Usability & the Connecticut State Library Web Site

Usability & the Connecticut State Library Web Site Stephanie Willen Brown Electronic Resources Librarian University of Connecticut [email_address] 860.486.4855

Act Like a User: Find an Obituary
Uncle Joe died in the 1950’s. I want to see his obituary!
What’s the first thing you see?
How would you go about getting Uncle Joe’s obituary?
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3

http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/

http://www.lib.az.us/

http://www.library.ca.gov/

Today
Define UX, usability
Why do they matter?
Discuss elements of UX as they affect web sites
UConn’s usability test
Assessment
Test
Results
Break
Review state library web sites
Complete common scenarios
Assess based on new knowledge

Why Should We Care About UX?
“ Your web site is the embodiment of your library ... For customers to feel they have a good relationship with your library, they must first feel they have a good relationship with the web site — and that begins with the user experience.”
Paraphrased from Garrett, J.J.
“ Customer Loyalty and the Elements of User Experience”

The Elements of User Experience
Peter Morville,
Ambient Findability

What is Usability?
Usability … assesses how easy user interfaces are to use . The word “usability” also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.
Jakob Nielsen, Usability 101

Components of Good Design
Learnability
Efficiency
Memorability
Error recovery
Satisfaction

How to Achieve Good Design
Think like a user
Consistent design
Tweak text

Thinking Like a User
“… let’s acknowledge the vital importance of empathy for the user . Only by understanding and caring about the perspective of the individual can we design useful, usable solutions.”
Peter Morville, Ambient Findability

Consistency
Color, graphics
Orientation & navigation
Language

Above the Fold

Pretty! Functional?

Reading Online: Proust
For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between Francois I and Charles V. This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit; the subject of my book would separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it or no; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself in a state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, for my mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed.
Swann’s Way / Marcel Proust

Text-heavy Home Page

Arguably …
Why?
Content arranged logically, with clear headings & bullets
Alphabetical within groups
Content goes down, as it does in traditional print
Words are “chunked” into pieces for easy scanning
Type Sciences
Books • Biology
Journals • Chemistry
Reports • Microbiology
Videos • Physics
Web Sites • Zoology

Satisfaction?? http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/posters.htm

Jargon to Library Users
“ E RIC, I think it ’s some kind of journal … some kind of citation. ”
Reference Shelf “[It’s] very general. You don’t know what to expect as it could be anything.”

Jargon for Travelers
You need the cheapest round-trip ticket from Boston to London.
You go to
These are your options – which is right?
Flights & Prices
Fares
3 Best Itineraries

How Identify Site Problems?
Objectively evaluate site
Focus group of
Current / typical users
Non-users!
Surveys of
Current / typical users
Non-users!
Usability studies

Usability Testing
Define users
Create tasks to mimic what users would realistically do on site
Do usability testing early & often
3-5 users highlights 85% of errors
Better to test several small groups than 10-15 at once
Note errors, redesign and retest

Suggested Usability Setup Facilitator Participant @ computer Note-taker 2 Note-taker 1

Read to the “Tester”

UConn’s Database Locator

UConn’s Redesign Goals
Database usage statistics outweighs f2f library-user contact in 2006:
f2f contact with patrons: 55,629
Database sessions: 470,327
UConn Libraries Plan 2010 “Scholar’s Portal:
“ Provide immediate, unmediated , and comprehensive access to digitized research and scholarly collections worldwide.”
Peter Morville: Make Things Findable

Usage Log Analysis
March - May 2006, UConn patrons …
Used the subject browse 18,000 times.
Performed a keyword search 15,800 times; and
Clicked on Databases by Title 6,600 times;

Query Log Analysis
Databases
america history and life
lexus nexus
infotrack
Subjects
education
pharmacy medicine
anthropologyu
Topics
hamlet insane
adopted children of same sex couples
“ why doesn’t the us have a eurpean-style welfate state?”

