Website Usability

Data

Q1: Using the library web site, can you tell if the library has any books written by Marc Bekoff?

Successful__X__                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student scanned the list of links under the research tools section and clicked on library catalogs. She then scanned through this page and linked to the BU library catalog using the link under the BLC section. She then did an author search for Marc Bekoff and was unsuccessful. She went back and did an author search for bekoff, marc and found 7 books by this author.
Number of Links: 2

Follow-up to Q1 if unsuccessful: If the student is unsuccessful, the librarian should ask what word or phrase were you looking for, but did not find?

Student's   response:

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog to look for a book? This student seemed to know she was looking for a link to the catalog, but could not find one on our top page. This suggests that we need to have a more obvious link to the BU library catalog from the top page.

Q2: Using the library web site, can you find an electronic copy of Journal of Asset Management ?

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student started by quickly scanning the list of links under the research tools section and clicking on the eJournals A-Z link. She performed a title search for Journal of Asset Management using Tim's list and successfully found two different subscriptions to this title.
Number of Links: 1

1 st Follow-up to Q2 if unsuccessful: If the participant goes to the catalog and stops, the librarian should ask, "is there somewhere else on the library web site to look for this?"

Student's   response:

2 nd Follow-up to Q2 if unsuccessful:   If the student still does not find the eJournals list, the librarian should ask, "what word or phrase were you looking for, but did not find?"

Student's   response:

Observer's comment about underlying question of:   Do students use the eJournals A-Z list for electronic journals? Yes.

Q3: Using the library web site, can you find a print copy of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society ?

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student started by clicking on the eJournals A-Z list under research tools and performing a title search for Journal of the American Helicopter Society. She got the "sorry" message from Tim's list and used the link to the catalog from this message to get to the library catalog where she did a title search for Journal of the American Helicopter Society. The student successfully found an entry for this journal.
Number of Links: 2

Follow-up to Q3 if unsuccessful: If the student is unsuccessful, the librarian should ask what word or phrase were you looking for, but did not find?

Student's   response:

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog for a print journal? In this case, yes, but the student started by performing a search in the eJournals list. Is this becasue the word "journal" appears in the link or because the student is used to searching for journals this way? The student seemed much more comfortable with the task of finding an electronic journal. I wonder if students do not use print journals?

Q4: Using the library web site, how would you get a book or article we do not own?

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student started by scanning the research tools section again. She followed the link to library catalogs and pointed out the links to the BLC catalogs, saying that she could search in these catalogs to see if these libraries own the item.
Number of Links: 2

Follow-up to Q4 if unsuccessful: Are there any other ways you might look for them?
Student's response: The student clicked on the Services heading and was taken to the circulation page. From this page, she clicked on the interlibrary loan link in the sub navigation bar to get to the interlibrary loan page. The student demonstrated how this page could be used to request an interlibrary loan page.
Number of Links: 3

Observer's comment to follow-up: The link from the services page needs to be rethought. Is a link to circulation the best place to go?

Follow-up to Q4 if unsuccessful: If students did not make it to the ILL page, the librarian should ask, "what word or phrase were you looking for, but did not find?"

Student's   response:

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students navigate to the ILL page and if so, how (through the how to box or the ILL link)? Yes, the student navigated to the ILL page, but only after prompting.  Once she noticed this link, the student did not seem to have any problems with the terminology, "interlibrary loan."

Q5: Using the library web site, how would you find a journal article about depression?

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student started by following the eJournals A-Z link. Once she got to this page, she hit the back button to go back to the home page. She then followed the research guides link and studied this page, without scrolling. After a few seconds, the student used the back button to go back to the home page and once again followed the link to eJournals A-Z . On the eJournals A-Z page, the student started by checking the drop-down options in the search menu, she then followed the link to indexes and databases (find articles by subject) located in the box below the search field. She studied this list, scrolling through the whole list. She stopped on the listing for JSTOR (journal storage) and asked if she could use this database to search for depression. The tester answered affirmatively, so the student followed the link from the indexes and databases page to JSTOR and did a keyword search for depression in JSTOR.
Number of Links: 7

1 st Follow-up to Q5 if unsuccessful: If the students navigate to a database through research guides or similar, the librarian should praise the student and show her the indexes and databases link and ask, "is there a better way to word that?"

Student's   response:

2 nd Follow-up to Q5 if unsuccessful:

Student's   response:

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the indexes and databases link to find articles? No. The student did not follow this link on the top page. I think she followed this link from the eJournals A-Z page because of the (find articles by subject) phase the follows "eJournals A-Z" on this page. I also think that the only reason the student choose to search JSTOR is becasue it is the only listing on the indexes and databases page that mentions journals. Note: I think that the long list of databases on the indexes and databases page seemed a bit daunting to the student at first.

Q6: How would you change the library's web site to make it more useful for you?

Student's response: The student had some instruction from her professor recently, which she found very helpful because before this help, she did not know where to start doing research. The professor told the student where to find journals, etc.

Q7: What do you find useful on the library's web site?

Student's response: The student likes the set up. It is easy to figure out and has tabs that are self-explanatory.

Q8: Is there anything you would like to tell us about the library's web site?

Student's response: The web site is really helpful and useful. The student feels like she can find things quickly. She likes to be able to use the catalog and resources from her dorm.