Faculty Usability Test #2 (August 2004)

Summary Results from August 2004 Usability Testing

Who we tested: 3 UM Faculty members

How we tested: We gave the participants a list of 12 questions and showed them a live draft (#5) of the Libraries’ home page. We asked the participants to think out loud and explain the choices they made. We also asked some questions before and after the test. Each session lasted 30-50 minutes.

Does the library have My Life by Bill Clinton?

1. Catalog, first tries my life under words anywhere, and receives a number of results (I do like being able to hit return rather than having to click search). Goes back and searches for My Life under title beginning with, and finds the catalog entry.
2. Catalog, tries Clinton, William Jefferson under author words and gets no exact matches. Well, not unless I spelled his name wrong, you don’t. Tries Advanced Search with My Life under Title and William Clinton under Author. Nope. I don’t think we do, it’s probably too popular or too new. The other possibility is he really did publish it as Bill, but that’d be weird. Yup, he did.
3. I’d go to books, tries clicking on books, I’d go to Catalog. Title words My Life. I probably should have used an advanced search so I could add the author in there. Advanced Search, title my life, author, bill clinton, finds the catalog entry.

A librarian named Paula Hayes came to your class to talk about library research. You want to reach her again; find her contact information.

1. Clicks on Phone numbers, then returns to the home page. Tries Staff and Organization, reads Information for Library Staff, I don’t care about library staff, I care about information about library staff, clicks on the link for the Directory. Goes to Directory by Staff, finds Paula Hayes’ information.
2. Staff and Organization, Directory, Directory by Staff, finds Paula Hayes. Of course, I’d just use the University of Maryland directory thing. I’d probably go to Inform, because I have that linked to my home page.
3. Staff and Organization, maybe not, I was expecting a Directory, oh, here it is. Directory by Staff, finds Paula Hayes’ information.

You want to make a color photocopy of an article. How much does a color photocopy cost?

1. Decides to also look for information about copy cards, because you keep changing the system for that too. Enters copies in the search box. Clicks on Photoduplication services, but that is not what s/he expected to find. Returns to search box and enters copying. Clicks on Policies and Procedures, but does not notice it’s for the Hornbake Library, and the link to Photocopying Information on this page is not working. At this point I would probably give up. But, s/he returns to the search list and clicks on the link for Copy Service, an administrative memo. The charges section does not list charges, you would have to go to the library to find out. I’m going to have to be really persevering here. Determines s/he would have to call to find out. Tries searching for copy cost, finds a link to the McKeldin Copy Shop, and finds the amount.
2. Scans page. More information for faculty and grad students, and I’m not finding a photocopy, even though I would have thought that it’s general information. So I’m just going to Search, clicks on Search link from more information for faculty and grad students page. Enter photocopying. This is far more information than I need (the results list). Returns to search box and enters color photocopying. Clicks on page for Duplication fee schedule, this is for the graphic work duplication. Returns to results list. Clicks on Photoduplication services. I’m assuming now the answer is “My first born,” or something like that. I know what a base price is for a regular one, but do I have to find an answer? At this point I would give up and say, OK, more than 25 cents. I’ll just go and ask a human being. Although, if I was trying to get that information for a grant that would be kind of irritating. That’s the sort of thing you want to be able to look up.
3. Enters color copy cost in the search box, clicks on McKeldin Copy Shop Library Staff Request Form, a pdf, which has a box for color copying. Ok, 10 cents.

Does the library have the movie To Kill a Mockingbird? How would you find out?

1. I would just do the same thing I did before, looking for My Life (does not actually do the search). Catalog.
2. Catalog, Advanced Search, Mockingbird as Title, Format Videos/Films, and finds the catalog entry.
3. I guess I could look under either Catalog or maybe DRUM. Clicks on Catalog, Advanced Search, Title to kill a mockingbird and selects two word phrase, and Format video/VHS, and gets no matches. Searches on Title to kill a mockingbird, finds catalog entry.

It’s 100 degrees out and you don’t want to leave your office to go to the library, but you need help from a librarian. How would you get help without leaving your office?

