All We Had to Do Was Ask

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All We Had to Do Was Ask!

• Usability Testing on the Cannell Library Web Site

Presented to students of Bob Hughes GRCP 210
class February 16, 2005 By Librarians Joan Carey,
Kitty Mackey, Roxanne Dimyan
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Why Usability?

• Continue meeting needs
• New resources,
• Expectations change
• Only point of access for some information
• Site is librarian syllabus, major instruction
  tool
• Suffer Librarian-ese!
• Determine trigger words
• Tempted by knee-jerk reactions

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Selecting Tasks

• What do we want users to find?
• What do users need to find?
• Questions at reference desk
• Questions in library instruction
• Faculty assignments

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Usability Tests (Formal)

• January 2002
• 9 Library staff
• 7 faculty
• 8 students
• Fall 2002
• Spring 2003
• Winter 2004
• Winter 2005
• ? all with GRCP 210 Students

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A Way-Back Look!

• The Internet Archive
• Wayback Machine
• http//www.archive.org/web/web.php

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Original Home Page
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TRIAGE Red Top Priority Yellow Medium Green
no problem
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Revised

• Original

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Web Page Design is a Process

• Planning Analysis Sheet (PAS)
• Intent
• Audience
• Short and long-term goals
• Objectives
• Input
• Site Requirements

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Set Ground Rules

• Avoid drastic changes
• Keep nav bar on left
• Keep font style/color
• Avoid change for changes sake
• No bells whistles without reason
• Three clicks max
• Main info above the fold
• Easy to maintain/fix
• KISS

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More Improvements

• Search the Web Old
• Search the Web Revised

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Thank you for helping to inform our judgement!
Joan Carey Kitty Mackey Roxanne Dimyan