National Archives Readers' Screens get a usability overhaul
May 2009

We've recently completed our latest project for the National Archives, a usability review of key elements of the electronic system which visitors use to reserve archived documents. The project was won in March as the result of a competitive tender process.

Members of the public wishing to access the vast repository of original documents housed at The National Archives in Kew, London, can do so after registering for a Reader's Ticket. Both this and the reservation process are done through electronic Readers' Screens within the building. The existing system proved difficult to use for many visitors, so our task prior to a redesign consisted in understanding and mapping the entire journey made by users from beginning to end.

We carried out an ethnographic study, interviewing and shadowing visitors as they underwent the process of registering, reserving their items, collecting and then returning them. The same approach was applied for those who work behind the scenes in Document Services, identifying and retrieving the records. Our findings, which took into account everything from signage to the layout of furniture, were analysed in collaboration with the National Archives.

Wireframes and protoypes for the new Screens, designed to make the system as intuitive and easy to use as possible, were subjected to rounds of user testing at Kew before being delivered.

Since winning a place on the National Archives' roster last year, we've worked on a series of projects providing user research and information architecture consultancy. All projects aim to make the 900 years' worth of records from the Domesday Book to the present housed at the National Archives easily accessible to as many people as possible.