1. Well, you’d go to the little question mark box on the front page – Ask Us!
2. Ask Us! I’m not sure I’d try the chat with a librarian, since it seemed to be kind of pokey. It’s easier for me to do the e-mail, and wait for an answer, because I can do other things. If I’m feeling leisurely I might try the chat thing, but there wasn’t really somebody there right away. It wasn’t like getting into the Hewlitt-Packard helpline or the Gateway helpline where there’s somebody right there. Or it tells you you are number four in line and it will take about 20 minutes, which is helpful. I might try the telephone, but chances are the kind of question I have is either going to be I’ll call Eric Lindquist or Diane Harvey or somebody I know. I’d probably tell the students about the e-mail thing, because they’d be likely to use that, I’m not sure having that brief experience with life chat that I’d give them that. I might tell them about it and say it’s not instant messenger.
3. Ask Us!

You want to find newspaper articles using LexisNexis. Where would you start?

1. No idea, I’ve never heard of LexisNexis. I would go to Research Port, Databases, Database Name, clicks on “L”, and finds LexisNexis.
2. Research Port, clearly this is not something I do a whole lot. Goes to Database Name, clicks on “L,” and finds LexisNexis.
3. Reference Shelf, what am I missing? I guess I consider LexisNexis a Reference Shelf, but it’s probably not, it’s probably under Research Port. Selects News Sources/Current Events under Databases by Subject Category and finds LexisNexis.

Is the Journal for Cultural Research available online?

1. Well, that’s easy. Research Port, E-Journals, clicks “C” for cultural research. Now that we have a list that ends with Cable Avails, I have to hop through 1539 e-journals beginning with the letter C, which is so dumb. Returns to Find E-Journals. Actually, I’m in the wrong place, I need to be in J. And, because I know 1500 is not even close to how many J’s you have I’m going to have to type it in. Enters Journal for Cultural, with the “Exact” radio button marked, and gets a No Match Found result. No you don’t have it.
2. Tries “J” under Database Name in Research Port, does not find the journal. Clicks on E-Journals, and types Journal for Cultural Research in the search box, and finds the journal in the results list.
3. Research Port, by Database Name, selects “J,” looks at results list. Tries E-Journals, selects “J,” scrolls results list, returns to E-Journals, and selects “C.” OK, I’m not finding it, but I think I’m not looking correctly either. Quick Search, enters journal for cultural research, it looks like it’s in Academic Search Premier, looks at results list. Except, I’m not sure how I would know that’s the right journal, am I missing that? Selects first entry on list, sees Journal for Cultural Research highlighted, yup, that’s it.

You’re reading the Washington Post Opinion section and you see a reference to “that most fundamental of American values, pragmatism.” Look up the definition of “pragmatism” to make sure you know the precise meaning.

Reference Shelf. One faculty member says, “I would not use the library site for that I would just use an online dictionary.” Another first tries Webster’s Third New International Unabridged Dictionary, with no luck, then succeeds with Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

One of your colleagues told you that UM has an Institutional Repository where faculty can publish their work online and that the Libraries are hosting the project. How would you find out about participating in this?

1. Searches for Institutional repository, clicks on the first link for Institutional Repositories, which does not say how to participate. Then clicks on a link for a Library Matters edition, where the first article is titled “Drumming up some Content for an Institutional Repository,” which s/he does not appear to read. This doesn’t look like what I want. Returns to search results and clicks on Staff and Library Development Calendar. Returns to search results and clicks on a different Library Matters link. At this point I would probably lose interest in participating.
2. DRUM. Well that’s pretty nifty. Clicks on College of Arts & Humanities, bet there’s nothing, and then clicks on American Studies. Returns to DRUM main page and clicks on Find out more about depositing your work.
3. I would look under More information for faculty and grad students, or just do a search. Searches for institutional repository, finds Institutional Repositories page, not what I’m looking for. I’m not sure where to look at this point. Tries More information for faculty and grad students, scrolls page and finds nothing. Probably what I’d do is send a question to the e-mail.

You're doing some research and want to consult with the librarian who specializes in film studies. How would you find the right person?

1. Searches for film studies, clicks on the first link about Film Reviews and Film Studies. S/he does not see the name and contact information for the subject specialist at the end of the first paragraph, and returns to search results list. Tries the link to Research Guides by Discipline, scrolls, uses browser search for film, and finds link to the same Film Reviews and Film Studies page, scrolls this page. Returns home. Clicks on Ask Us! and then the link to Directory by Library Division, then returns to Ask Us! and tries the link to Subject Specialists and finds film studies.
2. Staff and organization, I guess I’d look under Groups, but these are more your operating groups aren’t they? There aren’t the Reference Librarian types. Hits back, oh, this is information for library and staff. Returns home, clicks on More information for faculty and grad students, clicks on Directory of Librarian Subject Specialists, and finds film studies. I should have known it’d be Carleton Jackson, I would’ve just called him anyway. I was kind of surprised to look under Staff and organization and see that this is actually information for library staff, I thought it was about. Maybe you should have it over here, under the More information for…, because otherwise you think I’d look here, and looking down here (indicating bottom bar) is just confusing.
3. Staff and Organization, Staff Groups, tries Directory, checks Directory by Division. If it’s not under Broadcasting Archives, I would use the browser to search for the word film and see what I could do. Call Raoul in Non-print Media.

