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 library catalog box to do an author search for Marc Bekoff and was successful after changing the author to Bekoff, Marc.
Number of Links: 1

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog to look for a book? The student had great success with this question, but it was unclear that she knew what she was searching.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: Some hesitation, then the student clicked on the eJournals A-Z link and performed a title search for Journal of Asset Management.
Number of Links: 1

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: The student said, "this wasn't so easy." She would have liked to have seen "electronic journals."

Observer's comment about underlying question of:   Do students use the eJournals A-Z list for electronic journals? Again this student had success, but it she was a bit unsure about where exactly to go.

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 Indexes and Databases link, then clicked back, she then did a title search in the catalog box for Journal of the American Helicopter Society, finding this title.
Number of Links: 3

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, but it was unclear the student knew exactly what she was looking for.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: Hesitation, scanning the page, then clicking on request a book ar article we do not own link, laughing.
Number of Links: 1

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 navigated to the ILL page through the how to box.

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

Successful_____                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: The student started by doing a subject search for depression in the catalog box. After looking at the results, the student said she did not know if these were books or journals, and went back to the home page. From there she followed the link to indexes and databases, clicking on the letter "D", and then scrolling quickly through this page. She then went back and clicked on the Research by Subject link, typing depression in the search box. After seeing the results of this search, she hit the back button and followed the link from the Research Guides page to E-Resources by Subject, scrolling through this page and clicking on Clinical Medicine, scrolled through this page and then went back, and back again. Stopped.
Number of Links: 10

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the indexes and databases link to find articles? At one point the student did follow this link, but did not find what she was looking for on the indexes and databases page. It seemed that she wanted a "Google Scholar" interaction for finding articles. She did not want to go through multiple steps to get to the articles and even in the areas where we provide resources by topic, she never tried a subject category broader than depression.

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

Student's response: The text is small. She said that she would not have seen the "how to box" if we had not had a question related to it. She would like us to have an interface similar to the catalog box with links to the types of research (journals, etc.). Finding criticism is hard on this site.

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

Student's response: She likes the basic catalog box. It is the most helpful and easiest to use.

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

Student's response: The layout is scattered. It would be helpful to have specific tools for research subjects, like criticism. The search box did not help because she could not tell if results were journal articles or books--maybe if it said in the catalog box what the material type was, that would help.