The document summarizes preliminary results from a student study conducted by Auraria Library to inform the redesign of its website. Key findings include:
1) Most students found out about the study through the library website or while physically at the library.
2) Students indicated they visit the library website most often to find online articles, journals, and books. Many struggled to use the "Start My Research" search box.
3) When asked to evaluate other library websites, students preferred features that made resources easy to discover through clear labeling and organization of search options and additional research tools.
4) Students saw opportunities for the Auraria Library website to better promote events, resources like course reserves, and mobile support
The design and delivery of university learning is evolving to meet the changing needs of today’s students and researchers. The new user experience is a personal experience: PX is the new UX. One size fits one; students are seeking an experience that suits their own individual needs in their search journey. Starting with the spike of anxiety that sets in when a research assignment is given, following through the open web searching and then navigating the library’s resources, Lin Lin of EBSCO Information Services will discuss the insights derived while studying today’s students in depth, and how students’ approaches to research impacts the librarian-student relationship.
SONY DSC
Discovering Discovery: what we learnt about our students (and ourselves!)
Jeff Woods, Usage Analyst
Elizabeth Gillespie, Subscriptions Manager
University of Liverpool Library
In 2014-15, the University of Liverpool’s Library Service embarked upon a three-part usability study to better understand how library users were engaging with our resource discovery platform (EBSCO’s Discovery Service), to identify any usability issues and assess the extent to which it was currently meeting their needs. This in turn enabled us to make informed, evidence-based changes to the interface, improving its overall usability and providing a more user-friendly, intuitive, effective and efficient resource. In this paper we will examine the methodologies employed, what we found and the changes subsequently made to the interface.
A presentation by Olga Koz at the Kansas Library Association, College and University Libraries Section (CULS) Spring 2014 Conference. The rapid pace of change in today's higher education environment creates pressure within an academic library to implement change, new programs, strategy, and technology in order to meet the demands of its stakeholders. Studies have shown that approximately 70% of organizational innovations fail. One of the main causes for these failures is the lack of a thorough diagnostic investigation of stakeholders’ needs, university or college environment. A thorough diagnostic examination includes both an external and internal analysis using some form of assessment. The presenter, a Doctor of Management, OD consultant, and an academic librarian, briefly describes the usual library assessment tools and discuss non-traditional diagnostic methods.
On May 10-11th, Katherine attended the first annual EBSCO User Group meet in the US city of Boston. Katherine was there on the invitation of the EBSCO User Group committee, made up of university librarians and EBSCO staff. This two day conference was inspired by the UK and Nordic user groups and this first meet-up was a great opportunity for Librarians from all over the US to come together and talk about how they are using EDS. Katherine an update on the major topics and trends which came up in the conference, and give some insight into the role of the EBSCO User Group in the US and the differences between the US and UK usage of EDS, and this lead into a wider discussion about changing role of Librarians in the UK and US.
The design and delivery of university learning is evolving to meet the changing needs of today’s students and researchers. The new user experience is a personal experience: PX is the new UX. One size fits one; students are seeking an experience that suits their own individual needs in their search journey. Starting with the spike of anxiety that sets in when a research assignment is given, following through the open web searching and then navigating the library’s resources, Lin Lin of EBSCO Information Services will discuss the insights derived while studying today’s students in depth, and how students’ approaches to research impacts the librarian-student relationship.
SONY DSC
Discovering Discovery: what we learnt about our students (and ourselves!)
Jeff Woods, Usage Analyst
Elizabeth Gillespie, Subscriptions Manager
University of Liverpool Library
In 2014-15, the University of Liverpool’s Library Service embarked upon a three-part usability study to better understand how library users were engaging with our resource discovery platform (EBSCO’s Discovery Service), to identify any usability issues and assess the extent to which it was currently meeting their needs. This in turn enabled us to make informed, evidence-based changes to the interface, improving its overall usability and providing a more user-friendly, intuitive, effective and efficient resource. In this paper we will examine the methodologies employed, what we found and the changes subsequently made to the interface.
