Development of a UserFocused Digital Library Interface Using

Development of a User-Focused Digital Library Interface Using Website Traffic Statistics Carolyn F. Runyon, MLS, Archivist for Digital Development and University Records Introduction The Ball State University Libraries redesigned the user interface of the Digital Media Repository, or DMR, in Fall 2009. To inform redesign decisions, librarians and system administrators consulted website traffic statistics collected from 100, 308 site visits that occurred during the 2008 -2009 academic year. Java Support Site Navigation Librarians included a Java applet to highlight new collections, Librarians examined content popularity to assess the site’s which were ranked lowest in an analysis of content popularity. navigation options. An additional set of browsing options was added to the left hand side of each digital library user interface page to encourage asset discoverability. 14000 5% Objectives Goals of interface redesign project included: 1. Increased digital asset discoverability 2. Intuitive site navigation 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 95% Screen Resolutions In order to increase the resolution of the DMR from a width of 768 pixels to 924 pixels, librarians investigated the screen Java Support No Java Support In addition to the “spotlight” feature for new collections, resolutions of site visitors. librarians hope to develop a latest additions RSS feed. 5% Referral Sites 95% > 924 Pixels 100% of the 81, 525 researchers who visited the Digital Media Repository during the 2008 and 2009 academic year had a version of Flash installed. Questions? Email Carolyn at cfrunyon@bsu. edu. 2000 0 1544 Titles A-Z Subject & Location 451 Format 313 Department By providing intuitive navigation options for researchers, librarians hope to increase the use of subject, location, format, and contributor browse pages. Referral sites accounted for 30% of the traffic received by the DMR in the 2008 -2009 academic year. In order to increase Summary traffic from social networking sites such as blogs and In addition to website traffic statistics, designers surveyed Facebook, librarians implemented a social bookmarking tool. other digital library interfaces, accepted suggestions from library personnel, and reviewed anecdotal evidence collected from student and faculty researchers. < 924 Pixels Flash Versions Flash technology was implemented in the February 2010 revision to the digital library in order to accommodate two new Web 2. 0 technologies. Librarians assessed the advisability of using Flash by reviewing website statistics. 12755 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 654 262 Wikipedia Facebook 126 Blogs 38 My. Space 5 Flickr