Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Poor Usability at TPL

Why am I picking on this poor recycling bin?

Because it isn't a recycling bin, it's a book return box.

Libraries typically have the problem where users often want to be
helpful and put things back where they find them. Except that many don't
do it quite exactly right.

Since nobody can track where a item is after it has been improperly
shelfed, nobody can find that item upon the request of another patron.

Many libraries have placed signs asking users to leave the books the
tables or have bins for users to dropoff books they have finished during
in-library use.

The TPL branch at Don Mills is following in this trend. Unfortunately,
they decided to use old recycling bins. While ideally, everybody should
read the signs, most people are familiar with the shape and design to
instinctively use it as a recycling bin.

The library had about 7-8 of these and I noticed that only a few had
books in them. The rest were filled with complete recyclable paper.

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