A presentation by Olga Koz at the Kansas Library Association, College and University Libraries Section (CULS) Spring 2014 Conference. The rapid pace of change in today's higher education environment creates pressure within an academic library to implement change, new programs, strategy, and technology in order to meet the demands of its stakeholders. Studies have shown that approximately 70% of organizational innovations fail. One of the main causes for these failures is the lack of a thorough diagnostic investigation of stakeholders’ needs, university or college environment. A thorough diagnostic examination includes both an external and internal analysis using some form of assessment. The presenter, a Doctor of Management, OD consultant, and an academic librarian, briefly describes the usual library assessment tools and discuss non-traditional diagnostic methods.
On May 10-11th, Katherine attended the first annual EBSCO User Group meet in the US city of Boston. Katherine was there on the invitation of the EBSCO User Group committee, made up of university librarians and EBSCO staff. This two day conference was inspired by the UK and Nordic user groups and this first meet-up was a great opportunity for Librarians from all over the US to come together and talk about how they are using EDS. Katherine an update on the major topics and trends which came up in the conference, and give some insight into the role of the EBSCO User Group in the US and the differences between the US and UK usage of EDS, and this lead into a wider discussion about changing role of Librarians in the UK and US.
Better Research Papers: Workshop Your Handout - Faculty WorkshopMargot
Tuesday, August 26th, 2014, led by Margot Hanson and Michele Van Hoeck
BETTER RESEARCH PAPERS: WORKSHOP YOUR HANDOUT
2:00-3:30 PM, LIBRARY GREEN ROOM
Would you like to see higher quality research papers from students? Are you discouraged by grading papers with weak sources or insufficient citation? Drawing on recommendations from studies of student research habits, as well as librarian experience working with Cal Maritime students, attendees will work with a partner to revise one of their own research assignment handouts (prompts).
NOTE: Please bring a paper copy of one of your research paper assignments to the workshop.
How discovery impacts of users' experiencesKatherine Rose
In the 21st century the academic library supports both research activities and teaching outcomes of faculty members and students through web-scale discovery services. These discovery services embrace new technologies to provide deep discovery of vast scholarly collections from a one-stop access interface, relying on a central index of pre-harvested data. With unified indexing of full-text library content, users’ experience of search and retrieval is greatly improved.
Discovery is changing the way that library users find and access library materials, especially electronic resources. In the opening part of this presentation, I will share my experiences of using different discovery systems – Summon, Primo and Enterprise – in my current and previous roles, in term of differences, strengths and common areas among these tools. Relevant findings from the literature and latest research reports will be sketched. I will also speak of how technical services teams can support the next generation of discovery systems that will help the progress of the digital library field. The presentation will conclude with the approach of technical services towards future discovery.
Teaching with WorldCat Local: What's Different?kslovesbooks
At the LOEX 2011 conference, Meg Grotti and Karen Sobel presented a discussion on teaching with the WorldCat Local library catalog discovery layer. Their presentation focused on honestly laying out the benefits and challenges of teaching with WCL, and ideas for making teaching better.
The final slide of this presentation links to a group for library instructors who teach with WorldCat Local (or those who are interested in this topic). Viewers are welcome to join.
NOTE: Slide captions are available here: http://www.slideshare.net/kslovesbooks/teaching-with-worldcat-local-whats-different-slide-captions
For students conducting research, the traditional linear navigation model of search form to results to detailed record has served as a consistent, gold standard. Today’s students are abandoning traditional paths, embracing a new behavior Jakob Nielsen’s team calls “page parking” and moving full-steam ahead with heightened expectations for the search results page. On this new results page experience – what was once a pass-through en route to detailed information about a product or service – has become the singular page that matters most: the required basic; the new black. Attendees will also learn the difference between what students call a “good” search result and how this compares to what librarians’ favor. Join EBSCO’s Sr. UX Researcher, Lin Lin, to learn more about students’ digital ecosystems and gain a deeper understanding of user needs at that critical juncture.
Undergraduate Use and Expectations of CU Boulder LibrariesMatthew Hamilton
This was a project for my LI811 class, we conducted an intensive community assessment of the undergraduate population at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We used focus groups, surveys, existing data, and observational study to gather a comprehensive picture of undergraduate library usage and needs.
Sangeeta Dhamdhere & Egbert Smet(2017). "Universities should pay attention to their library web-based services to place higher in World ranking systems". Paper accepted and presented at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences International Conference on Education going to be held from 22 to 26 May 2017at Harvard Medical School, 77, Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, Massachusetts.