You need to stop by McKeldin Library at some point, and you want to get a cup of coffee while you’re there. How do you find out what time McKeldin’s Café opens?

1. I didn’t even know they had a café. UM’s 8 Libraries, McKeldin Library, but the list of services does not include coffee shop, or Footnotes Café. S/he clicks on floor plan, doesn’t find it, tries Virtual tour, then tries the Hours link on the page, and finds the hours. S/he wants to know why the White Memorial Library appears after the Engineering library in the listing.
2. Well hopefully it’s under Hours. McKeldin Library, finds Footnotes Café hours. Only ‘til 2 o’clock? How sad.
3. I saw the sign on the door, it’s from 8-2. Searches for café, clicks on Guidelines for School Visits to McKeldin. Returns home, I have no idea, clicks on Visitors. I’m going to skip that one.

Find the full text of the following article in the American Journal of Political Science: “Validating a Measure of National Political Legitimacy,” by John Fraser, vol. 18, no. 1 (Feb 1974), pp.117-134.

1. Oh no, that’s what we can’t do anymore, but you’ve given me the full reference, so I’ll be able to find it. First clicks on Catalog, but then changes to Research Port. E-Journals, clicks on “A,” then returns to type in the name of the journal. Enters American Journal with “Exact” marked and gets No Match, tries American and gets No Match, switches the button to “Contains” and enters American and gets a large results list, returns and enters American Journal and gets a large results list. Ok, there’s no way to do starts with. Enters American Journal of Political Science. This is annoying, I’d like an alphabetical list that’s easy to navigate. Finds the entry for the journal and clicks on the link. Now we get to this horrible page, where I should know everything so it won’t be a problem to find. Enters the journal information in the boxes under Academic Search Premier. Oh, and now I get here (to the ASP page of its AMPS content) – [exasperated sigh]. Why am I not going directly to the article? What good is this? I don’t want to search again, I told it which article I wanted, I can’t get to the actual page of the periodical, it doesn’t go to ’74. So, it’s not possible. So, I’d have to go to the library to get it, and I have 10 windows open.
2. That’s the kind of thing I’d have my students do, kind of scary. Research Port, E-Journals, types American Journal of Political Science, indicates “Exact,” and gets the journal as a result. Clicks on Find it, enters year and beginning page number in boxes under Academic Search Premier. Asks, “Now what do I do?” Chooses to click on link for Academic Search Premier. ASP page is not what s/he expected, since it has all this with the year and start page I thought I’d just be able to enter this and get to the actual article. But, obviously that’s not how you do it. But, then I don’t know if it’s because I’m not logged in as an actual user or what. Tries a basic search in ASP, Validating a measure of national political legitimacy under Title, and gets no results. At this point I’d probably go back and read the directions. Looks at Quick Search in Research Port. Do I really need to do this, at this point I would spend some time reading the directions. This is the point at which my students would say I couldn’t do it.
3. Research Port, E-Journals, selects, “A,” scrolls results list, goes to Quick Search, enters American Journal of Political Science. Organizes resulting list by year. Well, if I’ve done this right it doesn’t look like it has 1974. OK, it says 1974, but the only one I see (entry for American Journal of Political Science) is for 1973. Clicks link for the journal entry. From there clicks the link to the Catalog and is taken to the catalog entry for the journal, clicks the link for JSTOR, clicks on Search This Journal, searches for John Fraser under author, and finds the article.

Suggestions?

