The usability of Seattle Public Library’s Facebook site for a new user is quite good. Patrons don’t have to wait long to become active participants in the site as Facebook’s Wall feature encourages them to “write something.” If the user was completely unfamiliar with social networking, he/she could always post a question or ask for [...]

My first suggestion for Seattle Public Library involves the promotion of their Facebook page. Moving the icon to a more prominent place on the website layout would help tremendously. It would make users aware of the service. The icon is small enough that it could occupy the empty space next to the date on the [...]

If I were a patron of Seattle Public Llibrary, I would use its Facebook page but only sporadically. Recall that a link to this service is hard to locate on the home page. If I had overcome that impediment and made it to the site, I would be expecting something wonderful. After all, I worked [...]

Even if the Seattle Public Library is really keen on engaging with their users on Facebook, their website does not support this goal. At first glance, and with the color-coding scheme taken into account, the most prominent services offered are the library catalog and the library locator. To find the Facebook link, I had to [...]

Seattle Public Library has exceeded the adage espoused by Andy Burkhardt’s Information Tyrannosaur Blog: Links are good. Use them generously. The Facebook site contains not just links but embedded content of many of the library’s other services. When a user glances at the navigation list on the left-hand side of the site, he/she encounters links to online social [...]

Navigation Visiting this website immediately after Multnomah County Library’s, I was jolted by how colorful it is. Let’s table that for now and concentrate on navigation. The layout of Seattle Public Library’s website is quite consistent. When I clicked through the different titles on the image map successively, I had visual proof that the structure, [...]