Redesigning the Archival Services’ Website with User Perspectives Emily Lockhart, Archives Associate Senior Archival Services, University Libraries erlockh@uakron.edu 330-972-7832 April 30, 2011

Introduction Archival Services Website: Analyzed users’ feedback collected through 13 website usability testing Recommended effective, user-centered approaches to presenting website content Research Questions: Do researchers understand information presented on an archives’ website? How do they navigate the presentation of information?

Characteristics of Usability Testing Improve usability of a product Represent real users Perform real tasks Observes and records what participants do and say Analyzes the data, identifies the problems, and recommends changes to fix the problems (Barnum, 2002) “Testing begins with a frame of mind that puts the end user first” (Norlin, 2002)

Background Significant personnel changes in previous 3 years. Website not a top priority BUT… Implementation of content management system at university-level and mandated migration to new system

Mandated Website Structure Basic structure templates set by university and University Libraries Top tabs & left-hand navigation

Organizing Content – Our Attempt Archival Services = University Archives Special Collections Records Management

Conducting Website Usability Testing 13 participants from core audience: 5 undergraduate students 5 faculty members 2 staff members 1 community patron Usability lab with one-way mirror Digital video recording Staff present Think-aloud protocol – asks user to express any opinions, feelings, or thoughts while testing

Scenarios Allowed 5 minutes of exploration & free discussion Different tasks for each audience group Similar tasks but varied with specific collections Designed to ensure that participants would use all areas of the website EXAMPLE) Finding archival materials Where would you find the archives’ holdings on the rubber industry? EXAMPLE) Finding basic information How would you contact the archives’ staff? Note: did not test records management at this time

Analysis Main issues: Confusion over terminology used in top-tab navigation Lack of familiarity with archives jargon Unaccommodating to user behaviors When 2 or more users experienced the same problem, it should be addressed

Analysis – 1) Terminology Tabs University Archives Special Collections Records management User Perceptions department name, archives general, everything archival rare books, “special requests”, “special categories” “permissions”, “managing something”, internal function only, not at same level

Analysis – 2) Archives Jargon Finding archival materials (descriptions & finding aids) All users read definitions of divisions during the test as prompted by the facilitator 50% had to be prompted by facilitator to go to university archives tab for student newspapers 39 questions on special collections materials: 3 hard (prompted by facilitator), 11 medium (2 or 3 tries), 24 easy (first try) Many users first looked under university archives tab Organization at highest hierarchical level was not understood by users and needed significant redesign

Analysis – 3) User behaviors General user behaviors Rarely read text Search for everything Did not always notice special features Suggested more photographs

Recommendations – 1) Navigation

Recommendations – 1) Navigation

Recommendations – 2) Jargon

Recommendations – 3) User behavior

Conclusions Website usability tests provided an opportunity to better understand users. Burden of understanding should not be on researcher. Archivists should take responsibility for educating users. Lessons learned can be applied to provide better services at reference desk, during information literacy sessions, and through remote inquires.

Emily Lockhart, Archives Associate Senior Thank you Emily Lockhart, Archives Associate Senior erlockh@uakron.edu 330-972-7832