you don’t have to type anything.
4.2 ✕ Overdrive says RCPL not found
A few users typed “richland county” into the search box which turned up with no results on OD.
4.3 ✕ Overdrive makes you pick a branch?
OD for some reason makes it look like you need to pick which library location you’re checking out from which is, in truth, irrelevant to connecting to your account. It does not confuse users — most ambivalently made their selection and moved on.
5.0 ✕ Holding : CloudLibrary Wins
CL shows users how many days you have to wait instead of what position in line you are in.
6.0 ✕ Checking Out: CloudLibrary Wins
OD requires the press of an “Add to App” button. Without pressing “Add to App,” the title is still checked out, but it doesn’t show in your bookshelf which sets the user up for failure. Instead, they are inside of “Loans.” Titles on CL are automatically downloaded and opened which is much simpler. While automatically downloading may use more space on your device, users agree that there’s likely to be no complaints for the convenience it offers. By contrast, OD not automatically adding titles to your bookshelf confuses customers regularly enough that it’s considered a frequently asked question.
7.0 ✕ Reading: Overdrive Wins
7.1 ✕ Offline reading
OD downloads the whole book. CL has a reputation for titles not being readable if you are offline long enough, but that may not be true anymore since the update.
7.2 ✕ In-browser reading
OD offers a better in-browser reading experience. CL was about ten times slower.
7.3 ✕ Overdrive offers more fonts, more sizes, and more colors.
Essential for people who love to read — not just people with glasses.
8.0: Bookmarking: Tie
Users say that they get in to the habit of bookmarking their place in CL because sometimes when they open a title, it goes back to the beginning. The bookmarking feature works fine in both, but OD wins for the simple fact that its users don’t feel that they need to use it in the first place.
8.1 ✕ CloudLibrary Flags
CL’s flagging feature is pretty amazing. You can flag a book (essentially adding it as a favorite), so you can have an overview of which are available and which are not. It’s a great flexible feature.
9.0 ✕ Removing: Tie
CL’s desktop app sort of hides the ability to remove titles from your bookshelf. You have to go to “list view” first. All their other apps make it straightforward though.
10.0 ✕ Loading on an eReader: Overdrive Wins
10.1 ✕ Kindles
OD works with Kindles. CL doesn’t. Enough said.
10.2 ✕ Android App
The CL Android app leaves a lot to be desired compared to OD. The menus are unresponsive, the margins on the screen are way too large and don’t respond when you change the setting. Selecting text prompts the user to download a dictionary whether they want to define the selection or not. Selecting text to copy is not allowed in either.
11.0 ✕ Logging Out: Tie
Not much to say about either service. So why include it? Because logging out should be the simplest action the user can take. Thankfully, both pass.
Conclusion: Overdrive
If each of these factors had the same weight, it would be a tie. But they do not have the same weight. Ultimately, the best survey we can possibly conduct is the usage speak for itself. CL may have been improved greatly, but customers like OD; it has more powerful searching, friendlier reading, and is compatible with the most popular eReader. Users spend almost twice as much time getting set up on OD, but once they are in, they are more pleased with the experience; They feel that they have more options, and that despite there being a higher learning curve, once learned it’s easier to complete their tasks. It became clear in my testing that what users want from an eReading service is something that is complex enough to embrace all the nuances of a physical catalog. CL may be better for Millenial customers since it follows a few newer design trends like “following,” but statistics show that that age group represents a paltry slice of the whole of our eReading customer base. Age aside, it’s clear that the customer who has invested in an eReader is quite comfortable with OD.