1. I want the other system back for finding journals, this is complete rubbish. I can no longer function. I can no longer get an article. This just makes no sense. I mean if you type in the page, the volume, the year, you should get the article, because I’ve just given you all the information you need, and if you’re not going to take me to the journal home page then what the hell did I type all that in for to get that generic site? What good is it? It’s just a complete waste of my time. How much time do I have to play with finding an article? I need to find it, find the next one, find the next one…
2. • Other than the thing with the Staff and Organization, which is again like information for staff. Obviously staff also use this as their home page, but you don’t want people going there and thinking they just got lost in the library. I’ve never been quite sure about how to use this section (Get oriented…) like what the site index would be, and whether or not I’d ever want to use that. It almost seems like this kind of information (More information for…) is more useful. Although, the How do I…, noticing the copy and print information, I could have found some things a little faster if I’d looked at that. I’m saying is How do I… a really good way if explaining what that is? Or might it be Quick Information or something else? I mean we have a lot of people on campus who don’t speak English as their first language and How do I… may not say anything to them. FAQ might be more universal, or Frequently asked questions, or something like that.
   • It’s nice to have the digital project things up there, because I can see people wanting quick access to something like that.
   • Are you planning to do news, events and stuff like that?
3. I like the addition of the UM Digital Projects section. I think it makes sense in some ways to put the specific direction kind of items on the lower bar rather than on top even though I wasn’t used to it. It still feels like a lot and I guess it’s that center rectangle that feels like a lot when it’s so closely bordered by four other rectangles. I have to get more familiar with Research Port and some of the ways of finding particular articles. I wonder whether it would be useful to have some kind of tutorial that could be linked to generally that would have a mock-up of this page and have quick tutorial on how to do this or how to do that. How to go about using Research Port or Reference Shelf. I guess that (How do I…) would in essence do that. That might have answered my question, but for some reason I just didn’t pick it up when I was looking. I guess it’s just going to take a while to sit here and to kind of use it and process it, and then figure out what it can be used for. I don’t know that it’s necessarily good or bad, it’s just a matter of getting used to it.

What’s missing from the page?

1. I could find where they were, I could find their names, I could find interlibrary loan. If I was a new user to this there’s no way I could figure out, for example on More information for faculty and grad students, there’s nothing here that tells me I’m allowed to order publications if you don’t have them. You have to know that, and then you have to know that it’s called interlibrary loan, because if you don’t know that you’ll never figure it out. So, as a faculty member, I have to teach all of my students how to do that. I show them how to use the databases, but they pick on that pretty quickly. I drive them how to export articles into Endnote, which we use. I need to walk them through E-Journals, then interlibrary loan. There’s nothing under information for graduate students that seems useful to a graduate student.
2. Not really, it has the same organization in terms of having the 8 libraries in terms of the physical libraries, and then the special collections. For a lot of people, I find they don’t know the difference between the libraries and the special collections. I’m not sure if everything that’s listed here (8 libraries) is also listed on the other page (Special collections). Why not just have University of Maryland’s 8 libraries and special collections and have it just go to this page, clicks on 8 libraries. If people aren’t sure if something is a library or a special collection.
3. The only thing I wonder about is I’m used to seeing the break out of McKeldin or Hornbake or whatever, but maybe that’s all come together now under the title Libraries.

What do you like best?

1. The little bar at the bottom, because it’s pretty straightforward.
2. • It’s real easy to find the Catalog. There seems to be a lot of text on the page, but I don’t see any way around that. I’m trying to decide if it feel cramped and cluttered because there’s a lot of text on the page, or because of the lines around the boxes, or what? It’s busy. (To make it less busy) I would probably shrink this (Get oriented box). I’d eliminate the Site Index or move it down here somewhere (bottom bar). As a matter of fact I’d move the Search down here (bottom bar), and move the Staff and organization stuff over here (More information for…). I’d combine those two things (8 libraries and Special Collections). You could move Ask Us! over to this section over here (Get oriented), and instead of a Get oriented thing, it’s more of a Quick Start, and just have if somebody knows exactly what they’re looking for or very quickly needs some information have a Frequently Asked Questions, and the Ask Us! there, which would free up this (indicates the space where Ask Us! is currently). You might be able to move the reference shelf over there too. I mean put the things that people seem to drop in and use right away.
   • I guess the other thing is why is it faculty and graduate students as opposed to undergraduates? I still have students after all these years who still refer to this building as the graduate library. It’s like, who’s missing from this list? And, how about the 27,000 undergraduates who go here? Oh, we don’t have any information for them. I’m very aware I keep saying you need more categories here (More information for…), you need a staff category for, and you need to think about what kind of entry might an undergraduate student want or need? Like somebody who’s brand new to the library, or brand new to campus. That to me is the most glaring omission, is undergraduate students. Hornbake used to be the undergraduate library, McKeldin used to be the graduate library, and I still have students who arrive and campus and who learn those terms for those libraries, even though Hornbake is no longer the undergraduate library. Because Letters and Sciences is there they see it as kind of an undergraduate building. So, there needs to be some kind of undergraduate presence there.
3. If I took the time to look through it and get oriented I think the How do I… and Site Index, and I think the Research Port would be most useful overall.