Usability Testing: 3 Rounds
Who?
3 undergraduates, 1 grad, 1 faculty in each
Storrs & regional campuses
What?
First tested old system
Major redesign
Tested redesign
Tweaked design
Tested again

Usability Tasks
Find a business database
Your professor said “use a database named ERIC”
Find articles about diabetes for your nursing class
Find a newspaper article from the day you were born
… plus 5 more …

Subject browse: ~ 18,000 ;
Keyword search 15,800 ; and
Databases by Title: 6,600

Browse by Topic  Business

Find a Database Named ERIC

Diabetes Article, I diabetes

Diabetes Article, II

Focus Groups vs. Usability Testing
In response to question “Rate this site, 1-5  s”
Testers rated     to     
In response to question “would you recommend this to a friend?”
Testers said yes

What We Did
Designed for “lowest common denominator”
Inserted “affordances” for advanced users which are…
Harmless to users unfamiliar with site
Removed search box
Created topical arrangement that students would expect (UConn major)
Limited to 5 databases per page (Best Bets)
Sorted by relevance: 1 st database would be good enough in most cases
Offered more databases if they clicked on “more”
Best bets marked on the longer database page
Shortened written descriptions

http://rdl.lib.uconn.edu/bySubject.php

Best Bets in Library Science

UConn’s Database Descriptions, I
ABI/Inform Global ABI/Inform Global Full-text articles from 1800 journals covering business, finance, management and related functional areas. ABI/INFORM Global indexes a total of 2700 major publications. Subject coverage includes: business and management, including all functional areas.

Database Description, Essential Info
ABI/Inform Global
ABI/Inform Global
Full-text articles
from 1800 journals
covering business, finance, management
and related functional areas.
ABI/INFORM Global
indexes
a total of 2700 major publications.
Subject coverage includes:
Business and management, including all functional areas.

UConn’s Database Description, II
ABI/INFORM Global
Articles in business, finance, management, accounting, advertising, banking, insurance, marketing, public administration, real estate, and telecommunications. 1991-current (fulltext); 1971-current (index & abstracts).

Final Round of Testing

Tech Notes
RDL is public view of data elements from “home-grown” electronic resource management system (ERM)
ERM written in
PHP
MySQL
Some javascript  Ajax

UConn Redesign Team
Stephanie Willen Brown , electronic resource librarian & liaison to Communication Sciences
Susanna Cowan , undergraduate education & outreach librarian
Kate Fuller , reference collection maintenance coordinator and / administrative assistant
Jill Livingston , reference librarian/liaison to the school of allied health
Tom Wood , applications developer
Co-authors: “Making Unmediated Access to E-Resources a Reality: Creating a Usable ERM Interface,” Reference and User Services Quarterly, Summer 2009

@ CSLib.org

Visits to Conn. State Library, 2008 ytd

Most Popular Queries  CSLib.org
Conn* 56,000
Librar* 52,300
Statute* 13,000
Histor* 9,800
Newspaper* 7,800
Law* or legisl* 7,700
Genealog* 3,200
Obit* 2,152
Blind 2,008
Archiv* 1,700
Felon* 1,600

Most Visited Pages
index.htm 235,244 (main page)
psaindex.htm 70,832 (Public & Special Acts & General Statutes of Connecticut)
handg.htm 54,522 (History and Genealogy)
publicrecords 49,175 (Public Records Administrator)
nickname.htm 48,568 (A Listing Of Some 18th and 19th Century American Nicknames)
law.htm 46,436 (Connecticut Law and Legislation)
faq.htm 42,566 (CSL Research Resources)
history.htm 33,845 (Connecticut History)
jobs.htm 26,919 (State Library Job Openings)
finespenalt.htm 26,043 (State Of Connecticut Table On Fines And Penalties)

3 Scenarios; Volunteers Requested
Scenarios; 2-minute limit
Find library services for the blind in Michigan
Find Pennsylvania statutes
Find records retention & disposal guidelines in Maine
Volunteers a ttempt to perform task
Audience
Note the first thing you see
Note problems encountered by volunteer

Library Services for the Blind

Find Pennsylvania Statutes

Record Retention & Disposal

Discuss Testing Process
Discuss
Scenario completion
Process of usability testing?
Value of process to …
Site designers
Content providers
Observers

Group Assessment of More Sites
Let’s look at more state library sites. Based on what we’ve discussed today
What do you like & why
What don’t you like & why
Assessment criteria?
Patron hat Librarian hat

http://www.library.state.ak.us/

http://libraries.vermont.gov/

http://www.aclin.org/

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/home.html

http://winslo.state.oh.us/

Pretty But Not Functional http://www.lva.lib.va.us/

http://www.kdla.ky.gov/

For More Information
Recommended articles about usability testing
http://gslis.simmons.edu/mw/browns/Usability
Links to state library sites discussed here
http://gslis.simmons.edu/mw/browns/State_libraries
Link to presentation on SlideShare
http://tinyurl.com/cslib-usability-Dec08
Keep in touch!
Stephanie Willen Brown
[email_address]
IM: CogSciLibrarian

Usability & the Connecticut State Library Web Site

by Stephanie Brown on Dec 03, 2008

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Usability & the Connecticut State Library Web Site Presentation Transcript