Vu FindIllinois Usability Testing Results 1 Usability Feedback

Vu. Find@Illinois: Usability Testing & Results 1

Usability & Feedback: An Overview Asked for Feedback Survey Formal Usability testing 2

Feedback 3

Feedback: Comments 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 facets Is reserves information in Vu. Find? 4

Feedback Needed more data Began to think about formal usability testing Then, Yale did a survey… 5

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 6

Survey: Results 75% Liked Vu. Find 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 7

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 World. Cat. ” “…because Vu. Find 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. ” 8

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. ” 9

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. ” 10

Survey: Results In the future, if you need to find books, the first place you’d start is: Web. Voyage 30% World. Cat 8% Amazon 4% Google 12% Vu. Find 41% Other 7% 11

Survey: Results I think that I would like to use Vu. Find frequently: Strongly Disagree 3% Disagree 12% Neutral 19% Agree 52% Strongly Agree 14% 12

Survey: Results I found Vu. Find unnecessarily complex: Strongly Disagree 28% Disagree 50% Neutral 13% Agree 8% Strongly Agree 1% 13

Survey: Results I thought the system was easy to use: Strongly Disagree 0% Disagree 6% Neutral 11% Agree 56% Strongly Agree 27% 14

Survey: Results I felt very confident using Vu. Find: Strongly Disagree 3% Disagree 10% Neutral 22% Agree 43% Strongly Agree 23% 15

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 Web. Voyage 16

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 17

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 18

Survey: Comments – Feature Requests • • Direct export to Ref. Works 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 19

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 20

Survey: Comments “Please replace the current system with Vu. Find right now, I really don’t see a reason not to. It is a huge improvement” “Vu. Find is going to make the old online catalog as awkward as using the card catalog is now” “Vu. Find 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. ” 21

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 World. Cat. Local usability testing 22

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 23

Usability Testing: Results Lack of keyword searching 24

Usability Testing: Results Language Selection 25

Usability Testing: Results Red Light/Green Light for holdings—need yellow light for reference or reserve items 26

Usability Testing: Results Direct Export to Ref. Works: 27

Usability Testing: Results • Want URLs to stand out more: 28

Usability Testing: Results Ability to link out to I-Share Vu. Find Example: 29

Usability Testing: Results Favorites feature: 30

Usability Testing: Results Facets: 31

Usability Testing: Results 32

Usability Testing: Results Format 33

Usability Testing: Results Topic/Subject Area 34

Usability Testing: Results 35

Usability Testing: Results 36

Usability Testing: Results 37

Usability Testing: Results Staff view 38

Usability Testing: Results Tagging 39

Usability Testing: Results • 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 40

Usability Testing: Results • 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 41

Usability Testing: Results • All but one subject thought Vu. Find was best for most of their catalog use • Only 1 user preferred layout of Amazon more, citing the star ratings • All will use Vu. Find again • Everyone thought it was a dramatic improvement to Web. Voyage 42

Summary Vu. Find isn’t perfect, but is a huge improvement over Web. Voyage. 43