How do you expect your students to use the Libraries’ homepage? Based on your own experience with that page, what suggestions do you have for making that site a better research tool?

1. Find what they need, bookmark it, and never go back to it. It’s so much clicking. It’s only good if you’re looking for something and you don’t know where it is, otherwise I would prefer to avoid it.
2. • Probably the most important thing for them is to find the staff member, the reference librarians who can help them with projects. Because I think that’s the most important thing about learning to use a library. Which is why I do find it problematic that a student going to the library home page is saying, ok, I’ve got this project for class, where do I start? A page for an undergraduate would include how do I find a reference librarian that knows about the field of the course that I’m taking, or can help me with reviewing the literature in a field. The library instruction staff, that kind of thing. I expect they should also know how to use the Catalog. The journal articles, the Research Port aspect, a lot of the time they end up picking that up with library instruction in a particular class, so it tends to be very specialized. Which is probably one reason why it’s hard to do a research port where you just kind of go in and say, ok, I’m going to use this right away to find something. Because it is a little more specialized. But, certainly advanced undergraduates should be using that as well. I’d be surprised if they used the Reference Shelf. It’d be nice if they did. Chances are they’re just going to go to Google and type in pragmatism definition. But, I do refer them to the library page for style manuals and stuff like that, on how to cite things.
   • (Question about site as a research tool) When I go to the Research Port, if I’ve never used this before, and I don’t have time, do I have any clue how to do anything from here? And, it’s about the most bare-boned page you got. I would add a Getting Started. It’s interesting to me that all it is when you arrive is this point here (Databases), ok do it. You know what to do, do it, and it’s like, no, I don’t know what to do. Clicks on Quick Search Help. I mean that’s probably more information than I need, but just something to say not sure where to start, click here. Checks the Catalog to see what it’s like. Not a whole lot more information here either. You kind of assume that people know how to search the Catalog. Both of these (Catalog and Research Port) you kind of get dumped into territory where if you have to ask how to use it you’re already stuck. And, people may not feel that they need help, clicking on help may be like admitting that I’m in trouble. Clicks on Help in Catalog. Ooh. It is and it isn’t what I expected to see. It’s good that there are all these different things that I want to do, but I think I was thrown right away by Getting Oriented where the first thing is What is this (What is USMAI?), and I’m like I don’t know. Do I need to know what that is? Clicks on the link. Oh, wow, that’s nice to know, but it’s not what I would consider getting oriented. It’s like who we are or whatever. It’s also kind of surprising, because I think people, especially people using Windows computers, are used to having some kind of help thing where you can search, like a searchable help. They may find the little paperclip annoying, but at least it pops in there and says it looks like your trying to find a book, can I help you? To me it just seems very bare-bones (still looking at Catalog page). I’ve been using this interface for years, but I still get the feeling of being dumped into this thing. At least with a card catalog I had some idea of what I was looking for, where things were arranged on a page, and here I’m saying ok, do you need training in order to use this Catalog or do you not? If you don’t need training or if you don’t expect all 30,000 of us to come in for training then having something that says if this is your first time here this is what you need to do. This is how to get started.
3. They would be using it to develop annotated bibliographies, so probably looking at terms or words under Catalog or Research Port would be the things that they would use it most often for. In Research Port, I missed the tabs up top, I think it would have helped me to get some of my ideas done more quickly. I’m not sure what Cross Search is, but it would be interesting if I new how to use it. Back at the home page, as much as I like the information all on one page, I would still have the tendency to move some of the rectangles on the perimeter to another page or a page that opens up, and focus more on the rectangle with the Catalog and Research Port.

Do you have any different suggestions for making it a better teaching tool?