Meeting the Changing Research Needs of Students. An ebook survey on China stu...ProQuest
The presentation summarizes the survey results from 4,755 respondents from over 80 member institutions, which was co-hosted by ProQuest and CALIS (China Academic Library & Information System.
The survey covered the following areas: overall awareness of the electronic resources at their university; ebooks user behavior; usage of ebook resources; challenges for using ebooks; ebook features; whether training was important in using information resources for their learning and their research; ebooks trends and needs in North America.
Slide show from "Killing It with Kindness: Incorporating Sustainable Assessment through Kindness Audits," a Virtual Conference Webcast given by Jessica Olin and Joe Hardenbrook on March 26, 2015 as part of the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference, Portland, Oregon.
Session Description: "Learn how to design and conduct a kindness audit, a low-cost and high-reward assessment method that helps librarians examine barriers to library services and spaces through a user experience lens. Varying methods for kindness audits, lessons learned, and suggestions for identifying and implementing low-cost improvements for library spaces and services, will all be discussed."
URLs for the narrative will be available soon.
"I Didn't Know I Could Use the Library!" Meeting the Needs of Students OnlineJoe Hardenbrook
Presentation for WILU 2013: What do you do with students you rarely see in the library? University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has a growing online student population. Reaching these students can be challenging. Many still view the library as just a brick-and-mortar building, and not an online 24/7 resource. Librarians conducted an assessment of online students to investigate their needs. This session will focus on the assessment results and the information literacy outreach plan put into place. It will highlight several initiatives, including the embedded librarian program, faculty-librarian collaboration, marketing efforts, and learning tools geared towards online students. Based on feedback from students and faculty, an increase in reference questions, as well as high usage statistics from librarian-created tutorials and discussion boards, the outreach plan is working. Come and learn about these best practices for online learners and share your ideas, as well.
A tale of two systems - Library Plus and DiscoverKatherine Rose
In the autumn of 2013 the University of Derby Library launched Library Plus, our name for the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), aimed exclusively at HE students. The Library launched a second EDS tool named Discover in 2015, used by FE and Access Students attending our partner organisation Buxton & Leek College. As a member of the working team involved in the implementation of Discover, I had the opportunity to help set up, design and test a new EDS tool from scratch. This presentation will describe how Discover was created, the problems I encountered during implementation, and the successes and lessons I learnt from introducing EDS in an FE institution. Discover also presented the Library with new opportunities to look at the functionality of Library Plus, and how to promote it more effectively to our HE students. It also highlights the challenges of maintaining two similar, but altogether different EDS systems, for the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.
At the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day, Pew Internet Director Lee Rainie will discuss 11 key takeaways from the Project's libraries research.
“From Discovery to Fulfillment: Improving the User Experience at Every Stage.”Lynn Connaway
Cyr, Chris. 2019. “From Discovery to Fulfillment: Improving the User Experience at Every Stage.” Presented at the Congress of Information Professionals, October 29, 2019, Montreal, Canada.
Better Research Papers: Workshop Your Handout - Faculty WorkshopMargot
Tuesday, August 26th, 2014, led by Margot Hanson and Michele Van Hoeck
BETTER RESEARCH PAPERS: WORKSHOP YOUR HANDOUT
2:00-3:30 PM, LIBRARY GREEN ROOM
Would you like to see higher quality research papers from students? Are you discouraged by grading papers with weak sources or insufficient citation? Drawing on recommendations from studies of student research habits, as well as librarian experience working with Cal Maritime students, attendees will work with a partner to revise one of their own research assignment handouts (prompts).
NOTE: Please bring a paper copy of one of your research paper assignments to the workshop.
How discovery impacts of users' experiencesKatherine Rose
In the 21st century the academic library supports both research activities and teaching outcomes of faculty members and students through web-scale discovery services. These discovery services embrace new technologies to provide deep discovery of vast scholarly collections from a one-stop access interface, relying on a central index of pre-harvested data. With unified indexing of full-text library content, users’ experience of search and retrieval is greatly improved.
