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: Using the library catalog search box, the student used the pull down menu to choose an author and then did a search for marc bekoff.
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 used the catalog search box successfully.

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 link and performed a title search (exact phrase) for the Journal of Asset Management, finding the two subscriptions for this journal.
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 said that she was "not sure about this one" and that she did not know where to go.
Number of Links: 0

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: Student said, "print copy." Then she said, "maybe look in the library catalog." Then the student used the catalog box to do a title search for Journal of the American Helicopter Society, finding the catalog entry for this title. The student commented that if she came to the site she probably would have tried typing the journal title into the catalog search box.
Number of Links: 1

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog for a print journal? This student was able to do it, but it seemed like this is something she would not naturally do. This again brings up the question: do the students use print?

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: Student said, "other library catalogs" without clicking on this link and then, "no, not other library catalogs." The student scanned the page and pointed out the link called, "how to request a book or article we do not own," in the how to box.
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)? Yes, the student seemed to be qued off by the "how to request a book or article we do not own"  link. It was unclear if she was familiar with the term, "interlibrary loan."

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

Successful_____                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: The student asked, "research guides?" She then clicked on this link and performed a keyword search for depression in the search box near the top of the screen on the research guides page. Upon seeing the results, the student hit the back button and used the guides by subject box at the top of the page to link to social sciences. From this page, the student linked to the psychology research guide by clicking on the word "psychology" (not the "e" for e-resources). The student scrolled through this guide and looked at all of the headings on this page, clicking on the "guides to research" link. The student hit the back button and was returned to the top of this page. The student hit the back button and was taken to the Social Sciences listing and then the student choose the link for the psychology research guide again. At this point, we moved on to follow up questions. Number of Links: 8

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: With regard to the indexes and databases link, the student responded that she does not use the library that much and would "not immediately go there." She would like to see something about "specific topics."

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. In this case the student specifically told us that she would not immediately go to the indexes and databases link. I am assuming because it does not catch her eye or is meaningful to her.

General observations/questions: did the student see the "e" link for e-resources? Would the student have been more successful if she had clicked on this link? Because the student used the broad subject links at the top of the page, to go from social sciences to psychology, does this mean she did not notice the individual subject listings toward the bottom of the page? The search box on the research guides page did not seem to provide the expected results for this student.

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

Student's response: The student asked, "how can I view a reserve list?" She then commented that the library page seems to have everything she would be looking for.

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

Student's response: She likes the ask a librarian link. She does not like to walk over to the library all the time.

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

Student's response: The student said that her eye does not go directly to anything on the page--the layout could be better.