Bridging digital discovery and physical access to RIT Library’s rare book and arts collection.
The Cary Graphic Arts Collection, one of the world's premier libraries on graphic communication history, needed a way to connect students with their rare archives.
What they wanted:
support digital exploration
enable appointment booking
alert students about new arrivals
provide direct access to librarians
In just 12 weeks, I designed and tested an app that did all of that and more.
Problem
Students weren't engaging with the Cary Collection. Research told us why:
The barriers were too high. Browsing required an in-person visit. Talking to an archivist felt intimidating. A world-class collection sat unused while students searched for inspiration elsewhere online.
Solution
An app that meets students and faculty where they are. Designed to respect that physical access still matters, but removes the friction of getting there.
Browse visually in a digital space
Search & save flexibly for anytime viewing
Chat with librarians & reserve time to view the materials in person
Key challenges
Balancing visual browsing and robust search. Students needed both ways to explore.
Designing rabbit holes that kept discovery going by surfacing relationships between different works.
Building a chat system around librarian availability (they weren't always there to answer).
Creating a scheduling flow to view physical work that felt effortless.
Translating RIT's existing brand guidelines (built for print and web) into something that worked on mobile.
Results
User testing validated the approach. Students could browse and discover pieces they'd never known existed.
The scheduling flow removed friction, booking a viewing went from intimidating to intuitive.
Chat made librarians feel accessible instead of gatekeepers.
The design opened new possibilities for how the collection could connect with students, proving a mobile-first approach could work for a rare archive.
More work