Discovery is changing the way that library users find and access library materials, especially electronic resources. In the opening part of this presentation, I will share my experiences of using different discovery systems – Summon, Primo and Enterprise – in my current and previous roles, in term of differences, strengths and common areas among these tools. Relevant findings from the literature and latest research reports will be sketched. I will also speak of how technical services teams can support the next generation of discovery systems that will help the progress of the digital library field. The presentation will conclude with the approach of technical services towards future discovery.
Teaching with WorldCat Local: What's Different?kslovesbooks
At the LOEX 2011 conference, Meg Grotti and Karen Sobel presented a discussion on teaching with the WorldCat Local library catalog discovery layer. Their presentation focused on honestly laying out the benefits and challenges of teaching with WCL, and ideas for making teaching better.
The final slide of this presentation links to a group for library instructors who teach with WorldCat Local (or those who are interested in this topic). Viewers are welcome to join.
NOTE: Slide captions are available here: http://www.slideshare.net/kslovesbooks/teaching-with-worldcat-local-whats-different-slide-captions
For students conducting research, the traditional linear navigation model of search form to results to detailed record has served as a consistent, gold standard. Today’s students are abandoning traditional paths, embracing a new behavior Jakob Nielsen’s team calls “page parking” and moving full-steam ahead with heightened expectations for the search results page. On this new results page experience – what was once a pass-through en route to detailed information about a product or service – has become the singular page that matters most: the required basic; the new black. Attendees will also learn the difference between what students call a “good” search result and how this compares to what librarians’ favor. Join EBSCO’s Sr. UX Researcher, Lin Lin, to learn more about students’ digital ecosystems and gain a deeper understanding of user needs at that critical juncture.
Undergraduate Use and Expectations of CU Boulder LibrariesMatthew Hamilton
This was a project for my LI811 class, we conducted an intensive community assessment of the undergraduate population at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We used focus groups, surveys, existing data, and observational study to gather a comprehensive picture of undergraduate library usage and needs.
Sangeeta Dhamdhere & Egbert Smet(2017). "Universities should pay attention to their library web-based services to place higher in World ranking systems". Paper accepted and presented at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences International Conference on Education going to be held from 22 to 26 May 2017at Harvard Medical School, 77, Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, Massachusetts.
Meeting the Changing Research Needs of Students. An ebook survey on China stu...ProQuest
The presentation summarizes the survey results from 4,755 respondents from over 80 member institutions, which was co-hosted by ProQuest and CALIS (China Academic Library & Information System.
The survey covered the following areas: overall awareness of the electronic resources at their university; ebooks user behavior; usage of ebook resources; challenges for using ebooks; ebook features; whether training was important in using information resources for their learning and their research; ebooks trends and needs in North America.
Slide show from "Killing It with Kindness: Incorporating Sustainable Assessment through Kindness Audits," a Virtual Conference Webcast given by Jessica Olin and Joe Hardenbrook on March 26, 2015 as part of the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference, Portland, Oregon.
Session Description: "Learn how to design and conduct a kindness audit, a low-cost and high-reward assessment method that helps librarians examine barriers to library services and spaces through a user experience lens. Varying methods for kindness audits, lessons learned, and suggestions for identifying and implementing low-cost improvements for library spaces and services, will all be discussed."
URLs for the narrative will be available soon.
"I Didn't Know I Could Use the Library!" Meeting the Needs of Students OnlineJoe Hardenbrook
Presentation for WILU 2013: What do you do with students you rarely see in the library? University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has a growing online student population. Reaching these students can be challenging. Many still view the library as just a brick-and-mortar building, and not an online 24/7 resource. Librarians conducted an assessment of online students to investigate their needs. This session will focus on the assessment results and the information literacy outreach plan put into place. It will highlight several initiatives, including the embedded librarian program, faculty-librarian collaboration, marketing efforts, and learning tools geared towards online students. Based on feedback from students and faculty, an increase in reference questions, as well as high usage statistics from librarian-created tutorials and discussion boards, the outreach plan is working. Come and learn about these best practices for online learners and share your ideas, as well.
