Case study · Yale University Library

Redesigning Quicksearch for a new library system

Yale's library discovery platform needed new holdings and request pages when the library moved from Voyager to Alma and Primo VE. I worked on it from first mockups through production over more than 18 months.

Role
Software engineer, design and front end
Timeline
March 2023 – June 2026
Tools
Figma, Rails, Bootstrap 5, SCSS, RSpec
Team
Notch8 with Yale Library staff
Figma mockups for the Quicksearch redesign: the holdings record page with copies and Request buttons, the request-an-item page, the approved color palette, and the mobile record view
Designed in Figma: holdings record, request page, approved palette and mobile view

The problem

Patrons find and request items through Quicksearch. The move to Alma and Primo VE changed the data behind every holdings record, so the pages that show where an item is and how to request it had to be redesigned without disrupting people who use them every day.

What I did

  • Created Figma mockups and design options, then built the approved designs
  • Audited every page from 320 to 1680 pixels and fixed layout problems before they were reported
  • Improved WCAG 2 Level AA conformance, including screen-reader-only text patterns
  • Migrated Bootstrap 4 to 5, moved the stylesheets from Sass to SCSS and helped convert the templates from HAML to ERB
  • Wrote the team's ticket, pull request and breakpoint testing templates
The final catalog record page in Quicksearch: title and details, an Available Online section, and a Copies in the Library table with location, call number, status and a Request button
Shipped: the final catalog record page
The final Request an Item page in Quicksearch: the title, location, call number and availability, then delivery options to scan a chapter, pick up at a chosen library, or send to a home address
Shipped: the final request page

Quality

I started the project's Coveralls integration when overall coverage was 56.88%, then organized ticketed work to raise the weakest files.

display_helper.rb

17.55% → 96.91%

user.rb

37.14% → 97.73%

application_helper.rb

23.94% → 100%

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