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:
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?"

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)?

Yes, via the ILL link.

 Student says he usually goes to Amazon to get the ISBN and then comes back here.

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:

Moused over eJournals A-Z, Research by Subject, then clicked on eJournals A-Z, title search chocolate and health, hits search. Student questions his use of and. "Nothing tells me to use operators. " Closes pop-up. Clicks on the drop down menu on the eJournals A-Z webpage. He says "I like pop -up windows". eJournals A-Z, does title search chocolate health, hits search, which yields nothing. Closes pop-up. Speaking out loud, notes the help at the bottom of the page. Does a title search chocolate, hits search, which does yield a list of journals. Closes pop-up. eJournals A-Z, title search chocolate and medical, hits search. Finally, eJournals A-Z, title search on chocolate and diabetes, hits search. Says "can't do a keyword search".

Number of Links: 10

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

He was very fast, was obviously digitally literate.

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

Student's response:

"I like the Catalog box."

"I like tutorials for self learning."

Pointing to the How To... box, says "that's just super".

Looking at index-usable11.htm says  "I don't know what's valuable", e.g., "printing, you can print here, even batch jobs."

"I don't see where to click to BU" (meaning BU's home page).

Q5: What is your status at BU?

Student's response:

Undergraduate ____     Graduate _X___    Faculty ____     Staff ____    Other ____