What Is User Experience Design? Overview, Tools And Resources (Smashing Magazine)
Web applications have become progressively more complex as our industry’s technologies and methodologies advance. What used to be a one-way static medium has evolved into a very rich and interactive experience.

Usability & Web Accessibility (Yale University)
Yale University has an easy-to-understand website for beginning user experience professionals. This site contains templates, best practices, and simple recommendations into integration into web presence planning.

Web Usability Articles (Nielsen Norman)
These Nielsen Norman resources are geared mainly general website usability practices, organized by topics, popular and recent articles, and much more. Great place for beginning user experience professionals to engage in an introductory exploration on this topic.

Usability.gov
Usability.gov is a federal governement resource (specifically, a website) dedicated to usability practices, which range from user testing to content strategy to good design and so much more. Free templates, checklists, and other resources are available her. It’s a great tool for a user experience pracititioner to move from exploring UX to doing it.

UX Planet
Includes sections on Usability for Beginners and User Research

Usability Testing with Steve Krug (YouTube)
Usability expert Steve Krug in a presentation about usability testing. He goes through the whole testing process and makes it simple. At one point he actually does a “talk aloud” test with a volunteer. 1 hour, 16 minutes.

Usability Testing  (Yale University)
If you want a usable site, you have to test. Concise description of types of testing and how to conduct usability tests.

How to Conduct Usability Testing from Start to Finish (UX Mastery)
How to Conduct Usability Testing from Start to Finish

How To Do Usability Testing? (Part of Usability Testing)
Has a description that covers the bases, including giving examples and listing common mistakes.

Checklist for Planning Usability Studies (Nielsen Normal Group)
Planning a user test? Follow these 9 steps to make sure you are prepared.

How to Set Usability Goals for User Testing. (UX Passion)
Learn how to create usability goals.

How to Choose a User Research Method (UX Planet)
Starts with testing goals and describes how to choose testing methods based on those goals.

When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods (Nielsen Norman Group)
Gives brief summaries of 20 UX methods and explains how each method tests UX differently. Also helpful for determining which testing methods are complementary.

7 Great, Tried and Tested UX Research Techniques (Interaction Design Foundation)
General summary of some of the most common testing methods and the benefits of each.

How to Choose a User Research Method (UX Planet)
Starts with testing goals and describes how to choose testing methods based on those goals.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Usability Testing (Nielsen Norman)
An overview of when to use qualiative or quanitative methods for user testing. There is a helpful table breaking down the difference between the two approaches and focuses on how they relate to an iterative design cycle.

Card Sorting
From the The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed., this in-depth overview covers the cart sorting user testing methodology. Card sorting is an activity involving the grouping and/or naming of objects or concepts This resource gives a practical example overview, history of card sorting, the best approach for qualitative and quantitative outcome, and suggestion on how to coordinate a card sort activity.

A Primer on A/B Testing (A List Apart)
“In an A/B test, you compare two versions of a page element for a length of time to see which performs better. Users will see one version or the other, and you’ll measure conversions from each set of users. A/B tests help designers compare content such as different headlines, call to action text, or length of body copy. Design and style choices can be tested, too; for example, you could test where to place a sign-in button or how big it should be. A/B tests can even help you measure changes in functionality, such as how and when error messages are shown.” In this List Apart Article, the author covers what is A/B Testing, how to decide on what to test, and suggestions on how to implement the test. This is a good basic overview for the A/B testing method.

Guerilla / Intercept Testing
Guerilla (or intercept) testing is a quick and informal way to present your design to the community. It  subverts typical user testing by meeting users where they are and getting quick fire responses to what you are testing.

5-Second Test
This test gauges users’ first impressions of a webpage. This can be helpful to understand what the visual impact is and see what stands out to your users.

Talking with Participants During a Usability Test (Nielsen Norman)
Focuses on the importance of user testing facilitators “talking less and learn more” approach to working with users. Good resource for thinking through approaches to facilitator behaviors during usability studies.

Observer Guidelines for Usability Research (Nielsen Norman)
Provides guidelines for test implementors assuming the role of observer or notetaker. Topics include how to observe a research session, notetaking instructions, and has an example of what user testing notetaking looks like.

Writing Tasks for Quantitative and Qualitative Usability Studies (Nielsen Norman)
All usability studies involve asking participants to perform tasks, but the correct way to write those tasks depends on the methodology you’re using. Good quantitative tasks are concrete and focused, while good qualitative tasks are open-ended, flexible, and exploratory.

