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:
Interlibrary Loan.

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?"

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 student did, via the ILL link.

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:

Medical Library. News Archives. Back. "No search box, so I'll go back to the home page" (meaning /library/index-usable11.htm). In the Library Catalog box, typed in health benefits of chocolate, hit enter, which yielded no entries.

Number of Links: 5

Response to the follow up question about how "find articles" could be reworded:

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the "find articles link" to find articles?

Not this student.

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

Student's response:

"Really good. I'd put at the top Services, News and About, the links I use the most and the others at the bottom.

Q5: What is your status at BU?

Student's response:

Undergraduate _X__     Graduate ____  Faculty ____     Staff ____    Other ____