A tale of two systems - Library Plus and DiscoverKatherine Rose
In the autumn of 2013 the University of Derby Library launched Library Plus, our name for the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), aimed exclusively at HE students. The Library launched a second EDS tool named Discover in 2015, used by FE and Access Students attending our partner organisation Buxton & Leek College. As a member of the working team involved in the implementation of Discover, I had the opportunity to help set up, design and test a new EDS tool from scratch. This presentation will describe how Discover was created, the problems I encountered during implementation, and the successes and lessons I learnt from introducing EDS in an FE institution. Discover also presented the Library with new opportunities to look at the functionality of Library Plus, and how to promote it more effectively to our HE students. It also highlights the challenges of maintaining two similar, but altogether different EDS systems, for the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.
At the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day, Pew Internet Director Lee Rainie will discuss 11 key takeaways from the Project's libraries research.
“From Discovery to Fulfillment: Improving the User Experience at Every Stage.”Lynn Connaway
Cyr, Chris. 2019. “From Discovery to Fulfillment: Improving the User Experience at Every Stage.” Presented at the Congress of Information Professionals, October 29, 2019, Montreal, Canada.
Lee Rainie, the Project Director, describes the findings from the nationally representative survey that asked Americans what types of services they value in their libraries and what additional services they would like their libraries to offer.
Speaking on the record: Combining interviews with search log analysis in user...Lynn Connaway
Connaway, L. S., Cyr, C., Brannon, B., & Gallagher, P. (2019). Speaking on the record: Combining interviews with search log analysis in user research. Presented at the 2019 ALISE Annual Conference, September 24, 2019, Knoxville, Tennessee.
In early 2014, Michigan State University Libraries’ User Experience Work Group set out to determine why patrons value the Main Library facilities. Seating sweeps and surveys were conducted to gather quantitative and qualitative data, which was combined with existing data such as gate counts, chat transcripts, and computer logins, to learn about patrons’ interaction with library spaces. Join three members of the UXWG to discuss design, implementation, and analysis of a space study in a library that supports social, academic, and community activities. Attendees will be encouraged to share and reflect upon the “space value” of their library facilities.
Entering the World of Online Collaboration: A Case Study of Librarians on Eth...Amy Donahue
The presentation I gave at MLA 2010 in Washington, DC on EthicShare.org. Includes some background information, screenshots, and the results of a bioethics librarian survey.
There is a method to it: Making meaning in information research through a mix...Lynn Connaway
Connaway, L. S., Faniel, I. M., Narayan, B., & Abdi, E. S. (2019). There is a method to it: Making meaning in information research through a mix of paradigms and methods. Panel presented at ASIS&T Annual Meeting, October 21, 2019, Melbourne, Australia.
Straight Talk about the "B" Word: using the Edge benchmarks in your libraryTechSoup for Libraries
A presentation about the Edge Initiative benchmarks at the Beyond BTOP conference in Colorado Springs, CO and how they might work in your public library with some activities to learn from your peers.
Speaking on the Record: Combining Interviews with Search Log Analysis in User...Lynn Connaway
Connaway, Lynn Silipigni. 2020. “Speaking on the Record: Combining Interviews with Search Log Analysis in User Research.” Presented at RMIT, February 13, 2020, Melbourne, Australia.
Why should you care about OER is an overview of OER and the California Open Online Library for Education (cool4ed.org) given for faculty at the Porterville College Summer Institute on May 25, 2015.
Una Daly, CCCOER Director (May 2016)
Presented by Chris Bulock and Lynn Fields.
Discovery is a key component of a library's services, and user expectations are high. Even if a web-scale discovery system isn't in the cards, there is plenty a library can do to improve discovery for their users. Librarians at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have been engaged in an ongoing discovery improvement project encompassing the website, catalog, database lists and more, all based on extensive user feedback. The presenters will share successful strategies for evaluating and improving discovery, no expensive software or programming skills necessary.
Discovery on a budget: Improved searching without a Web-scale discovery productNASIG
Discovery is a key component of a library's services, and user expectations are high. Even if a web-scale discovery system isn't in the cards, there is plenty a library can do to improve discovery for their users. Librarians at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have been engaged in an ongoing discovery improvement project encompassing the website, catalog, database lists and more, all based on extensive user feedback. The presenters will share successful strategies for evaluating and improving discovery, no expensive software or programming skills necessary.
Chris Bulock and Lynette Fields, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Connect Conference 2022: Passive House - Economic and Environmental Solution...TE Studio
Passive House: The Economic and Environmental Solution for Sustainable Real Estate. Lecture by Tim Eian of TE Studio Passive House Design in November 2022 in Minneapolis.
