Act I: The Power of Partners
The value of collaboration is often promoted in higher education but successfully achieving it can be a real challenge. Distinct systems, priorities, and institutional cultures often make working together less attractive than working alone.
In early 2024, a call from Academic Libraries North (ALN) for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) funding prompted us to reflect upon this. Could two local universities share their expertise and infrastructure to address shared accessibility challenges and strengthen the student experience?
To our great delight the University of Salford responded to our suggestion with enthusiasm. This spark of mutual interest and commitment then ignited a user testing project that quickly exceeded our initial expectations.
Act II: A Shared Interface
Crucial to this effort was choosing a system that both institutions used and cared about.
We selected Leganto, the Ex Libris reading-list platform, which both universities deploy in support of teaching and learning. With Ex Libris preparing a refreshed interface, we felt we had a rare opportunity to influence its design before it reached a wider audience.
With both institutions using the same platform in nearly identical configurations, we had a natural shared evaluation framework making our collaboration instantly practical and meaningful.
Act III: Embracing Real-World Perspectives
Automated accessibility checks, e.g. contrast tests, missing-label alerts, are always valuable, yet they miss the nuances of genuine user experience: the frustration, surprise, and satisfaction real users feel.
To capture this, we turned to the Behavioural Research Laboratory at Alliance Manchester Business School. Equipped with eye-tracking systems, private testing suites, and data analysts, the lab allowed us to conduct thorough, human-centred evaluations.
Their setup enabled us to observe how students and staff performed real tasks, configuring accessibility settings, annotating PDFs, navigating the interface etc. on a variety of devices.
Act IV: Shared Investment, Shared Insight
Even though our joint bid for EDI funding had fallen short, we had already built up a head of steam, enthusiasm and momentum had taken hold and we decided together to self-fund the work.
This choice actually gave us some additional flexibility: shared costs, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the freedom to design user scenarios reflecting real academic tasks.
In July 2024, we tested 35 participants over two days at the behavioural lab, combining faculty and students, across desktops, laptops, and mobiles and the results were rich and revealing.
Act V: From Feedback to Improvement
The data we gathered demanded careful analysis which included a manual review by Manchester’s Teaching Collections team, while Digital Development colleagues applied AI techniques to identify recurring usability themes.
Our combined analysis confirmed users appreciated cleaner navigation and the new “Quick Cite” feature—but also highlighted uneven performance and overlooked accessibility concerns.
The result was a concise, evidence-based summary of usability issues, collaboratively created and designed to inform action.
Act VI: Impact Beyond Our Institutions
We presented our findings to Ex Libris, who were eager to see the results. Immediate updates followed, including citation formatting fixes and accessibility improvements, some of which, to our delight, were included in a June 2024 release.
It was extremely gratifying to know that our input didn’t just benefit Manchester or Salford but helped enhance the experience of every Leganto user worldwide.
Epilogue: The Case for Collaboration
This project confirmed a vital truth, that despite inherent challenges, meaningful collaboration between institutions is possible and can be highly effective.
While it requires time, shared commitment and constant negotiation the benefits are clear: better outcomes, a stronger voice in product development, shared knowledge, and ultimately, improved services for our communities.
We are proud of what we have achieved and excited about what comes next. We hope this doesn’t remain a single success story but the foundation for potential future partnerships.
Are you inspired to collaborate? Do you have similar experiences or ideas to share?
Do get it touch as we’d love to continue this conversation and build on what we’ve started.