Traditional Usability Testing of Library Mobile Websites

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Traditional Usability Testing ofLibrary Mobile
Websites

• Kimberly Pendell Michael Bowman

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Choosing Your Testing Environment

• Field testing or laboratory testing?
• What are you testing for? User interaction or
  hardware software compatibility?

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Hybrid Usability Testing

• Recruit participants to test site with their own
  phones
• Controlled environment with recording capability
• Predetermined tasks
• Time at the end for user to explore site
  independently
• Post-test survey

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Recruiting Volunteers

• Phase 1
• Facebook post on Library account
• Announcement on Library news blog posted to
  Library homepage
• Phase 2
• Flyers in the Library and on campus bulletin
  boards

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PSU Smartphone OS Distribution, 2011
Usability study (May) mobile website analytics
(Fall)
Study Volunteers Website Usage
Android 31 23
iOS 52 70
BlackBerry 4 0.6
Windows Phone 4 0.5
webOS 4 0
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Document Camera as Recording Device
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Testing Results

• Participants slow to connect the task of
  searching for a book with label Search PSU-only
  Catalog
• Multiple technical problems with chat reference
• Demonstrated the lack of a mobile-friendly proxy
  authentication webpage, error pages and linked
  forms
• Surfaced users difficulties with network
  connectivity options
• Slow page loading would lead some users to
  abandon tasks
• Problems unique to different devices

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Website Display Comparison
iPhone vs. Windows Kin
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Notable Post-Test Survey Results

• Searching for articles on mobile website
• 9 of 12 participants selected weekly or more than
  weekly
• Using a feature indicating availability of lab
  PCs
• 8 of 12 participants selected weekly or more than
  weekly
• Everyday and Very important

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Learn From Our Mistakes

• Dont overestimate your users familiarity with
  their smartphones
• Consider your campus connectivity
  authentication situation
• Dont make your usability tasks too simple
• Plan for the unexpected during the tests
  themselves

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If Youre Interested in Reading More
Pendell, K.D., Bowman, M.S. Usability study of
a librarys mobile website An example from
Portland State University. Information Technology
and Libraries, 31, 4562. doi10.6017/ital.v31i2.1
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