Usability of the Academic Library Web Site: Implications for Design

Abstract

Today’s savvy library users are starting to equate the library Web site with the physical library. As they accomplish, virtually, many personal activities such as online shopping, banking, and news reading, they transfer those experiences to other activities in their lives. This increases their expectations about the functionality of a library Web site and how one interacts with it. The purpose of this study was twofold: to assess the usability of an academic library Web site and to better understand how faculty and students complete typical tasks using one. Thirty-three typical users successfully completed 75 percent of a set of typical tasks in about two minutes per task and were satisfied with the clarity and organization of the site. Despite their success in completing the tasks, however, they experienced difficulties in knowing where to start and with the site’s information architecture—in particular, with interpreting the categories and their labels. The authors concluded that library Web sites fail to take into account how people approach the information problem and often reflect traditional library structures.

“Watch Your Language!”: Word Choice in Library Website Usability

“…This is an important issue for the library to take notice of, especially as the availability of e-books grows. Advertising branded services, such as the Novanet catalogue, could have little to no meaning to users who only have a limited understanding of what the service entails (McGillis & Toms, 2001;McHale, 2008).…”

“…In a study conducted on the Memorial University Libraries' website, McGillis and Toms (2001) noted that usability study participants were confused by terms like "Unicorn" and "Webcat" that were intended to provide access to library catalogues and journal article indexes (p. 360). Further, Pemberton and Fritzler (2004) cautioned that library jargon should be minimized, especially with new students who are already being inundated with jargon from other sources (p. 155).…”

“…McGillis and Toms (2001) state that the library website plays a key role as the "virtual public face" of the library, representing the myriad of tools, services, collections, and even people therein (p. 355). Polger (2011) also recognizes the website as the "'face' of the library" and argues that users need to be able to access necessary information with ease and that library websites need to be user-centered, current, relevant, and free of jargon (p. 2).…”

Analysis and evaluation of the national libraries websites: case study of the National Libraries of Brazil and Portugal

“…Sin lugar a dudas, es importante que los sitios web de las bibliotecas nacionales señaladas aporten información suficiente sobre sí mismas para que el usuario pueda conocerlas cuando se le presente la página principal, dado que será la cara virtual de la biblioteca (McGillis, 2001). En este sentido, tenemos en cuenta los siguientes indicadores:…”

The Inexact Science of Informing Ourselves

“…Three recent articles that reported on representative case studies in the area of usability testing in the academic library are also very helpful. Reports on the use of the process at Roger Williams University, the University of South Florida, the University at Buffalo, and the Memorial University of Newfoundland provide information on usability testing of the structure and performance of library web sites (McMullen, 2001;Battleson, Booth, & Weintrop, 2001;and McGillis & Toms, 2001).…”