- The Built Environment
- Let's imagine the perfect building
- The Passive House standard
- Why Passive House targets
- Clean Energy Plans?!
- How does Passive House compare and fit in?
- The business case for Passive House real estate
- Tools to quantify the value of Passive House
- What can I do?
- Resources
Storytelling For The Web: Integrate Storytelling in your Design ProcessChiara Aliotta
In this slides I explain how I have used storytelling techniques to elevate websites and brands and create memorable user experiences. You can discover practical tips as I showcase the elements of good storytelling and its applied to some examples of diverse brands/projects..
Fonts play a crucial role in both User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design. They affect readability, accessibility, aesthetics, and overall user perception.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
4. How did students find out about the
recruitment survey?
137
130
14
11 5
5
From Library Website + At the Library Physically
= 88%
From the Auraria
Library Website
At the Auraria Library
CCD Email
Through word of mouth
Outside the Auraria
Library (On Campus)
Social Networking
5. How did we do it?
9 one hour in-person studies 9 x $35
+
1 raffle draw for completing online survey 1 x $35+
Supply, Equipment, Refreshment $100
$440
302
=
(Recruitment Survey + Study) Per Student Cost $1.50
$ Cost
7. What do students come to the Library Website for?
36%
50%
53%
65%
68%
81%
82%
86%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Find music and/or videos
Find course reserves
Ask for help or advice
Use research guides
Find e-books
Find journals
Find books
Find online articles
Indicated Usage
8. Background: What Did GATell Us (08/14 -
10/14)?
Summon (Start my
research)
33%
Database list
26%
Skyline
12%
Journal list
4%
My account
4%
Research
Guides
4%
Search Course
Reserve
3%
Prospector
2%
Cite it!
2%
WorldCat
1%
Other
9%
Library Homepage Event Click Usage
Web Services Homepage Click Though Events Direct Landing (Sessions)
Summon 65000 2800
In-House Database list 50000 5000
Skyline Catalog 22300 15700
SS Journal List 8200 10900
9. Where do they usually start their online
research?
8%
9%
10%
18%
26%
17%
20%
23%
23%
34%
42%
15%
21%
31%
25%
29%
39%
37%
36%
43%
32%
32%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Ask Us
Search Course Reserves
Research Guides
Start My Research
Google Scholar
Journal List
Find Books&Media
Catalog (Skyline)
Find Articles
Database List
Google
THIS IS WHERE I USUALLY START Likely
10. How easy is it to use the following to find
resources for assignments?
Very easy or easy to use
37%
38%
44%
44%
52%
56%
58%
59%
59%
63%
75%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Search Course Reserves
Ask Us
Research Guides
"Start My Research"
Journal List
Find Books & Media
Google Scholar
Database List
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Google
Percentage
11. DON’T USE vs WASN’T AWARE OF
5%
15%
16%
14%
16%
19%
22%
29%
34%
44%
30%
1%
8%
8%
9%
10%
10%
14%
16%
17%
24%
25%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Google
Database List
Find Books&Media
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Journal List
Google Scholar
Research Guides
Search CourseReserves
Ask Us
Start My Research
WASN'T AWARE OF THIS SERVICE I DON'T USE THIS
12. Future Website MarComm Opportunities
Students implied they would be interested in learning more about the
following topics from the library website
Additional Suggestions:
• A event that gives us free rental books.
• Community events similar to library events - lectures, book readings, etc - on campus or
near campus.
• Learn more about archived microfiche and machines would be awesome.
• I think it'd be cool if the library had a lecture series (at the discovery wall). Then listings of
those would be awesome.
13. Mobile Support Needs
Students indicated that they would like to use their mobile devices to do the
following activities online:
14. Student Comments - Impression
1. Students appreciated the current library’s offerings, and recognized the importance of library
resources and services
When asked: “What do they LIKE THE MOST about the library
website?”:
• 40% - the library website is easy to use, well-organized, and
options rich.
• 20% - expressed their appreciation of the size and diversity of
the library research resources. 3% of them specifically
expressed their appreciation of the reliability of those scholarly
resources.
