On March 16, Lauren Puzier, User Experience Librarian, took home the top prize in Technology from SAGE Innovators Awards. Lauren and Rebecca Nous won for their presentation titled, “System Status in Discovery.”
Their three-minute video explained how the University Libraries implemented a real-time status bar on the Search tool. Students and faculty can see which databases are offline for planned maintenance or unexpected outages.
“User experience is improved by meeting the researcher where they are,” Lauren explained. “They can quickly see issues, reasons, and ETAs for service disruptions—which can help alleviate some frustration.”
Lauren Puzier presents at the Technology from SAGE Innovator Awards
A joint-venture between Technology from SAGE and Electronic Resources and Libraries, the awards “recognize technological innovations in eresources librarianship, especially in support of pedagogy and/or research workflows across campus. These innovations should use technology to remove barriers to knowledge, reflecting the spirit of innovation upon which Technology from SAGE was launched.”
Lauren joined the University Libraries in 2016 as Reference and Projects Librarian for the Dewey Graduate Library. In 2018, she took on the role of User Experience Librarian.
"This project helped to reduce frustration for patrons by increasing transparency," said Camille Chesley, Head of Reference and Research Services. "It also streamlined processes for sharing information between units in the library so that we could more effectively serve our patrons. It is just another example of one of the many ways in which Lauren’s work has helped enhance the research experience for our students and faculty. We are lucky to have her.”