What is a Usable Library Website? Results from a Nationwide Study

Anthony Chow, Ph.D., Assistant ProfessorMichelle Bridges, Patricia Commander, Amy Figley, MLIS Candidates

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Library and Information Studies

Poll's list of main topics for library websites defined after evaluating 50 websites in Australia, Germany, UK, and USA.

Academic Libraries Public Libraries

Address Address

Way to the Library Way to the Library

Opening Times Opening Times

Online Catalog Online Catalog

Lending Service Lending Service

User card User Card

User account Electronic Collection

ILL Link Collection

Reference Service Reference Service

Databases Fees

E-journals Services for Children and Youth

Subject access Branch Libraries

User training  Community Services

News, events  News, Events Poll, R. (2007, August). Evaluating the library website: Statistics and quality measures.

Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 73rd IFLA General Conference and Council, Durban, South Africa. Retrieved from

http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla73/papers/074-Poll-en.pdf

In reviewing the literature, there have been many studies describing usability testing and research done on singular institution websites at one specific library; broad studies focusing on public and academic libraries are less prevalent.  Some studies that have examined the impact of usability practices on library websites include: 

Connell (2008) found from a survey of web developers in academic libraries that only 46.8% had conducted usability testing.

Chen, Germain, and Yang (2009) found that 49% of Association of Research Libraries had web usability policies, standards, or guidelines.

Poll (2007) identified the main topics users expected to find on academic and library websites.

Liu (2008) found that "...academic library homepages still focuses on library functions, requires numerous pathways for access, has overwhelming options, and takes a 'one-design-for-all' approach that fails to recognize users as individuals.”

Library websites are vitally important because they provide libraries a way to reach potential users who may never physically visit. They serve as a “virtual” branch and communication nexus for patrons providing them with access to library information, resources, and services at all hours of the day and night.  Users of websites, however, have high expectations and short attention spans - a site's usability (utility and ease-of-use) will largely determine whether the information seeking process for a patron is efficient, effective, and satisfying.   Our research investigates the question: What is a usable library website? To answer this we must answer two sub-questions - WHAT features should a library website have and HOW should it be designed?  Answers to these questions were investigated in two ways: 1) Evaluating academic and public library websites using a website usability checklist derived from the literature and 2) Surveying academic and public libraries across the country.

Using a mixed-method approach the study’s sample size, to date as data collection is ongoing, is N=1,134:

One urban public library, one rural public library, one public academic library, and one private academic library were randomly selected from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.  and empirically evaluated using the Library Website Usability Checklist (n=168) (Chow, Bridges, & Commander, 2010).

A n online website usability survey, derived from the original Library Usability Checklist, was emailed to 9,000 public and academic libraries nationwide. The response rate currently is 13.4%, n=1,208; 10.7% or n=966 have completed the survey. 

Literature

Results

Conclusions

WHAT do library websites have on their sites?

Library Website Survey (n=966)

Library Website Checklist (n=168)

Library contact information 98.20% 95.80%

Library hours posted 97.70% 97.00%

Location information 91.90% 90.90%

Library news and events 88.70% 84.10%

Clear navigation tools 87.70% 87.80%

Link to the OPAC 85.90% 97.00%

Circulation information 81.30% 93.90%

Renew books or materials online 78.80% 81.20%

About Us section 76.00% 81.20%

Get help or feedback 75.70% 93.90%

Comments or suggestions 70.10% 59.60%

Virtual reference services 56.50% 86.10%

Search tool 56.30% 63.30%

Creation or copyright date 43.80% 62.40%

RSS feed 38.20% 51.80%Site map 35.20% 34.80%

Top Center Navigation (38.3%, n=381)

Side Navigation (36.4%, n=362) Search Tool Top Right

(29.9%, n=288)

Name and Logo Top Left (43.6%, n=442)

Contact Information Bottom Center

(21.8%, n=219)

MethodOur research seeks to answer the question: What is a usable library website? The results of the study suggest:

A pattern of information, design, and management can be discerned across libraries.

While the majority of the features identified by the literature are offered by a large number of libraries, some are not.

Usability testing has not been conducted by the majority of libraries who responded to the survey.

The results of the study can contribute to the growing body of literature in this area. 

Nine Questions Yes f

Where am I? 98% 162How do I contact a human? 98% 161

What is available at this site? 96% 158

What is their address? 89% 148What is happening there? 83% 138

How do I get around the site? 81% 134

What is unique about the organization? 81% 132

Where is the search feature? 71% 117

Do they want my opinion about this site? 58% 97

EFFECTIVENESS

Task Completion 64% 106Quality of Output 50% 83

EFFECIENCY

Deviations 50% 84Error Rate 53% 89Time-on-Task 46% 77Mental Effort 47% 78

SATISFACTION

Overall Satisfaction 34% 57

Usability Testing

1 2

3Website Design & Management

Question Answer % f

1. Who manages your website? A librarian who does it as part of her/his job 50% 560

2. Who designed your website? A librarian who does it as part of her/his job 33% 367

3. When was your current website designed? 1 to 2 years ago 27% 295

4. When you designed the current website did you conduct usability testing?

Not Conducted 72% 762

5. How often is content updated on your website? Weekly 37% 411

4

Introduction

librarywebsites.wordpress.com