Website Usability

Data

Q1:  Using this printout and keeping in mind that everything on this page is linked:

(a) Please circle any of the links on this page that you have used in the past month.

(b) Can you prioritize these links in order of importance to you: 1 is the most important.

(c) In addition to the links you have followed in the past month, have you used any of the other links on this page? If yes, please highlight them.

User's comment:

Observer's comment:

Q2: Using the library web site, how would you get a book or article we do not own?

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The patron clicked on the ask a librarian oval.
Number of links: 2

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: "Ordering, maybe." The student looked at the page and said, would "interlibrary loan" be what you are going for? A-ha, "request a book or article we do not own," he said, pointing at the link.

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)? This patron noticed both options for linking to ILL, but the "interlibrary loan" link was the first one he noticed. He seemed more confident that the "request a book or article we do not own" link would lead him in the right direction, though.

Q3: Using the library web site, how would you find a journal article about the health benefits of chocolate?

Successful_____                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: The student clicked on the "find books" link. The then when back and used the catalog box for a keyword search on health chocolate. The went back and clicked on "find articles." The clicked on "c" for chocolate, remarking, "no chocolate." He went back and clicked on library catalog, performing a word search for chocolate, mentioning that he will not "mess with limits."  Looking at the search results, he mentioned that he would do another search because he did not want to go through 75 results. He want back and did a search for chocolate and health. Not getting any results, he said that he would probably go look through the 75 results.

Number of Links: 9

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the "find articles link" to find articles? This student used the link, but did not know what to do when he got to the indexes and databases page.

Q4: How would you change the library's web site to make it more useful for you?

Student's response: The student suggested that we make the "find articles section" more central--make it bigger. He suggested moving the catalog box. He said that he would not use the list of libraries on the top right part of the page. He said to emphasize the services section if you want to make people aware of ILL. He suggested putting services, about, etc on a navigation bar at the top of the page like the bu.edu site. The student said that he did not know what circulation is.

Q5: What is your status at BU?

Student's response:

Undergraduate _X__     Graduate ____  Faculty ____     Staff ____    Other ____