1. Under More information for… it depends on what you want to teach, if you’re doing what I’m doing which is how to get articles and get information then More information for faculty and grad students maybe that should just be researchers, because I also have undergraduate students and they might not think that this would be relevant to them. The first thing that pops up is Library Bulletin: News for Faculty, so as an undergraduate researcher I’m like so what, Directory of Subject Specialists so what, Placing Materials on Reserve so what, it’s not suitably broken down by students and faculty. And, there’s no obvious How To, just in general, how do I get information from journals. So I would add some specialized links that would go to something like that.
2. It seems like there are the starting point for everything one would want from this page. It could be little bit better directly organized, but I don’t think anyone has to go digging for something that would be a starting point for something. I don’t use it as a teaching tool. I tend to refer people to a reference librarian, and to the training that’s available. I frankly don’t find the library page, I teach a lot of lower level freshman and sophomore level courses, sending them to this page or even sitting with a student in my office, sending them to this page isn’t really that helpful, and it takes way to long. I’m more likely to use the page to help them find a librarian for the topic that they’re interested in or some of the Reference Shelf things, or lists of resources in different areas, stuff like that. There was a tutorial on how to use the libraries that I used to assign to my classes, I’m assuming that’s still here somewhere.
3. A more in depth tutorial for some of the basic functions like searching, Research Port, and connections between electronic resources and so on.

Comments on Research Port

1. • Clicks on Research Port, and this is ridiculous, find databases, I know which database I want. So, it used to be you had the letters at the top and then I could just go to W and then to Web of Science. Now you’re going to make me hit this scroll thing and aim at that. I don’t like that. Scrolls the subject list, then clicks on by Database name. That doesn’t look like a tab. Clicks “W” and finds Web of Science. And this is why I would bookmark it, because it takes to long to get there. S/he would actually bookmark the Web of Science site.
   • The link to University of Maryland Libraries is too small, I would never find it.
   • Where’s Electronic Journals? Sees it at the top. Ah, up there. Too small. This is pretty much like it was before. It’s a little bit simple. Searches for Science. Clicks on “S.” Scrolls, but doesn’t see Science. What the heck? I don’t want a table view. I just want to click on Science and now I have to type it. I used to get a list that was very compact and I could just scroll down and hit it. I don’t understand why this is making me do more work now. Types “Science” and gets the entry for the journal. Clicks on the link to Science. I don’t like this at all. The UM Libraries Find it page for where to find the full text of Science articles appears. Now I’ve new stuff to negotiate. I don’t care which one gives it too me, I just want the journal. What happened to the old interface that just brought me to the Science site. And which of these am I supposed to pick (has the choices of Academic Search Premier, Highwire Press, and JSTOR). Types 2002 in the year box for Academic Search Premier (ASP) and clicks the link, and is taken to the ASP list of what Science volume it has available. Now I don’t know how to work it. The fact that it doesn’t go back and opens all these windows is just annoying. Tries the steps again, but ends up at the Find it page, where I have no idea what to do. It used to go to the Science web site and then I could search for what I wanted, but on here I’m no where near the Science web site. I don’t know how to get an article by a particular author in 2002, for instance. I have to know the volume, the year, the issue, and the start page. But, if I knew that someone had published something in a particular year, or even without knowing the year, I should be able to go to the Science web site and search for it. Now I can’t get there. So, what good is this? This is way worse than I’m used to. Because that part was functioning, there was nothing wrong with the E-Journals page.

