Semantico’s Design and UX team and the University of Sussex Library present the results of a collaborative effort to explore user behaviours around search and discovery. We will describe the results of interviews and paper prototyping with users ranging from first-year undergraduates to seasoned researchers. Our research outputs include personas based on behavioural archetypes, interface recommendations and alternative ways to discover and explore content. We will also discuss the advantages and issues involved in a collaboration of this type.

1. Search and discovery: defining user behaviour
Improving the Library Search interface
Suzanne Tatham Andrea Fallas

2. Aims
Understand more about how people
search for and discover information.
Identify patterns of behaviour to help
paint a picture of library users.
Generate data to help us improve the
experience of carrying out common
tasks around library search &
discovery.
Use lean methods to keep costs
minimal.

3. Contextual inquiry

5. Personas

9. Usability testing

11. Search results
“I don’t know why I don’t use Library
Search for articles … I think it stresses
me out”
– Maria, 3rd yr UG
https://youtu.be/jv5KLSIQ7Z0

13. Item details
“There’s so much white space, you
think there’s an error, like it hasn’t
loaded properly.”
– Sharon, Lecturer
https://youtu.be/L43iy24qcDg

14. Facets
Left-hand facets are underused
Some use of ‘Item type’ and ‘Author’
‘Books’ selected most often
– Max, 3rd yr UG
Facet use = 5% of all search sessions

15. Filters
“This is the thing that annoys me …
there’s more than one entry for the
author”
– Felippe, Doctoral researcher

16. Icons & images
“It doesn’t make it clear from the
search whether it’s a review … I find
that quite frustrating”
– Elisa, Postgraduate student
https://youtu.be/up5rOU97dTA

17. Can you identify these icons?
Icons & images
??
?
?
? ?

18. Can you identify these icons?
Icons & images
ReviewArticle
Legal
document
Book
Journal Conference
proceeding

19. Multiple versions
“I wouldn’t click on that.”
– Lucy, 3rd yr UG

22. Recommendations
“I must have noticed it. I just never
thought to go onto it.”
– Hannah, 2nd yr UG
https://youtu.be/hXxRBOrWuhA

23. Saving
People have their own methods of
saving / collecting
https://youtu.be/adyli4xnPMk

24. Paper usability testing

25. Paper usability
testing
Using paper forces people to break
down their interactions.

26. Visual clutter
“There’s so much information on this
page. Being from a fast-food
generation … you expect everything to
be spoon-fed to you”
– Hannah, 2nd yr UG

27. Underused
functionality
People use this kind of functionality
but not on library search

28. Sign-in
“You’re usually signed in because you
have to be signed in to perform a
search – don’t you? I don’t know,
maybe you don’t.”
– Lenart, 3rd yr UG
“I can’t remember what I do to sign in”
– Hannah, 2nd yr UG
“I always forget to sign in”
– Tom, 1st yr UG

29. Prototype design

35. Usability testing

36. https://youtu.be/Rmr-b09b5Zg

37. https://youtu.be/0vKBZoI3Skk

38. https://youtu.be/V4qniydgyl0

39. Utopian design

42. What did we learn?

43. What did we learn?
Keep it simple
Imagery matters
Most used functionality → prime
position
Underused functionality → hidden or
removed
Don’t always replicate existing systems
Get it right for the novice = get it right
for the researcher

44. Questions?