1. Web Site Redesign: Perspectives from the Field What do they want? Usability Testing Robin Leech Head, Digital Initiatives LITA National Forum Cincinnati, OH October 16-19, 2008

4. Team composition Usability Team –4 library faculty –1 staff Web Re-design Team –3 library faculty –2 staff

5. Charge to our Team Begin conducting usability testing Begin library home page redesign Move library home page into university template

6. Why should we test? Learn how/why/where users become frustrated “If you want a great site, you’ve got to test” (Steve Krug) “Replaces opinion with user- centered data” (Beth Thomsett-Scott)

7. Why Test? Library Strategic Goals Why Test? Library Strategic Goals Goal Two: Library Services: continually refocus library services to meet the needs of our users –Objective 2.2: Develop a systematic and on- going assessment of library services through user surveys, meetings with representative student and faculty groups, and analysis of use statistics. –Objective 2.4: Expand and improve Public Services to maximize use of resources and facilities, resulting in streamlined research and retrieval processes for library users.

8. IRB Exploring the literature Web log files Exploring other sites Staff surveys Workshop attendance Local workshop for library faculty/staff Meetings, meetings, meetings

9. Time Line

10. Usability Testing: Tools Considered Focus groups (students) Survey (paper or verbal) Heuristics (site analysis by experts) Prototypes (paper mockups) Usability walk-through Server log analysis Card sorting

11. Tools Used by OSU Library faculty/staff survey Open card sorts Focus groups Recorded task tests

12. Surveys Survey Monkey – anonymous –1 pre-survey –1 post-survey

13. Card Sorts Advantages – Quick – Inexpensive – Very User Centered – Simple – Sets direction/focus

14. Card Sorts Disadvantages – Content focused – Shallow (not task driven) – Limited by users knowledge – Can be inconsistent – Analyzer bias

15. Focus Groups 2 undergrads, 2 grads, 1 faculty Pizza & pop 1 moderator, 1 note taker

16. Focus Groups Advantages –Stimulates discussion –Hear different viewpoints –Students eager to share opinion –Relatively inexpensive Disadvantages –Best to have a trained facilitator –Group think –Qualitative data hard to organize

17. Task Testing 11 undergrads One-on-one task testing 8 questions Alternatives to Morae (TechSmith) Camtasia Jing Your own video camera

18. Task Testing Time to learn software Recruiting students Consent forms Time to review videos

19. Morae Student Screen Time line Student video Student task directory

21. Things to Keep in Mind Don’t take comments personally. You can’t please everyone. There’s no such thing as perfect. It’s always a work in progress.

22. Considerations Accessibility Administrative (support) Time … time … time Timing of re-design Budget Getting Volunteers

23. Thanks & Good Luck!