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 used the catalog search box on the top page, performing a title (default) search for marc bekoff. This was unsuccessful, so she went back and did a title (default) search for bekoff, marc. When this was unsuccessful, the student realized that she need to change the type of search to author, which she did on the catalog results page. This enabled the student to find the 7 books.
Number of Links: 1

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? Yes. This student successfully used the catalog search box on 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 clicked on the eJournals A-Z list and did a title search for Journal of Asset Management, finding the two online versions.
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: After some confusion about what we were actually asking the student to do (how to print?), the student performed a title search in the catalog box on the top page and found the catalog record for this journal.
Number of Links: 1

Note: We decided to reword this question to make it more clear what we were asking the student to do. "Print copy" seemed to be library jargon in this case.

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? Yes, this student seemed very comfortable with the catalog search box on the top page.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: "Through interlibrary loan," the student replied, clicking on the interlibrary loan link under the services section. From the ILL page, she followed the link to the Virtual Catalog.
Number of Links: 1

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)? The student knew this term and was able to navigate to this page.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: The student started by doing a subject search for depression in the catalog search box on the top page. Once she saw the results, she went back to the top page. The student commented, "is there a way to just search journals?" She remarked that she did not know you could search by subject in a journal.  The student said that in real life she probably would use the subject search results to find a journal having to do with depression.
Number of Links: 2

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: What were you looking for but did not find?

Student's   response: The student replied "I don't know," but then started looking at the links under Research Tools and said, "Oh--eResources by Subject." The student followed this link and the then scrolled through the list of subjects, saying that she would probably choose Psychology, but the student did not tell us how she would get to an article from this page.
Number of Links: 2

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the indexes and databases link to find articles? No.

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

Student's response: The student commented that she does not know what the difference is between the links listed in the Research Tools section of the page. "How do research guides, eResources by subject, and Indexes and Databases differ?" "The Research Tools section of the web page is the most difficult to use."

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

Student's response: The student likes the renew books link in the how to box. She also likes the catalog search box. She said that it is "really easy. "The student also thought that ILL is" really straightforward" and "easy to use."

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

Student's response: The web site is "pretty easy to use."