River Campus Libraries Find Articles Fourth Generation Design For Federated Searching Brenda Reeb, Usability David Lindahl, Digital Initiatives

Agenda  Serial Failure  Federated Search  User Centered Design Process  Culture and Politics  Generations of Design  Technology

Serial Failure  This is a title slide to be deleted (brenda)  Cite our article in this section

Find Articles: Usability Issues  Choosing a database  Using a database  Expectations  OPAC versus database  Terminology

Focus on results - highlights  Don’t make undergraduates choose anything before searching  Don’t expect users to read anything before searching  No consistency to how a search is typed – single words, multiple words, Boolean, “ “ phrases.  Relevance sort is assumed, so non- relevant hits at top of results list is a problem.

Federated Search  This is a title slide to be deleted (dave)  What is metasearch – one slide

Find Articles: Meta-search What is meta-search?  Federated Search  Single user interface to multiple databases  Simultaneous searching across resources  Merged results

What the Libraries Did  Invested in meta-search technology  Selected SFX (Linking)  Selected Encompass (XML UI, Catalog integration)  Vendor partnership  Training  User interface development  Technology integration (CF, XML, SFX, SQL)

User Centered Design Process  This is a title slide to be deleted (brenda)

Usability group Content group Design group Key tasks Test results Prototypes Issue responses Design iterations Test results User Centered Design Process

Artifacts of design process  Issue response document  Usability results  Key task list  Regular meetings (design = usability)  Project specific meetings. (usability=content and content=design)

User focus Usability group Design group Content group Highest. No other goal than to represent the user. Medium. Competes with standards, technology, time and money Medium. Competes with exhaustive content, complex tasks

Usability Program  This is a title slide to be deleted(Brenda)  What is a key task  Key tasks for finding articles  Key task questions

Usability UR  Brief history since 2001  Staffing  How we learn  How we assign projects – Project Chart  Vendor codevelopment

Slide of project chart goes here

River Campus Libraries What is a good key task and what do I do with it? Key tasks are defined as frequently asked items, frequent actions or navigation to parent/child pages. Key tasks become test questions, scenario questions, basic anchors to your design.

Characteristics of a task (long version) from Carolyn Snyder, Paper Prototyping Is based on a goal that matters to the user Covers questions important to the success of your product and business Has appropriate scope – not too broad, not too specific Has a finite and predictable set of possible solutions Has a clear end point that the user can recognize Elicits action, not just opinion Avoid red herrings – tasks with no solution.

Sample key task chart. Page 4 of handout packet.

Sample final key tasks. Page 5 of handout.

Brenda Reeb; EndUser 2004; Sample Intranet page

Brenda Reeb; EndUser 2004; Sample Key Task list

Brenda Reeb; EndUser 2004; Sample test questions

Test results example A/J/N testing, University of Rochester. EndUser 2004.

Back Up! Here comes ERA! Handout, p. 9

Design Group  This is a title slide to be deleted(dave)  Style guidelines  Models for finding  Design of pathways  Group that knows the technology (what’s possible)

Web Design Process Overall Design  “Hide the technology”  Consistency with library website  Task oriented pathways  Usability testing program Page Design  Essential components  Prioritize  Simplify  Style guidelines

 Universal Design  Section 508  Web Style Guide  Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines  Page Editors’ Checklist “Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.” Ron Mace Style Guidelines

Models For Finding: Google 1.Enter keywords 2.Browse results by title and snippet 3.View full text

Models For Finding: FRBR FRBR User Tasks  Find  Identify  Select  Acquire FRBR = Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records More information:

Web Design Process: Find Articles “Find Articles” project  Ongoing project to address usability issues  Our implementation of meta-search with Encompass

Knowledge Partial knowledge No knowledge Subject clusters Mapping your search to a subject Takes you away from your natural path User Databases by Subject Find Articles Clusters (courses) Google Databases A-Z User Pathways

User Pathways To Finding Articles  Knowledge of specific databases and how to use them (Databases A-Z)  Partial knowledge (Databases by Subject)  No knowledge (Find Articles, Google)

User Pathways To Finding Articles Scholarly and comprehensive results (more) (less) Knowledge and Training

Insert Database A-Z graphic

Databases A-Z Change color to green Insert Databases by subject graphic

Databases A-Z Change color to blue Insert Find Articles

Content Group  This is a title slide to be deleted(brenda)  Help develop key tasks  Select appropriate content  Apply experience and education to the iterative design process

Staff Culture versus Student Expectations  This is a title slide to be deleted(dave)

Do, not tell I need an article!  Select a database  This database has 435 journals in it.  These journals are peer reviewed.  Choose basic or advanced.  These journals predate the Civil War. We say this:

Balance user needs with librarian needs The user is always right.

Staff culture  focus on Finding  Web pages should “do” not “tell”  Willing to try new skills without being experts.  Administrative support  Small success = TA DA SUCCESS  Leadership 101

Meet them where they are. Students attend POL250 – “Conflict in Democracies” They do not relate to Political Science. They do not envision themselves as political scientists. Courses, not academic discipline.

How to sustain “Meet them where they are”  Distributed workload (all skill level bibliographers participate)  Automated system; automated work space  Database driven

Politics of doing User Centered Design  This is a title slide to be deleted(brenda)  You will encounter x, y, and z in your organization

Politics  Inform  Page design process document  Don’t leave home without the toolkit  Neilson’s Alert Boxes  Pages from Don’t Make Me Think  Engage  Observe tests  Publish results

Articles Committee  This is a title slide to be deleted

Generations of Design  This is a title slide to be deleted

Pre ERA design Circa 2002

Pre ERA design Circa 2002

Encompass UI 1.Enter keywords and select databases 2.Select databases or “SHOW ALL” 3.Select a result 4.View metadata 5.Select a full text source 6.View full text online

Encompass UI 1.Enter keywords and select databases 2.Select databases or “SHOW ALL” 3.Select a result 4.View metadata 5.Select a full text source 6.View full text online

Find Articles UI 1.Enter keywords 2.Select a result 3.View full text online

Mapping the Find Articles UI to FRBR Search Select Article Full Text (Gather) FRBR Tasks: Find Identify Select Acquire

Find Articles: Subject Clusters  Subject Clusters  Pre-selected databases  Search boxes anywhere  Course Pages  Connects undergrads to library resources  Top-5 resource  Usability success  Add Subject Clusters to Course Pages

Find Articles: What’s Next  Subject clusters  Testing across range of users  Direct to full text  Abstracts on selection screen  Results navigator  Shared knowledge base  Integration with catalog

Technology  This is a title slide to be deleted (dave)

Find Articles: How It Works Search Select Article Full Text (Gather) Library Web Server ERA Server Subscription Database XSLT User Page with Full Text XSLT XML HTML

Meta-search Issues  Speed and Reliability  Connectors  Index vs. Meta-search  Ease of use  Database selection  Abstracts on selection screen  Full text availability  One click to full text  Quality of results  How search terms are applied  Database selection  Relevance sorted results and de-duping

Meta-search Standards  Z39.50  SRW/SRU and CQL  OpenURL  NISO MetaSearch Initiative  OAI

Linking To Full Text  Use RE to test input variables  Determine full-text available  Based on item type and database  Create canned URL  Double dip  Requires published or discovered syntax

Standards Matter  Z39.50  SRW/SRU and CQL  OpenURL  NISO MetaSearch Initiative  OAI

OpenURL Fields  GENRE  ISSN or ISBN  ATITLE (journal-article title)  TITLE (book title)  JTITLE (journal title)  AUFIRST (author first name)  AULAST  VOLUME  ISSUE  DATE  SPAGE (start page)