Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
RachaelWinterling&LibraryAdministration
J.MurreyAtkinsLibrary
UniversityofNorthCarolinaatCharlotte
9201UniversityCityBlvd
Charlotte,NC282230001
Re:UsabilityTestsofAtkinsLibraryOCLCInterface
WewouldfirstliketoexpressourgratitudetoRachaelWinterlingandtheJ.Murrey
AtkinsLibraryteamforvisitingourclass.Theinformationprovidedtoushasgivenussome
valuableinformationregardingthelibrarysonlineinterface,enablingustodesignourusability
teststoyieldthebestresultspossible.ThisassignmentwasgiventousbyAssociateEnglish
ProfessorDr.GregoryWickliffinourENGL4181,WritingUserDocumentsclass.Themain
goalofthisassignmentwastoperformusabilitytestsontheAtkins/WorldCatLocaluser
interface,sothatwemayanalyzetheresults(successesanddifficulties)andpresentourfindings
tothelibraryteam.
Ouranalysisproducedseveralkeyfindings.Forthemostpart,ourparticipantswereable
tousetheinterfacefairlyeffectivelyandsuccessfully.Whentheydidencounteranyproblems,
theinterfaceprovidedthemwiththetoolsnecessarytocompletetheirtask.However,webelieve
thatourtestingandanalysishasgivenussomevaluableinsightintosomeofthedeficienciesof
theinterface.Duetothis,wefeelthatwecanprovidethelibraryteamwithafew
recommendationsthatwillfurtherimprovetheinterface.Ourfindingsinclude:
Usersthatwerenewtotheinterfaceencounteredsomedifficultieswiththeirfirsttask.
Asthesefirsttimeuserscompleteeachtask,theamountofproblemsquicklybecameless
frequent.
Thebasic,ordefault,searchgenerallyfailedtoproducethecorrectresults.
Afterfirstattemptingtousethedefaultsearchfunction,themajorityofusersmovedtothe
advancedsearchfunctioninordertosuccessfullycompletetheirsearch.
Asthesefindingsindicate,therearesomeopportunitiesforimprovementthatwouldhelp
streamlinetheuserexperienceandlessentheamountoffrustrationtheyexperiencewhen
utilizingthelibraryinterface.
Sincerely,
CodyDennard,StephanieLee,&NicholasAlcalde
Authors
cc:
RachaelWinterling,UsabilitySpecialistfortheJ.MurreyAtkinsLibrary
GregoryWickliff,Assoc.ProfessorofEnglish
ENGL 4181
February 23, 2016
Submitted to:
-
Executive Summary
Thepurposeofthisusabilityreportwas
to test a users ability to navigate and
successfully use the WorldCat Local
searchprogramandreportourfindings
back to the Atkins Library team. We
learned a lot from this report and
hopefully our findings will help to
improve the usability of the program
itself.
We asked multiple students with
different levels of experience with
WorldCat to complete 3 tasks for our
usability test. These tasks included
findingoutwhichschoolshaveacertain
bookwhengiventitleandauthorname,
findingthefirsteditionyearofacertain
book when given the title, and finding
howmanycopies/differenteditionsofa
certainbookwereattheUNCCharlotte
J.MurreyAtkinslibrarywhengiventitle
andauthor.Aftereachtestwasover,we
askedthestudentsaseriesofquestions
togetthemtodiscusstheproblemsthey
werehavingduringtheactualtest.We
also monitored their actions during the
testsowecouldseetheexactpartsthat
theywerestrugglingwith.
Someofthetestsubjectsstruggledmore
thanotherswithcertaintasks,butthey
were all able to ultimately complete
them. Some of the main issues we
discoveredwerethatwhenyousearched
abookbyitsexactnameitwouldnotbe
the first result and more
searching/filteringhadtobedonetofind
it.
Table of Contents
ExecutiveSummary.i
IntroductionandProcedure...1
KeyFindings2
1.
Notuserfriendlyforfirsttimeusersor
2.
rookies..............2
usingthebasic...2
searchafteraddingfilterstoyourresults.
ConclusionsandRecommendations..3
Appendices...4
1.
A:UsabilityTests
.4
2.
B: Follow Up Questions
...5
References.6
TableA:TaskTimesandAverages2
..
ImageA:GoogleSearch...3
ImageB:AdvancedBetaSearch.3
Procedure
Eachmemberofourgroupreachedoutto
friendsandcolleaguestofindparticipants
forourstudy.
