VuFind@Illinois: Usability Testing & Results 1. Usability & Feedback: An Overview Asked for Feedback...

VuFind@Illinois:Usability Testing & Results

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Usability & Feedback: An Overview

Asked for Feedback

Survey

Formal Usability testing

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Feedback

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Feedback: Comments

Love it love it love it! MUCH more user friendly.

I don’t understand what “barcode” is for requesting items.

How do you set up an account?Can it be used to search I-Share?Where is call number searching?I like the facets, but want more facetsIs reserves information in VuFind?

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Feedback

Needed more data

Began to think about formal usability testing

Then, Yale did a survey…

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Survey: Results

Types of Search

Known Item 31

Keyword/Subject Search 48

Books 29

Journals 5

Multimedia 8

Articles 5

Author 12

Course Reserves 2

Call Number 1

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Survey: Results

75% Liked VuFind

86% Found what they were looking for

73% Thought the search results were what they expected

54% Used the facets

63% Thought facets were helpful

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Survey: Facets

“I didn’t even really pay attention to them. They were not generally helpful in the kind of search I was doing.”

“I expected to find articles when clicking journals/magazines, like WorldCat.”

“…because VuFind has the look and feel of Amazon, I only focused on the book listings, choosing instead to ignore the screen areas usually laden with advertising.”

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Survey: Facets

“They really helped pare down the tidal wave of results I initially got.”

“…they were very helpful in making my search more specific since there aren’t a lot of default search options.”

“I think it helped by narrowing down the results, sort of like Google does these days.”

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Survey: Facets

“The results were not what I expected, but it was a pleasant surprise. I found things in my research that I didn’t know we had.”

“…the most useful part of the groupings for me was helping me sort of mentally focus what I was looking for.”

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Survey: Results

In the future, if you need to find books, the first place you’d start is:

WebVoyage 30%

WorldCat 8%

Amazon 4%

Google 12%

VuFind 41%

Other 7%

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Survey: Results

I think that I would like to use VuFind frequently:

Strongly Disagree 3%

Disagree 12%

Neutral 19%

Agree 52%

Strongly Agree 14%

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Survey: Results

I found VuFind unnecessarily complex:


Disagree 50%

Neutral 13%

Agree 8%

Strongly Agree 1%

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Survey: Results

I thought the system was easy to use:


Disagree 6%

Neutral 11%

Agree 56%

Strongly Agree 27%

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Survey: Results

I felt very confident using VuFind:


Disagree 10%

Neutral 22%

Agree 43%

Strongly Agree 23%

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Survey: Comments - Pluses

• Not very overwhelming & user friendly

• Easy to navigate and narrow results

• Liked cover images

• Interface more user friendly than current catalog

• Similar interface to area public libraries

• Not as intimidating as WebVoyage

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Survey: Comments - Improvements

• Did think results were well sorted and not clear how it does sort the results

• Facet and “facets now applied” are confusing terms

• Text formatting and displayed information is sometimes confusing

• Could use some more polish

• Too much scrolling – very vertical

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Survey: Comments - Improvements

• Users want to use it to search for articles

• Want even more information about an item

• Not sure of relevancy of user added content

• Some facets are confusing

• No ability to sort by a particular campus library

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Survey: Comments – Feature Requests

• Direct export to RefWorks• Keyword search option• Call number searches• Social networking integration• Have a “Repeat Search in I-Share” link in

record• Nice to customize display to show what you

wanted on results page• Ability to collapse facets

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Survey: Comments – I-Share

• Perception interface with I-Share needs to be clarified and streamlined

• Not clear how to conduct search in I-Share

• Liked not inputting library card number multiple times requesting items

• Confusion over why you need to create an account

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Survey: Comments

“Please replace the current system with VuFind right now, I really don’t see a reason not to. It is a huge improvement”

“VuFind is going to make the old online catalog as awkward as using the card catalog is now”

“VuFind strikes me as a dumbed down version of the Google search page designed to appeal to freshmen who are used to doing Google searches rather than a serious catalog geared towards scholars conducting serious research.”

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Usability Testing - Setup

• In April & May, 2009, conducted 15 hands on usability tests with Morae

• 5 faculty, 5 graduate students, 5 undergrads

• Very diverse group

• Used task based test adapted from statewide WorldCatLocal usability testing

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Usability Testing: Instrument

• Asked general interface/layout questions and if search and features are clear

• Searches– Broad subject search for “climate change”– Search for James Joyce– Prince audio recording– “Gone with the Wind” DVD– “Jack London” and “White Fang”– Find a public speaking DVD

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Usability Testing: Results

Lack of keyword searching

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Language Selection

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Red Light/Green Light for holdings—need yellow light for reference or reserve items

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Direct Export to RefWorks:

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• Want URLs to stand out more:

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Ability to link out to I-Share

VuFindExample:

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Favorites feature:

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Facets:

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Format

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Topic/Subject Area

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Staff view

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Tagging

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• Interface improvements:– Could use more polish– Too vertical– Ability to customize number of results on a

page– Change order of facets in sidebar– Make electronic resources/ebooks a clearer

limit in the advanced search and facets• Searching for multimedia was cumbersome

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• Really liked how visual the interface was—less text, more pictures

• Users care less about “librarian features” such as MARC and call number searching

• Users aren’t familiar with next generation catalogs or other library tools, but use online bookstores

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• All but one subject thought VuFind was best for most of their catalog use

• Only 1 user preferred layout of Amazon more, citing the star ratings

• All will use VuFind again

• Everyone thought it was a dramatic improvement to WebVoyage

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Summary

VuFind isn’t perfect, but is a huge improvement

over WebVoyage.

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VuFind@Illinois: Usability Testing & Results 1. Usability & Feedback: An Overview Asked for Feedback...

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