General comments

1. • I tend to bookmark pages, though, so I don’t have to use the site, because I can’t find anything on the site, at least the old site.
   • There’s a lot of clutter. It’s a lot of text. There’s just so much, and it’s all the same size, so you don’t know what’s the important thing. You don’t really quite know where to look first. So, you go with your gut instinct and look in the middle of the screen. But, it seems like a lot of information for a front page.
   • Normally, when I’m working, I have four windows up: Web of Science or something like that (because I’m looking for something, then I need to get it), the journal titles window open (so I can see if you’ve got it), interlibrary loan (in case you don’t have it), and e-journals (in case it’s there). If it’s not in E-Journals I’m going to go to Catalog, and if it’s not there I’m going to go to Inter-library loan.
   • Hunts for how to find inter-library loan from the home page. Searches for “ill” and finds the Interlibrary loan page. Then you go to on-line request form, and then click another thing, and then you get to the page from hell (ILL Request form). Filling in endless odious information, over and over again. Filling this out for every single article you order is just odious. And the information you fill in about the article has changed so it’s less convenient than it used to be. This whole web site is confusing, but at least I could get to it with the search. Also tries searching on “interlibrary loan” and that takes him/her to the same page.
   • One of the things that I would like to see is someplace on the home page is where the libraries are. People can’t find the Engineering library, it’s in an awkward place. So, to get to the map of campus, that’s not easy from here. Searches on “mckeldin,” and goes to the Theodore R. McKeldin library page, and clicks on location which pulls up a map. That was better than the last time I tried it, so it looks like the new search is working better. S/he then tries searching on “engineering,” which goes to the Engineering Library page. The location information there offers a picture of the building and directions to the building. Yeah, it kind of works, you have to use the search a lot. So, it looks like this is the part (gestures to the Get oriented box with How do I…, Site index, and the Search box) that one will be using the most often
   • Then I was trying to find somebody’s name. Clicks on Ask Us! and ponders Chat with a librarian. S/he expected to find something that would help her/him find somebody in particular. I expected a directory. S/he also clicks on the link to Staff Directory and browses that. Then tries directory by library division. Sees NAL, I don’t know what that is. Decides to try and find somebody from interlibrary loan, and is successful after scrolling through the page.
   • Tries to click on the words under Research Port and realizes they are not links. Which is dumb, you want everything to be linked on here. It would be good if we could click these directly, so if I wanted to get to Electronic Journals it doesn’t look like I can get there from the home page.
   • The My Account stuff is actually good, I do renew books online.
   • Clicks on More information for Faculty and grad students, is looking for something more oriented toward this audience. This looks kind of generic. The Borrowing information is aimed at faculty and grad students, the first doesn’t look like it is. I think it’s good to have this information about what’s happening, but it doesn’t have anything about web redesign.
   • One of the things I don’t like as a researcher is surprises. So, oh, new web site, damn, now I have to spend the next hour figuring out how to work this. Getting all my students figured out how to work it. It takes a lot of time every time there’s a change.
   • This I like (indicates the bottom bar). S/he clicks on Directions and is taken to the Visit/Undergraduate Admissions page with directions to campus. Undergraduate Admissions, that’s little bit weird, I was not expecting that on the library web site. I was expecting directions of how do you get to the Engineering Library. So, the bottom bar is good. It seems like that should be featured more heavily. Stick them on the left side where you normally expect to find them. At the bottom they seem like unimportant. Indicating the More information for box, this information is featured very prominently compared to stuff that you really want to know, like when you’re open.
   • How do I… what’s this? Oh look, you can get to interlibrary loan from here. Very good.
   • I think that most of our interaction with the libraries now is through these web sites. If it isn’t easy, it’s very onerous. It’s our lifeblood to be able to find information, especially journals. That’s the primary thing in Engineering. Getting to the actual journal pages is very important. I think with any web site once you get used to where things are you start to use it faster. But, if it’s been a few months I’m going to forget again, so I’m looking again.
   • I think all of the stuff that you have should be clickable. You should be able to go right to journal articles, why do an intermediate. It’s just extra clicking.
   • Searches for copy card. I want to figure out what the new copy card system is, and how I can charge it to my grant? Finds FAQs on new copy cards from 3/26/02. Every time you change your card system it throws us, we have all these cards and then they become worthless. It doesn’t look like I can figure that out from here. Goes to the Copy Shop page. Get a Photocopy Card. Terrapin Express is irrelevant to us, but probably good for undergraduates I suppose. Sees mention of Department Credit Card, no, I want to charge it to my grant. It’s not possible. The last time we filled out a request for services internal form, and it involved actually walking back and forth, there should be an online form.
2. • I was scanning to see if you could tell the libraries are a system, and you can there’s the 8 libraries and Special Collections.
   • Clicks on More information for faculty and grad students, I’m not really sure about borrowing, I would consider it General Information.
   • More information for… are donors more important than visitors? Any time you see a hierarchy you think that there’s some kind of meaning attached to the hierarchy. I see this and I think visitor is not as important as a donor, is not as important as an alum. As a faculty member I think I should be on top. Since it’s not in alphabetical order. Do we have more donors than visitors?
   • Clicks on Ask Us! I use instant messenger, because my students really like it. This looks a lot like instant messenger, except obviously you first have to wait for somebody who’s on there to pick up.
3. My first impressions is that there’s a lot of data on it (the home page). It feels like a lot. When I’m looking at it individually, I think it’s broken down nicely, but it takes just a few seconds to get used to it. I didn’t really pay attention to the tool bar, whatever you want to call it, on the bottom, because there was so much above it to go through first. It’s a tough job and whoever’s been working on it has done a nice job. I like it better than the current page. I like the center section, and if there was just a bit more room on the page, a bit more white space.

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