Usability Testing of Academic Library Web Sites

Abstract

This is a selective annotated bibliography of books, journal articles, and electronic resources relating to the usability assessment or testing of the academic library Web site. It focuses on the library Web site specifics, thus answering a librarian's need for one source of information on the available publications. All journal articles have been written by or for academic librarians. This bibliography embraces the issues of usability testing as a process, its goals, objectives, tools, and methodology. The bibliography is grouped by the following topics: background information, tools and methodologies, case studies, dedicated Web sites, and samples of presentations.

Usability Test Results for a Discovery Tool in an Academic Library

“…20 Libraries have been adapting techniques from the field of usability testing for over a decade to learn more about user behavior, usability, and user satisfaction, with library web sites and systems. 21 Rubin and Chisnell and Dumas and Redish provided an authoritative overview of the benefits and best practices of usability testing. 22 In addition, Campbell and Norlin and Winters offered specific usability methodologies for libraries.…”

The Suitability of Web Analytics Key Performance Indicators in the Academic Library Environment

“…Early research (Friend, 1985) questioned "whether individuals would really want to do their own searches" (p. 136) but discovered users were "anxious to enter as active participants" (p. 141). With the advent of the Web, users' expectations of self-sufficiency in retrieving information skyrocketed and libraries responded by commissioning numerous usability tests, user surveys, and focus groups to improve the user's ability to find information unaided (Blummer, 2007;Freund, Nemmers, & Ochoa, 2007;Letnikova, 2003). These investigations usually concerned specific systems such as the library catalog or the library web site, not holistic investigations of independence in using the library.…”

Protocol Analysis of a Federated Search Tool: Designing for Users

“…Usability studies have been performed on Web sites (Letnikova 2003 provides an annotated bibliography), online catalogs (Novotny 2004), digital libraries (Van House et al 1996), and--increasingly--federated search tools (Cervone 2005;Ponsford 2005;Schmidt and Wrubel 2005;Tallent 2004). The studies that have been performed on federated search tools report a number of common findings:…”