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The Front End

The Front End. Design of & Usability for ERM Data Amy Fry, Electronic Resources Coordinator Bowling Green State University http://www.slideshare.net/amyfry2000/training-daypresentation-7884397. Goals for this presentation. What best practices for databases webpages should we follow?

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The Front End

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  1. The Front End Design of & Usability for ERM Data Amy Fry, Electronic Resources CoordinatorBowling Green State University http://www.slideshare.net/amyfry2000/training-daypresentation-7884397

  2. Goals for this presentation • What best practices for databases webpages should we follow? • How do libraries structure full resource records, and what do users look for in them? • Usability testing: tips and resources

  3. The Front End: Landing page • Portal or landing page for all databases • Databases A-Z list (separate from e-journals) • Databases-by-subject pages (usually separate from other course and subject guides) • Full resource records – information pages about each individual database BGSU

  4. The Front End: A-Z list • Portal or landing page for all databases • Databases A-Z list (separate from e-journals) • Databases-by-subject pages (usually separate from other course and subject guides) • Full resource records – information pages about each individual database Kent State University

  5. The Front End: DBs by subject • Portal or landing page for all databases • Databases A-Z list (separate from e-journals) • Databases-by-subject pages (usually separate from other course and subject guides) • Full resource records – information pages about each individual database Case Western Reserve

  6. The Front End: Full records • Portal or landing page for all databases • Databases A-Z list (separate from e-journals) • Databases-by-subject pages (usually separate from other course and subject guides) • Full resource records – information pages about each individual database Wright State University OhioLINK

  7. 2010 survey of ARL library websites • Databases A-Z list • Databases-by-subject lists • Full resource records • Software • Discovery layer or federated search • Link name • Order of databases-by-subject lists • Use of icons/graphics

  8. Other surveys of ARL library sites • Cohen and Calsada (2003)Found that 66 of 114 academic ARLs used database-driven webpages to present their e-resources in 2002. • Shorten (2006)Found that 88.6% of ARL libraries had databases A-Z lists in 2003, and 10.5% also categorized them by type. • Caudle and Schmitz (2007)Found that 97% of the 99 American academic libraries in ARL had a databases A-Z list, 96% had databases-by-subject lists and 27% had federated searching.

  9. Type of system Homegrown: 71.1% *Percentages are based on 114 libraries (excluding 7 national/special libraries and 4 libraries whose databases pages were behind a login) Kent State University

  10. University of Missouri-Columbia

  11. Order of subject lists University of Connecticut

  12. University of Missouri-Columbia

  13. Use of icons and graphics Libraries using icons or graphics: 64 (56%)

  14. University of Cincinnati

  15. Name of Link

  16. What’s in full records? BGSU OhioLINK Wright State

  17. Survey Question 9

  18. Student comments on a resource record from BGSU’s 2010 usability study

  19. BGSU usability study: steps and timeline • Identify goals (December 2009) • Complete Human Subjects Review Board (HSRB) training (January 2010) • Submit HSRB application, including script, recruitment materials, consent form (January 2010) • Obtain funding for incentives (January 2010) • Test the instrument (February 2010) • Recruit participants (February 2010) • Complete the testing (February-March 2010) • Analyze results (March-April 2010) • Present findings and recommendations (April-May 2010)

  20. Lehman & Nikkel, 2008 Foster & Gibbons, 2007 Krug, 2006

  21. Other library usability studies • Hammill (2003)Did common task testing with 52 users at Florida International University Libraries, including finding a named database. • Krueger, Ray and Knight (2004)Did common task testing with 134 users at the University of the Pacific Library. • Fuller, Livingston, Brown, Cowan, Wood and Porter (2009)Did three rounds of testing with five users each on the databases pages at the University of Connecticut Libraries.

  22. change to Databases A-Z change to Databases by subject add Film, Television & Media Studies change to Videos & Images Remove search box

  23. Add a connect button Database title Contains Notes Access for mobile devices Alternate on-campus link Tutorials & help Dates included Journal titles in this database View this title

  24. Guerrilla Testing • July 2010 • Twelve participants • 4 graduate students • 4 incoming freshmen • 2 undergraduates • 1 staff member • 1 faculty member

  25. It’s easier than you think! • Ask your administrative office or Friends to fund the incentives • Recruit with signs in the library or grab people as they go by • Design for minimal prep and minimal analysis • Don’t worry about technology

  26. It’s also harder than it should be. • Make sure people are committed to change (both intellectually and with resources). • Have a plan to assess the impact of your changes. • Build time into your future schedule to do more testing.

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