Gerome Miklau
CSE 510 / Spring 2001 / Lab #1
Above is a map of the Fiction and Literature section of a Barnes & Noble bookstore. It is the largest single-subject area of the bookstore, arranged alphabetically by author. A diverse collection of authors is included here, ranging from Tom Clancy and Stephen King to Charles Dickens and Plato. The following analysis focuses on customers attempting to locate a book by a given author. Although this is not the only way to “use” the Fiction and Literature section, it is at least a very common use.
In the map above, the BLUE areas denote the A-Z arrangement of the Fiction and Literature section while the GREEN denotes other parts of the collection.
In order to assess customers’ experiences of searching for a book, the same map is reproduced below with trails of the paths followed by actual customers through the area. The beginning of a trail marks a customer’s entrance into the area, and the trail ends with the first place where the customer picked up a book and paused. I selected customers to track by waiting for those who approached the area with a sense of purpose, as opposed to those who were aimlessly browsing.
The reasons behind this confusing, almost cruel, design could be incompetence or simply laziness. It is conceivable, though unlikely, that as new books are published the boundaries between alphabetic regions change, and that it would be difficult to maintain a coherent map or system of labels.
Instead, I am convinced the design is intentionally disorienting. The design makes it nearly impossible for a customer, having a single book in mind, to find the book and leave without having to explore a large part of the area. While doing so, the customers are forced to look at the spines of the books themselves. It is a devilish way to force customers to browse.
In contrast to this design, the University Bookstore has letters of the alphabet prominently displayed above each three-foot shelf section in their Literature area. To the credit of Barnes & Noble, there was no lack of service staff available during my observations.
Large letters labeling the shelves would solve almost all the difficulties in locating a book. It would be best to arrange the labeling so that the customer approaching the Fiction and Literature area could conceptualize the arrangement of books easily before entering the area. Once in the area, there are usually obstacles to visibility since bookstores tend to display books on shelves that are higher than the average human height. This makes it difficult to see signs that are displayed and to get a sense of the global arrangement of the area. One possible solution is to annotate the ceiling which is always visible. An external map is also a possibility. While some of these measures may be extreme for the Fiction and Literature section of Barnes & Noble, the same problems exist in large video stores, libraries, etc.