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: n/a

Observer's comment: n/a

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 student clicked on the "interlibrary loan" link.
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)? This student did not have any trouble finding the ILL page through the "interlibrary loan" link.

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

Successful__X___                     Unsuccessful______

Observer's comment: The student started by clicking on the "eJournals A-Z" link. She said that she would try to find a scientific journal. She clicked on the alphabetical list. She went back and then clicked on indexes and databases. She scrolled through the list and clicked on JSTOR. She did a search for scientific health benefits of chocolate and found many articles.

Number of Links: 5

Observer's comment about underlying question of: Do students use the "find articles link" to find articles? This student did not used this link.

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

Student's response: The student said that she liked the descriptions of where the links will go on usable 11 as compared to the current page. She said that she uses JSTOR and LexisNexis. She uses JSTOR for her science classes.

Q5: What is your status at BU?

Student's response:

Undergraduate __X__     Graduate ____    Faculty ____     Staff ____    Other ____