From Research Goals to Usability-Testing Scenarios: A 7-Step Method (Nielsen Norman)
Describes 7 steps to turn testing goals into specific tasks and user scenarios.

Write Better Qualitative Usability Tasks: Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid (Nielsen Norman)
10 mistakes to avoid when writing tasks for a usability study. Nielsen Norman Group.

Usability Metrics (Nielsen Norman)
Describes usability metrics, which are quantitative data gathered over time to test iterations of website design.

Usability Metrics that Matter: A Practical Approach to Measuring Usability
Blog post covering essential usability metrics to enhance user experience, measure effectiveness, and drive success.

Usability Testing Questions (WAI)
Sample questions, tasks, and post-test survey questions from W3C.

NN/g’s Free UX Templates and Guides (Nielsen Norman)
A curated a collection of free NN/g templates and guides for UX work and product development.

Recruiting Participants for Usability Tests
Brief post from Atomic UX Research creator covering basic recruiting methods as well as incentives, diversity, and ethics in recruitment.

How to Find Great Participants for Your User Study (Google Ventures)
Advice from a Google Ventures UX researcher with how-to information for recruitment. Includes a worksheet for devising a user screening tool.

Recruiting Test Particpants for Usability Studies (Nielsen Norman)
Although this Nielsen Norman page is geared mainly towards hiring an outside recruiter, with information on the probable costs, it includes a link to a comprehensive report on recruitment.

How Many Testers in a Usability Study? (Nielsen Norman)
Explains why less is sometimes more when choosing how many people to include in user testing.

Why You Only Need to Test with Five Users (Nielsen Norman)
A pithy explanation from the Nielsen Norman group explaining why more tests with fewer users give the best result for your testing effort.

Communicating User Research Findings (UX Matters)
Advice on how to choose reporting formats, with excellent tips on getting the most important points across in a strong, effective way.

Croxton, B., & Oakleaf, M. (2026). Evidence to Action: Communicating for Meaningful Change. College & Research Libraries News, 87(4), 168.
This fourth article in a series focuses on communication and explores how to present assessment results in ways that resonate with key decision-makers, prompt meaningful change, and sustain engagement and investment in assessment as a practice of continuous improvement.

Making Usability Findings Actionable: 5 Tipes for Writing Better Reports (Nielsen Norman)
Five things to focus on in reporting results to convey the most important changes to be made quickly, and to inform future efforts.

Storytelling in UX Work: Study Guide (Nielsen Norman)
Connects users to articles and videos covering storytelling fundamentals, turning data into stories, presenting to teams, and storytelling artifacts.

Why Ethics Should Be at the Core of Design Storytelling (UX Matters)
Provides brief examples of different ethical approaches to communicate results with shareholders.

Persona Method
A simple introduction to the process of creating user personas to humanize data patterns. This can be a way to narrativize trends found in your research and better understand your users.

Stories of Web Users (Web Accessibility Initiative)
The following user stories represent the experiences of some people with disabilities. They do not address all disabilities or all impacts faced by people with disabilities. These and other disabilities may be present from birth or may develop as a results of an accident, illness, or aging.

User Testing Persona Resources
Example personas from Alliance institutions, how to’s, and tips on using this method.

Common Ethical Issues in Usability Testing (Developer UX)
Explores the ethical challenges in usability testing, including consent, privacy, and the treatment of vulnerable populations.

Decision Frames: How Cognitive Biases Affect UX Practitioners
How a fact is reported makes a big difference in the perceptions of a reports consumer; this page explains aware of framing bias and how to avoid over-influencing decision making. Nielsen Norman Group.

The Ethics Of Using AI In Usability Testing And Research (2026) (UX Army)
This blog dives into real-world risks, questions every team should ask, and best practices for using AI ethically in UX.

Markless, S., & Streatfield, David. (2013). “Thinking about evidence.” Evaluating the impact of your library (Second ed.). London: Facet Publishing.
Chapter 8 section 8.4, “Ethical Evidence-gathering.”

Lime Survey
LimeSurvey is an open-source tool for creating customizable online surveys, polls, and questionnaires.

Quant – UX
Quant-UX is an open-source tool for creating interactive prototypes, conducting user tests, and analyzing results to improve UX design.

UX@UA
Created by UX Librarian Rebecca Blakistan, the UX@UA site is an up to date community resource hosted at the University of Arizona, including a calendar of events, UX documentation, and even their popular UX Cookbook of handcrafted design recipes.

UXLOL (UX Leadership of Libraries) 
Slack group for any library folks interested in UX work, follow along, join in discussions, ask questions and attend their quarterly lighting talks.