• 13% - said they enjoy the anywhere access to online books,
online articles and other services, so that they don’t’ have to be
at the library physically.
• 5% enjoyed the current aesthetics of the library website
Note: Only the items/features that received => 5% (Statistical
significance) votes/comments were highlighted.
15. Impression (Cont.)
2. There are always room for improvements:
When asked: “What do they LIKE THE LEAST about the library website?”:
• 33% - had experienced difficulties or issues with using the library website to find the information, services or
research resources.
• 21% - implied that Library could do better to help them via providing workshops and more online tutorials, etc.
• 13% suggested that the Library Website’s look and feel could use improvement.
• 7% indicated that more campus wide outreach maybe needed to increase the awareness of the access to the
library’s offerings.
• 6% - expressed that there are too many clicks/changes of systems to get to what they need (book, article, journal or
database, etc)
• 6% indicated their dislike of current setup for off-campus authentication: too many or too frequent logins required.
• 5% pointed out the issues with inaccessibility to certain online items after locating them (file not found, or no full-text
when indicated otherwise, etc)
Note: Only the items/features that received => 5% (Statistical significance) votes/comments were highlighted.
16. Impression (Cont.)
LIKE
Resources Discovery:
• 13% - Databases/Database List
• 9% - Homepage Start My Research Search
• 5% - E-journal/Journals
• 5% - Skyline + Prospector Catalogs
Help/Self Help (less than 5%):
• Ask Us (Specifically the Chat)
• Library homepage hour display
• Quick Links group at homepage
• Cite it
• …
DISLIKE
Resources Discovery:
• 10% - Homepage Start My Research Search
• 7% - Databases/Database List
• 6% - E-journal/Journals
• 5% - Skyline + Prospector Catalogs
Other (5% or less):
• Mobile incompatibility
• Slow website(s)
• Lacking of features (hold, computer map, etc)
• Lacking of workshop, training and tutorials
• …
3. Different online services that are powered by different systems and vendors are often lumped
together and referred to as the “library website” by students.
For example, when asked the “LIKE THE MOST” vs “LIKE THE LEAST” questions about the library website,
students commented about the following specific features/services:
17. Impression (Cont.)
4. Possibly the MOST used web service of the Auraria Library is the Summon® Service. The Summon
”Start My Research” search has apparent design and usability issues that need further study.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Google
Database List
Find Books&Media
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Journal List
Google Scholar
Research Guides
Search CourseReserves
Ask Us
Start My Research
WASN'T AWARE OF THIS SERVICE I DON'T USE THIS
• 75 students indicated that they were not
aware of the “Start My Research” search
box
• 91 students indicated that they do not use
“Start My Search” search box
• 31 students commented that they had
various difficulty/frustration with using the
search
• According to GA and comparing to
Skyline’s 33.74% page exit rate, Summon’s
page exit rate is at 19.66%
One student in the interview said that she didn’t know this was the labeling for the search
box, because it was placed outside that grey color search block. Instead, she thought that
was the welcoming message for the library homepage.
19. A: Cornell University Library
Useful features:
• Single search box location
• Additional research options right
beneath the search box: Catalog,
Full-text Articles, Databases, etc.
• The use of categorized quick links
layout
• Using the word “borrowing, renew
and return” under Services.
• Layout is clean, and color
variations among different regions
provide a nice contrast to the
eyes.
20. B: NCSU Libraries
Useful features:
• Search box location
• Search “All” box with other filtered
search options as tabs: Articles, Books
& Media, etc.
• Additional More Research Tools
provided right below the Search box:
databases, Journals, Citation Builder,
etc.
• Available Now indicators for Study
Room, Laptops and Tablets Checkout.
• Chat Now access is available at the
homepage.
• Making major relevant event
announcement like “Library Open
Overnight” very visible.
Note:
8 out of 9 students we interviewed did not
know about our library’s laptops/tablets
checkout service.
21. C: University of Toronto Libraries
Useful features:
• Search box location (of course)
• Two types of search filters provided,
and the placement of additional
research tools.
• Quick accesses to frequently used
services and information placed at a
prominent location of the page
• Combination use of icon and text for
each quick link service help to draw
visual attention without
compromising usability.
• Workshop events listing was
conveniently displayed at homepage
with date and time displayed clearly.