Theusabilitytestswecreatedallowedusto
observe students performing specific
searchesusingthebetalibraryinterfaceon
a computer that the library provides for
studyrooms.Wecreatedspecifictasksthat
we tested before hand to ensure that the
usercouldhaveachancetocompletethem.
Weplannedforeachtestsessiontotakeno
morethanthirtyminutestoallowustime
tocommunicateanddiscussthetaskswith
theusersbefore,during,andafterthetests.
Thesessionswererecordedoncameraand
we recorded the screen and audio, which
wasourmainuseofmaterialtogatherdata.
Afterthetaskswerecompleted,weasked
eachuserfollowupquestionstogagehow
their experience went. We reviewed the
recordings of each session to collect and
evaluate data to then write this report,
whichwaswrittenanddesignedinGoogle
Documents.
Key Findings
1.
Not user friendly for
firsttimeorrookieusers.
Acommonanswertoourfollowupquestion,
Did you feel uncomfortable with
completinganyofthetasks?,wasthatthey
struggled at first, but with each task, the
system became easier to use because they
weremorefamiliarwithit.Mostoftheusers
hadbarelyusedthesystembeforethetest.
2.
Advanced search was
moreusefulthanusingthebasic
search after adding filters to
yourresults.
Our results indicated that users ended up
using the advanced search quite a bit to
complete their tasks. The search results
producedbyusingthedefaultsearchrarely
yielded the correct results. While the
advanced search function itself is quite
useful, we feel that our participants were
requiredtoutilizeitfartoooften.
To be specific, our participants werent
satisfiedwiththebasicsearchresultsand,
therefore,switchedtotheadvancedsearch
50%ofthetime.Inourteamsopinion,this
isfartoooften.
Itisourrecommendationthatthebasic,or
default, search function needs to be
improveduponsothat itproduces better,
more accurate, results. This would save
usersvaluabletimeandeffort,makingtheir
experience with the interface much more
enjoyable.
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Min. Time
1:00
0:50
0:44
Max. Time
3:19
2:20
4:53
Avg. Time
1:59.75
1:27.5
2:04.25
Conclusions and
Recommendations
In conclusion, the beta Version of the
WorldCatLocaldatabasefortheJ.Murrey
AtkinsLibraryisaworkinprogress.While
it can definitely be helpful in finding
resourcesinthelibrarydatabase,ithasalot
ofthingsthatneedtoimprovedtohelpwith
theoverallusabilityofthesearchengine.If
itisabletomaketheaccommodationsthat
our group recommended in addition to
fixingafewotherminorproblems,itwould
makeitmucheasierandlessfrustratingfor
studentstouse.
resultsbasedonrelevancetotheuser,and
this is what WorldCat should strive to
accomplish.Whenausertypesintheexact
nameofabookorarticleitshouldbethe
firstresultthatcomesup,period.Itshould
not be necessary to apply more filters or
evenresorttotheadvancedsearchfeature
when you already have all the necessary
informationtofindsomething.
As we stated above, our biggest
recommendation for improving WorldCat
wouldbetoremovethedefaultsearchbar
and replace it with the advanced search
optionuntilthedefaultsearchalgorithmcan
besignificantlyimproved.Sincehalfofour
users needed to resort to the advanced
search option in order to find what they
werelookingfor,wethinktheyshouldhave
access to it from the beginning of their
search. It was originally designed as
somethingthattheusermayuseiftheyrun
into any troubles, not something that is
requiredhalfthetimejusttofindasingle
item.
Description
SearchesstarWars:thelastcommand,
searchesstarwars,searchesstarwarscomic
book,formatbook,searchesstarwarsthe
lastcommandcomicbook,sortbyrelevance
only,1stresult
PublishDateSearch Yearofthefirst
editionofTheGreat
Gatsby
01:50 Yes
KeywordFirstedition&titlethegreat
gatsby,sortbyrelevancyonly,goesback,
titlethegreatgatsby&keywordfirst
published,year1919to1930,1standonly
result
CopiesAvailable
Search
00:44 Yes
Searcheslordoftherings,1stresult,library
unccharlottelibraries,4thresult,format
book,3rdresult,sortbyrelevanceonly,3rd
result
Searchesstarwars:thelastcommand,format
book,goestoadvancedsearch,titlestar
wars:thelastcommand&formatbook,
browserdifficulties,searchesdarkhorse
comics,searchesstarwarsthelastcommand
bydarkhorsecomics,6thresult
PublishDateSearch Yearofthefirst
editionofTheGreat
Gatsby
00:50 Yes
KeywordGreatGatsby&formatbook&
year19191930,1stresult
CopiesAvailable
01:50 Yes
AdvancedSearch,locationunccharlotte
TheLordofthe
RingsbyJ.R.R.
