Research

We created a Google survey and interviewed readers via Zoom and in person. We discussed problems that we’ve encountered as readers ourselves and defined what answers we wanted to discover based on our problem. We learned from our research that readers prefer physical copies of books, they do not have a defined system on getting rid of older books, and they are more likely to read a book based on others’ recommendations. Thriftbook solves a similar problem as it allows readers to source books at a low price point. However, this app does not provide a way for readers to swap out the books they no longer want to read. Our app builds a community of readers and creates a sustainable solution to sourcing new books to read. Additionally, the library provides a similar service to ours; however, our app provides a user-friendly way to search for new books by category and trend. Discovering new books on the typical library app is difficult as they do not provide categories to browse.

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1. Do readers prefer a physical copy of a book?

2. How do readers find books they want to read?

3. How do readers obtain the books they want to read?

4. Do readers mind spending money on books?

5. What do readers do with books they don't want to keep?

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“ I like reading a physical copy of the book because it's a magical experience from the smell of a new book to the touch of the book and when you have a copy of the book it makes the journey even more magical.”
-Luisa, 20 years old college students