22. Q: “Which of these 3 examples would be
the most useful to you as a starting point
for finding the articles you need?”
A: Cornell 44%
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 22%
Q: “Which of these 3 examples would be
the most useful to you as a starting point
for finding the books you need?”
A: Cornell 22%
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 22%
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked B (NCSU). The clearly spell-out labeling with search
option for them seems to be the answers.
23. Q: Which is best at letting you get help?
A: Cornell 22 %
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 56%
Q: Which informs you about what’s
happening in a library the best?
A: Cornell 11%
B: NCSU 44%
C: UT 56%
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked UT &
NCSU, because both libraries offer the
“Chat Now” features at the homepage.
NCSU UT
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked UT,
because the workshops listing at
homepage, with easy to scan date and
time information displayed.
24. Current Site
Review
Useful features:
• Search box and its
location
• Today’s hour widget
• Quick links group
• My account
• Ask Us/Tell Us
• Library Maps
Note:
Generally speaking,
students feel that the
Auraria Library website’s
homepage is adequate in
providing them the access
to resources and services.
25. Participatory Design Quick Glance
Students were asked
to use the drawing
materials provided to
conceptually design a
library homepage just
for themselves to use.
Some pre-made design components were provided to the students as options
26. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Resource Discovery:
• One student did not include search box due to past negative experience with the search box on the library homepage
• 8 out of 9 students preferred the main search box(s) for research to be located at the prominent spot of their website
homepage (top center left or top center right of the main content pool).
• 6 out of those 8 students used the search box(s) with filtered search options available at the homepage:
• 2 students used the single search box design that includes additional filtered materials research options
available beneath the search box:
27. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Ask Us / Help:
• Although 44% of the students said that they do not use “Ask Us” service. 100% students included “Ask Us” feature in
their homepage design, and indicated that it is an important feature to have. 6 students included the access to the
instant help “chat” feature into their design.
Events & Workshops:
• While majority of the students were lukewarm about library news, 8 of 9 included library
happenings/events/workshops into their homepage design
Hours:
• Most student participants indicated that they like the feature showing today’s hour and/or the upcoming hours. The
only student did not include hours feature in the homepage design was the PHD student.
28. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Labeling:
One of the great advantage of doing the participatory design is to gain insight on what labeling students prefer for the
tools and services they used:
30. Take-A-Way Recommendation
Short-Term Recommendation:
• Instead of going through an extreme radical interface redesign, a better short-term redesign
approach would be to bridge the redesign with the current interface by carrying over some level of
familiarity during the first release, and then, gradually implement additional changes and
improvements through progressive enhancement method on a per semester or per year bases.
• Short-term improvements objectives of the 2014 -201? website redesign project should focus on the
following identified areas:
• Improve overall system infrastructure to help increase the possibility of supporting more innovative feature implementation in the future.
• Deploy responsive and mobile-first design principle to improve the cross-platform user experiences.
• Prioritize IT resources to focus on improving several highly utilized in-house developed library website features to help maximize short-
term redesign impact to the user experience, for example: Database List.
• Removing low or no-usage website content, and collaborating with the library-at-large to brainstorm, develop, and curate new contents
per students’ suggestions. For example: Library events, tutorials, what’s news, and more.
• Collaborate with the library-at-large to Improve overall web content and metadata quality that will enable the possibility for more context-
driven resources and services discovery
31. Take-A-Way Recommendation
Long-Term Recommendation:
• Because the majority of the students lumped all web services of the Library together and referred to
them as the “library website”, we should treat the “library website” as an eco-system but not an
isolated component. We should also be mindful that any major changes made to a single web
service component within this eco-system will bring positive or negative impact to overall library
website user experiences.
• The students have echoed strongly about what are the core values of an academic library that they
appreciate: rich-offerings, research tools, resources reliability, subject expertise, and research help.
Therefore, in order to improve the ROI of our library, taking the approach of Full Library Discovery,
which have been adapted by several leading academic libraries, may be our Holy Grail?.
“We are beginning to see discovery environments which provide a layer over not only the
collections, but also potentially over the library website, library staff and expertise, resource guides,
and so on. In other words, we are seeing approaches to full library discovery emerge.”
-- Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research and Chief Strategist