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. But, the student said that he usually goes to amazon.com to get the ISBN and used that number to search the catalog to see if we own things.
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_____                     Unsuccessful__X____

Observer's comment: The student started by clicking on the "eJournals A-Z" link, he did a title/keyword search for chocolate health. After seeing the results he went back and tried just chocolate, scrolling through the results. He then went back and did a search for chocolate and health. He went back and tried chocolate. He scrolled through the results and went back and tried chocolate and medical. He went back and tried chocolate and diabetes, he went back and said "you can't do a keyword search, but tried chocolate and benefits he went back and stopped.

Number of Links: 13

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

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

Student's response: The student "loves" the catalog search box. He likes the "tutorials" in the how to box. He would like more tutorials for self learning. He did not know anything about printing in the library. More information about printing would be helpful, he thought. He also suggested putting a link to BU or the BU logo on the top of the page.

Q5: What is your status at BU?

Student's response:

Undergraduate ____     Graduate _X___    Faculty ____     Staff ____    Other ____