Nielsen Norman Group UX Conference
The Nielsen Norman Group UX Conference is a full-day, immersive learning with same NN/g researchers and invited speakers. UX Conference courses are packed with examples and guidelines.

Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference
The Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference provides a User Experience & Online Presence track that incorporates some topics around user testing.

UXLibs in Europe
UX Libs is an international community of library workers committed to exploring and embedding UX research and design methods with a view to providing more relevant user-centric library services to our users.

Recommended UX Journals

• Weave
  Weave is an open-access and peer-reviewed online journal for user experience practitioners in library environments. Published by Michigan Publishing, this journal publishes practical articles on usability work within librares twice a year.
• International Journal of Design
  International Journal of Design is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to publishing research papers in all fields of design, including industrial design, visual communication design, interface design, animation and game design, architectural design, urban design, and other design related fields.

Presentations on User Testing

• Re-Thinking the Library’s Role in Discovery and Access in a New Era of Search (Online Northwest 2026)
  Uta Hussong-Christian, Oregon State University Libraries & Press; Hannah Rempel, Oregon State University Libraries & Press; Hui Zhang, Oregon State University Libraries & Press; Ian Scofield, Oregon State University Libraries & Press
• Blueprinting Services to Foster Shared Understanding (Online Northwest 2026)
  Beth Filar Williams, Oregon State University; Ian Scofield, Oregon State University
• Usability Testing on a Tiny Budget: Lessons from COCC Library’s Website Redesign (Online Northwest 2018)
  Tamara Marnell, Central Oregon Community College
• Building a User Testing Toolkit at Your Consortium or Institution (Online Northwest 2018)
  Holli A. Kubly, University of Oregon; Hilary Robbeloth, University of Puget Sound
• Help the Library Receive Candy: The ILL Usability Project at Reed College (Online Northwest 2017)
  Eric Alwine, Reed College; Annie Downey, Reed College

Video Resources on UX

• Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug: Usability Demo
  Author Steve Krug’s demo test as a companion piece to his latest book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems. The main purpose for creating this video is to demonstrate how easy and simple usability testing can be. 25 minutes.

Books About UX

• Berman, E. (2019). Your technology outreach adventure : tools for human-centered problem solving (1st ed.). ALA Editions.
• Bignoli, C., & Stara, L. (2022). Responding to rapid change in libraries : a user experience approach. ALA Editions.
• Buley, Leah. (2013). The user experience team of one: A research and design survival guide. Brooklyn, NY: Rosenfeld Media.
• Goodman, E., Kuniavsky, M., & Moed, A. (2012). Observing the user experience: A practitioner’s guide to user research (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
• Krug, S. (2006). Don’t make me think! : A common sense approach to Web usability (2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif: New Riders.
• Krug, S. (2010). Rocket surgery made easy : The do-it-yourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems (Voices that matter). Berkeley, Calif.: New Riders.
• Markless, S., & Streatfield, David. (2013). Evaluating the impact of your library (Second ed.). London: Facet Publishing.
• Marquez, J. J., & Downey, A. (2016). Library service design: A LITA guide to holistic assessment, insight, and improvement. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Miller, Luke. (2015). The practitioner’s guide to user experience design. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.
• Norlin, E. (2000). Usability testing for library web sites: A hands on-guide. Chicago, IL: American Library Association Editions.
• Portigal, S. (2013). Interviewing users: How to uncover compelling insights. Brooklyn, NY: Rosenfeld Media.
• Priestner, A. (2022). A handbook of user experience research & design in libraries. UX in Libraries.
• Priestner, A., & Borg, M. (Eds.). (2017). User experience in libraries : applying ethnography and human-centred design. Routledge.
• Quesenberry, W. & Brooks, K. (2010). Storytelling for user experience: Crafting stories for better design. Brooklyn, NY: Rosenfeld Media.

Online Courses on User Testing & User Experience

• University of Michigan has a course on Evaluating Designs with Users as part of their specialization in User Experience Research and Design (free to audit on Coursera)
• University of Minnesota has a course on Evaluating User Interfaces as part of their specialization in User Interface Design Specialization (free to audit on Coursera)
• Library Juice Academy offers 13 different courses as of 2021 in User Experience for Libraries. Each course is 4 weeks and costs $175. Choose 6 to complete for a certificate.

WSU Vancouver’s Usability and Accessibility Workshop Toolkit

• This document collects files and links from WSU Vancouver’s Usability and Accessibility Workshop.