Tolkein.Howmany
copiesanddifferent
editionsandformats
areavailableat
UNCC.
TheLordofthe
Search
RingsbyJ.R.R.
Tolkein.Howmany
copiesanddifferent
editionsandformats
areavailableat
UNCC.
libraries,keywordthelordoftherings,
authortolkein,browserissues,1stresult
Searchesstarwarsthelastcommand,adds
darkhorsecomics,6thresult
PublishDateSearch Yearofthefirst
editionofTheGreat
Gatsby
00:50 Yes
Titlegreatgatsby,years19201930,1st
result
CopiesAvailable
Search
00:50 Yes
Searchesthelordoftherings,1stresult
TheLordofthe
RingsbyJ.R.R.
Tolkein.Howmany
copiesanddifferent
editionsandformats
areavailableat
UNCC.
SearchesStarWars,refinessearchbybooks,
addstheLastCommand,6thresult.
PublishDateSearch Yearofthefirst
editionofTheGreat
Gatsby
02:20 Yes
Keywordfirstedition&titlegreatgatsby,
backtoadvancedsearch,1920to1929forthe
years,1stresultbutscrollspastitwetellhim
itwasthe1925.
CopiesAvailable
Search
04:53 Yes
Advancedsearch,locationUNCcharlotte
libraries&keywordlordoftherings,4th
resultbutscrollspastandgoestothenext
page,contentfulltext,authordoesntsee
tolkein,goesbacktoadvancedsearch,tries
again,4thresult,formatbook,resultis3rd,
authorJ.R.R.Tolkein,resultis1st
TheLordofthe
RingsbyJ.R.R.
Tolkein.Howmany
copiesanddifferent
editionsandformats
areavailableat
UNCC.
Thefirsttaskwasthehardestforthem.Theyhadtosearchbyrelevancetofindit.Otherthingswere
comingupforStarWarseventhoughheputintheexacttitle.
Thethirdtaskwastheeasiestforthem.Thewantedresultshowedupfirst.
Theyhadtogothroughsometrialanderrorduringthefirsttwotasksthenfeltcomfortableforthethird
task.
Theyfinishedallofthetasks.
Theysuggestthatwhensearchingbyanexactname,theresultsshouldmatchthat.
User2
Thefirsttaskwasthehardestforthem.TheresultwouldntshowunlesstheyaddedthePublisherDark
HorseComicstothesearch.
Thesecondtaskwastheeasiestforthemsincetheycouldfiltertheirresultsbydate.
Thefirsttaskmadethemfeeldumbandthatheshouldnthavebeenthathardtofind.
Theyfinishedallofthetasks
Theysuggestthatthesearchfeaturebeimprovedbyaddingmoreoptionsintheadvancedsearch.
User3 Thesecondtaskwashardestforthemsincethedatabasedidnotspecifythattheresultwasthefirst
published,wehadtotellthemthatwhattheyfoundwascorrectbecausewehadGoogledthecorrectfirst
publishyear.
Thefirsttaskwastheeasiestforthem.Theyjusthadtoaddthepublisher,andtheresultcamerightup
forthem.
Theyneverfeltuncomfortableduringthetasksandtheyneverseemedtostrugglewiththem.
Theyfinishedallofthetasks.
Theydonthaveanysuggestions,thatthesystemseemsstraightforwardenough.
User4
Thethirdtaskwasthehardestforthem.Theysaidthekeywordsearchshouldbemorespecific.
Thefirsttaskwastheeasiestforthem.TheysearchedbyDarkHorseComicsandwereabletofindit
rightaway.Theysaidthesecondtaskwasalsoeasysinceyoucouldsearchbydate.
Theystruggledthemostwiththethirdtaskanditmadethemuncomfortable.
Theyfinishedallofthetasks.
Theirsuggestionistomaketheadvancedsearchthedefaultinsteadofthebasicsearch.
References
UsabilityTestParticipants:
SophomoreMechanicalEngineeringTechnologyStudent,UNCCharlotte,2/5/2016
SeniorMastersofScienceinInformationTechnologyStudent,UNCCharlotte,2/5/2016
SeniorFinancewithAccountingConcentrationStudent,UNCCharlotte,2/5/2016
SeniorSoftwareandInformationSystemsStudent,UNCCharlotte,2/10/2016
SupportingDocument:
DanielJackson&RobertFarnham,DiscoverWorldCatwithFacultyScientists:Ausability
analysisofthediscoveryinterfacefortheJ.MurreyAtkinsLibrary,March12,2014