Shelley Dorrill

LS 560

Heather Mays

June 17, 2009

Usability Test Project

The focus of this usability test is the website for the media center of Paul W. Bryant High

School. Paul W. Bryant High School is one of three high schools in the Tuscaloosa City Schools

System. The 2006 enrollment was 1068 students with 45% eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The racial make up of the school is 68% African-American, 30% Caucasian, with the remaining

2% composing of Asian or Hispanic students. A faculty of approximately fifty-five teachers

instructs the student body. The library serving this school has over 17,000 items cataloged in the

collection. The library’s website address is http://www.bhs.tusc.k12.al.us/media/index.html.

To best embody the various users of the media center’s website, three student and three

faculty/staff representative users were chosen.

• Joe Freshman – Joe is a high-achieving ninth grader who utilizes the library most days of
the week. He is techno-savvy and very computer proficient.
• Jennifer Junior - A fairly smart, but unmotivated student, Jennifer has basic
computer/Internet knowledge. As a big reader, she is also a heavy user of the library.
• Sally Senior – Sally is the average student in every way; she does just enough to make
the grade and uses the computer (and the library) mainly to play games.
• Ms. Administrative – While not a frequent user of the library’s resources, this administrator
is quite proficient with technology and is quite concerned about the image of the school.
To promote the school’s resources, she wants a well-designed library Website.
• Mr. Social Studies – Averagely acquainted with technology, this teacher uses the media
center and its resources to a great degree. He is most interested in anything that will help
his students do research.
• Coach Big Guy – Pretty non-proficient with technology, this coach rarely uses the
library as it is so far from the field house. However, if the website is user-friendly
enough, it could entice him to utilize the media center more often.

Since the media center has two computer labs with a total of forty-five computers available, the

representative users will utilize the media center’s computer lab for this usability test.
 Media Center Website Usability Test

Please complete the following tasks using the media center’s website:
http://www.bhs.tusc.k12.al.us/media/index.html
Then, in the space provided, please provide the information and describe exactly how you found

the information requested.

1. What hours is the library media center regularly open? ___________________________

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2. Search Destiny, the library’s catalog, and find how many copies of Twilight by Stephanie

Meyer are available. ______________________________________________________

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3. Send Mrs. Bogert an email to request resources on the Great Migration. ______________

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4. Using the Alabama Virtual Library find information on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? ___
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5. Locate the Media Center’s calendar and see if it is available on September 15, 2009? ___

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The results of this usability test will be determined through three main means. First,

as seen above, the representative user will write a description of how they found the

information. In addition, by using a remote monitoring system already in place in the media

center, the library staff will observe and note how efficiently the user was able to utilize the

Website to accomplish the tasks. Finally, an exit questionnaire (provided on the following

page) will be given to the users to complete.

The findings from this usability test will be shared in narrative form. As each user in

the test represents a type of library patron, and the task requested also represent common uses

of the website, an effective means of communicating the results would be by writing short

stories illustrating typical patrons trying to use the Website and the results from those

attempts. The focus of each story will be a recommendation to the website authors of how to

improve the site.

 Exit Questionnaire

1. Beyond this testing, how often do you use the library media center’s website? If you

have used the site, for what purposes do you mainly use it?

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2. For the tasks required, did you find the site to be useful? Frustrating? Beneficial?

Confusing?

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3. Are there any suggestion you would make to improve the library’s website?

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