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: Find Books --> author search (Library Catalog) "Marc Bekoff" observes the results and types a new search for "Bekoff, Marc" and was successful.

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog to look for a book? Yes

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: eJournals A-Z --> title search "Asset Management" -->Back to the alphabetical list and clicks the letter "J" and scrolls to the correct journal. Asked if the alphabetical links navigate within the letter already selected or within the whole list.

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____                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: Considers using the Find Books link "because it is a hard copy" --> Library Catalog box: Title/Journal Title search: "American Helicopter Society" (There was a problem in the page which caused the search to be executed as an author search.) Changed to a title search and still did not find it -->Back -->Reference Shelf -->Journal indexes and databases available to non-subscribers "..not sure what that means" -->Back --> Library Catalogs--> BU Library catalog: title search: "American Helicopter Society" changed to a subject search: "helicopter"   (hesitates on the link for "helicopters--periodicals") and talked about a sort by material types

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: Suggested a link to "print journals"

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Are students able to navigate to the catalog for a print journal? Can get to the catalog- but could not find the journal- confusion about the actual title of the journal.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: Directly to the "Interlibrary Loan" link

Follow-up to Q4 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: Do students navigate to the ILL page and if so, how (through the how to box or the ILL link)? Seemed familar with the Interlibrary Loan process

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

Successful_____                     Unsuccessful___X___

Observer's comment: Research by Subject-->Research Guides: selects Psychology-->"hoping for an eJournals list with articles..."-->scrolls down to "Internet Resources"  clicks on--> Social Psychology Network and types in the search box: depression--> Psychology Research Guide and clicks--> Psych Web, scans and back to --> Psychology Research Guide--> Psych Web and selects -->Scholarly Resources--> Psych Web --> Psychology Research Guide-->Psychology WWW Virtual Library--> Journals --> American Journal of Psychology-->types in the search box but gets results not from the publishers websiteinstead of the articles expected.

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: Asks a question about the Library Catalog search box: "does it search everything - except ejournals- is it redundant? (with the links to the right) scrolls over the individual library links in the upper right corner and returns to the Library Catalog search box.. and comments that it would be good to be able to search all collections.

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

Student's response: "I like ejournals" says that they are simple to find and that there are many ways to search for ejournals-->Research by Subject and scans the list of Research Guides- notes the "varying degrees of specificity"  mentioning Alcoholism and Aerospace Engineering as examples.

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

Student's response: No