What in the World? Geographical Representation of Library Collections in WorldCat: A Prototype Lynn Silipigni Connaway Clifton Snyder Larry Olszewski ASIST Conference November 1, 2005

OCLC WorldMap TM : Objectives Research prototype Test geographical representation of WorldCat Titles and holdings by country of publication Support data mining research area Visually display mined data to ease review and analysis Internal use Sales and marketing External use Library collection assessment and comparison Complement the AAU/ARL Global Resources Network project Currently a project of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)

OCLC WorldMap TM : Objectives Geographically represent library data from UNESCO, ARL, and NCES Number of libraries Amount of library expenditures Number of volumes and titles Number of librarians Number of users

Geographic Information Systems: Background Geographic information systems (GIS) applied to library and information science (Gluck, 1994) Identified how GIS software facilitates library market analysis (Koontz, 1996) Studied users to determine relevance or potential value of geospatial objects from metadata (Fraser & Gluck, 1999) Developed Public Library Geographic Database (Koontz & Jue, 2004, 2004a) Geographically represents United States public library census data

User Interface Design: Background Identified how to communicate information through the simultaneous presentation of words, numbers and pictures (Tufte, 2001) Five factors for benchmarking the usability of an interface (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2004) Time to learn Speed of performance Rate of errors Retention over time Subjective satisfaction

Usability Testing: Definition Degree to which a user can successfully learn and use a product to achieve a goal Research methodology Evaluation Experimental design Observation and analysis of user behavior to achieve a goal (Dumas & Reddish, 1993, p.22) User-centered design process involving user from initial design to product upgrade (Norlin & Winters, 2002) Approach is to be a servant to the users of a system NOT to be subservient to technology (Gluck, 1998) Identify usability problems and make recommendations for fixing and improving the design (Rubin, 1994)

Usability Testing: Web Design Criteria Ten Usability Heuristics (Nielsen) Visibility of system status Match between system and the real world User control and freedom Consistency and standards Error prevention Recognition rather than recall Flexibility and efficiency of use Aesthetic and minimalist design Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Help and documentation

Usability Testing: Methodology Artificial environment (laboratory) Maintain more control May provide more specific data on a particular feature Natural environment Better holistic representation of real people doing real work

Usability Testing: OCLC WorldMap TM Artificial environment (laboratory) OCLC usability lab Developed documentation Screening questionnaire Task list Posttest questionnaire Executive summary

Usability Testing: OCLC WorldMap TM First set of tests, September 2004 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 3 usability test participants Developer, marketing, production manager High learning curve Difficult to navigate and use Conducted informal usability tests Redesigned the interface

Usability Testing: OCLC WorldMap TM Second set of tests, September 2005 Flash 3 usability test participants Library services consultant (2), sales Much lower learning curve Improved task time Revised the interface

Technology: OCLC WorldMap TM First implemented SVG Open standard maintained by W3C Simple XML file Young technology Browser support limited Requires plug-in Converted to Flash Browser compatibility Plug-in compatibility (if a plug-in was installed!) For a detailed comparison of SVG and Flash, see:

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Available for demonstration at: Replace URL with Research Works URL, if available by time of presentation