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Document 3: Website Focus Group Discussions

Document 3: Website Focus Group Discussions. A Summary of Our Findings. Purpose of the Study. 1. To gather student, faculty and staff input on what their needs and expectations are when seeking information in an online environment.

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Document 3: Website Focus Group Discussions

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  1. Document 3: Website Focus Group Discussions A Summary of Our Findings

  2. Purpose of the Study 1. To gather student, faculty and staff input on what their needs and expectations are when seeking information in an online environment. 2. To find out what types of design structures and aesthetics users prefer when seeking information in an online environment.

  3. Purpose cont. 3. To obtain user input on their needs and expectations when using the library’s website. 4. To find out what types of information (staff, hours, services etc), research tools, and instructional tools users would find useful when seeking information using the library’s website. The information gathered will be used to create a library website that is centered on the research needs and expectations of Blinn College students, faculty and staff.

  4. Methodology • Series of discussion led by moderator • A revised version of a pre-tested script was used • Four student discussions (2 in Brenham, 2 in Bryan) with 17 total participants • Two faculty/staff discussions (1 in Brenham, 1 in Bryan) with 10 total participants

  5. Part One: Searching the Internet • When students use the Internet to find information, the majority go to search engines first. • Yahoo and Google were mentioned most frequently • Ask Jeeves, Excite, MSN and Alta Vista were also mentioned several times

  6. Fast Straightforward No Boolean searching Efficiency (“Just type in a question and it answers you.”) Broad variety of information One stop shopping Doesn’t give impertinent information Take you directly to what you need There’s nothing you can’t find What students like about search engines:

  7. Types of information students are looking for on the internet • Recreational information: movie times, band sites, sports • Services: online banking, job searching, apartment searching • Newspapers and news resources • Images • Government information and government news

  8. Things students like: Attractive Colorful Contain a lot of information Contain graphics and images Things students don’t like: Sites without graphics Sites without color Too much text Opinions on the sites they use

  9. Part Two: Discussion of the Library’s Current Website A Compilation of Student, Faculty and Staff Opinions

  10. Student Quiz A short quiz was administered to the students to assess how easy it is to find information using the library’s website

  11. The Bad News: 38% of students are confusing the “Periodicals” link with the “Electronic Resources” link Only 48% of students were able to locate information on library services Only 27% of students were able to locate instructional information Student Quiz

  12. Student Quiz The good news: • 88% of students were able to identify the online catalog as the place to search for books

  13. Ease of Use: Student and Faculty Perceptions • Most students find the site “fairly easy”or moderately easy to use. • Most of the faculty find the site “easy” to use • Many students find the site “difficult” to use. • Many of the faculty find the site “somewhat confusing” • All faculty members agree that students have difficulty navigating the site

  14. Why Students and Faculty are using the site: • The majority of students use the site for research related to their classes • The majority of students do not use the site for personal reasons • 5 out of 7 faculty assign library research projects to their classes (71%) • 3 out of 10 faculty/staff use the site for personal research (30%)

  15. Issues with the design of the site: • The white background is sterile and unwelcoming • Layout of homepage and second tier pages are overcrowded, confusing and too busy • The site contains too much text. • Information on second tier pages is too buried

  16. Navigation Issues • Many students have difficulty navigating the site • Many students have difficulty navigating through the electronic resources

  17. Simplify Background color Images Graphical icons Mouse over menus Buttons No scrolling Consistent menus Remove bullets More white space Group links into 4 or 5 main categories Don’t use all caps for words Make page more inviting Suggestions for Improving the Design of the Site:

  18. Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site: Links to Blinn Campus Resources: • Blinn Log • Boris • WebCT

  19. Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site cont. Instructional Information: • Electronic Resources • Citing Sources • Selecting Search Terms/Constructing Searches

  20. Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site cont. • Prominent display of: • library hours • library news and announcements • email link for contacting the library • online renewals • news links • Meta search feature on the homepage

  21. Part Three: Opinions of the Website Demos Students were shown two alternative versions of the library’s website: http://Blackbeard/Library/LibraryDemo/Homepage/Index.htm http://Blackbeard/Library/homepagedemo/index.htm

  22. Names of links are clear, easy to read Not a lot of text Simple to understand Categories are easy to understand and see Categories are broken down Looks easier to operate “Meat” of the site in center of page Contains a lot of space Aesthetically pleasing Dummy proof Inviting Looks like a homepage Blue Demo: Positive Aspects

  23. Blue Demo: Suggestions for Improvement • Change the font color • Bolder links and higher contrast • Add the Blinn logo • More contrast in colors • Incorporation of mouse over menus

  24. Yellow Demo: Positive Aspects • Prominent display of library news and announcements • Contrasting colors • Separated into categories • The layout of the sections • The structure of the page • Appears to contain more information • Prominent display of the library’s hours • Colorful

  25. Yellow Demo: Suggestions for Improvement • Many students felt the page “had to much stuff on it” • Several students suggested changing the yellow color

  26. Version of the homepage preferred overall • The majority of participants said both demo sites are improvements over the present homepage • The majority of participants suggested merging the strengths of the demo sites an incorporating mouse over menus • Simplicity, categories and groupings of blue demo • Prominent news and announcements and library hours of Yellow site

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