A Multi-Source Search Redesign

Overview

The libraries' website is where users begin their research and access academic resources. The homepage search box plays a central role, directly shaping the entire search experience.

I owned this project end-to-end — from user research and synthesis through interaction design, prototyping, and frontend implementation of the new search interface.

Problem — The Search Experience Gap

The UMD Libraries provide a wealth of valuable resources, but each lives behind its own search tool. Navigating between them often leaves users frustrated and unable to find what they came for.

Research

I wanted to understand users — how they do research, how they interact with search tools, and how they access materials. To capture a representative range of needs and behaviors, I recruited students, faculty, and staff across multiple disciplines.

I triangulated three methods to surface pain points: user interviews for depth, surveys for breadth, and web analytics for behavioral signal at scale.

Key Findings

One number cut through everything else and became the spine of the redesign:

The two pain points users surfaced were symptoms of the same root cause: the system was organized around how the libraries are structured internally, not around how people actually search.

Complicated search process

Extra steps and navigation through multiple interfaces increased complexity and drove abandonment.

Ineffective search functionality

Unclear search scope and irrelevant results created confusion and eroded trust in the tools.

Building the Case

Acting on these findings meant changing the default search — and that wasn't an interface decision, it was a political one. Demoting "Search All," a long-standing institutional default, required convincing library administration to overrule a deeply familiar arrangement. I made the case in a formal research report walking through the behavioral data, user pain points, and operational implications of the switch.

Solution

The redesign came down to three changes — but they weren't equal in impact. Switching the homepage default to the catalog did most of the work; expanding catalog scope and adding inline guidance reduced the friction users still encountered after that first click.

1. Simplify the path to information

The highest-leverage change was the smallest: I added the catalog search (UMD Discover) to the homepage search box and replaced the resource overview search (Search All) as the default. This shifted the user journey from an overview-first flow to a direct catalog-first flow, aligned with the 90% behavioral signal from research.

See how the user journey changed:

Before

The original user journey directs users to an overview of all resources (Search All) before they can dive into a specific search tool.

After

The updated user journey gives users two entry points and changes the default tool from resource overview (Search All) to catalog (UMD Discover).

2. Update scope

Resources were previously divided by holdings from different institutions and academic alliances. But users don't care where a resource comes from — they care whether they can find it and access it. I expanded the catalog's search coverage to include all holdings, paired with clear availability labels, so users see the full picture of what's available.

3. Provide instructions

Library terminology is dense and consistently confused users. I added inline explanations across the interface to help users understand and navigate — for example, a short description under the tabs clarifying the difference between the two major search tools.

Design

The final designs span the homepage entry point, the two main search interfaces, and the mobile adaptation — each surface applied the same principle: surface the catalog by default, label availability clearly, and keep guidance close at hand.

The redesign is now live — explore the interface in context below.

Results

Impact

1. Shorter user journey
   Users reach the resources they need faster, without navigating across several interfaces.
2. Clearer guidance
   Inline descriptions give users a clear understanding of which tool or resource they're using.
3. Lower learning curve
   Removing the need to navigate between interfaces makes the library website more approachable for first-time users.

Reflection

1. The biggest UX wins aren't always visual.
   The single most impactful change in this redesign wasn't a new component or a new layout — it was making the catalog the default search tool. A configuration decision outperformed every interface change I considered. The instinct to redesign the surface is often worth resisting until you've ruled out the simpler lever underneath.
2. Design around user mental models, not institutional ones.
   Holdings, alliances, and consortia matter to librarians; they don't matter to patrons. Mirroring the org chart in the UI created friction no amount of polish could hide — the scope expansion only worked because I stopped treating institutional boundaries as user-facing categories.
3. Frame the problem before solving it.
   When the work first landed, it looked like an interface problem — the bento layout was confusing, the tools were unclear, the terminology was dense. Triangulating interviews, surveys, and analytics reframed it as a defaults problem, and the right framing made the solution nearly obvious.

Upcoming Updates

The new design system is set to release in mid-2026 — the interface will be refreshed, but the overall search experience and user flow will remain the same.