\nFirst-click testing: 28 faculty, 40 students
\nUsability testing: 7 students
\nContextual interviews: 3 faculty members<\/p>\n
Dates:<\/strong> 03\/2016 – 10\/2016<\/p>\n Campus\/College:<\/strong> Amherst College<\/p>\n Contact: Kelly Dagan, Research, Instruction & User Experience Librarian, kdagan (at) amherst.edu<\/p>\n Team: <\/strong>Library Web Committee<\/p>\n Results<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSearch Everything\u201d (EDS) is the default choice for many searches, though users report feeling overwhelmed by the results. Our search term logs show that known item searches are the most common, making effective retrieval of specific titles a priority.<\/p>\n Students default to \u201cSearch Everything\u201d (EDS) out of a desire to get all relevant materials, but often struggle with overwhelming results. Faculty tend to operate in a more targeted fashion, seeking selected databases or tools and ignoring the rest, and reported significant frustration with EDS.<\/p>\n While reactions to the aesthetic design were positive, users expressed frustration with \u201cburied\u201d content and confusion related to specific navigational pathways. The prominence of the central search box may tend to decrease use of more specialized tools (journal finder, Reserves, etc.), especially among novice users.<\/p>\n In testing our Reference tab, students primarily associated \u201cReference\u201d with \u201ccitation,\u201d rather than encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. Faculty sometimes associated this with \u201cReference librarians,\u201d or a \u2018reference\u2019 to all library sources (A-Z databases), or specific subjects (research guides).<\/p>\n Links and menu items on our homepage were too small, and contrast was too low, for many users to notice these items.<\/p>\n The SFX menu is confusing, overwhelming, and irritating to students and faculty. Users did not pay attention to date ranges, disliked having \u201ctoo many choices,\u201d and did not understand why this screen was necessary.<\/p>\n From March 2015 — October 2016, our top pages in web traffic were:<\/p>\n Files used: Given the visual complexity of the current design, we need to be aware of the tendency for users to default to the main search box in most use cases. This has implications for how we customize EDS, as well as how we present other tools. As users tend to scan rather than read, we should make changes that support quick comprehension and action.<\/p>\n Action Taken<\/strong><\/p>\n On the homepage, we have worked to increase size and contrast of our links and menu items, and have seen an increase in traffic via both.<\/p>\n In the SFX menu, we attempted to improve the interface, moving the hyperlink to \u201cFull text available via\u201d instead of the vendor name, and changing the date threshold text color to red — there were few other options for customization available. A re-test showed no improvement in user performance.<\/p>\n Related links<\/strong><\/p>\n “New Search Box on Library Homepage<\/a>,” Harvard Library Portal Working Group, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>Optimal Workshop’s Chalkmark was used to capture users’ first clicks in specific tasks.<\/p>\n![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/uxprojects\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/2017\/10\/student-first-click-testing-300x196.png\")
<\/p>\nRecommendation<\/h3>\n