What Can Usability Really Tell Us?

1. What Can Usability Really Tell Us? Kirstin Dougan Music User Services Coordinator University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MWMLA Annual Meeting Kansas City, MO October 24, 2008

2. What is usability? “Usability rules the Web. Simply stated, if the customer can’t find a product, then he or she will not buy it.” (Nielsen, Designing Web Usability) Usefulness, Effectiveness, Learnability, User Satisfaction (Ruben, Handbook of Usability Testing) Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3. What is usability testing? • User-centered • Real users from target audience • Task-oriented • Real tasks that demonstrate how site should be used • Quantitative and Qualitative • Can be used in conjunction with other methodologies such as surveys, focus groups, and field observation Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4. Usability testing CAN tell you… • Whether your site is working for your users • Whether your site poses barriers to your users either in organization or in terminology • Whether you’ve designed your site for library staff or for users • Whether you’ve omitted important information or included unnecessary verbiage Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

5. Usability testing CAN’T tell you… • How every user interacts with the site • How each user will perform a task every time • How to design a site that all users will find enjoyable and easy to use Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

6. What we started with Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

7. What we needed to do • Redesign for 21st century • Convert into a content management system (CMS) (w/ predetermined templates) • Incorporate third subject area (theatre) and balance site • Make site easier to use and more attractive Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

8. What we wanted to find out • Is new design easy to use? • Is new design easier than the old one? (not all web usability tests incorporate the comparison element) • Are users familiar w/ library terminology and tools? • Are there observable use patterns and do these vary among user groups represented in study? Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

9. The human element • Institutional Review Board process—required because of human subjects • Recruiting users • Fliers, notice on website, word of mouth • 15 volunteers who had used ML website at some point; no ML employees • Music, theatre, dance, undergrad, grad, faculty, other • Nielsen says need no more than 5, and he’s right • Incentives ($10 coffee shop cards) Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10. The mechanics • Hardware/Software • Camtasia Studio—records screen activity and clicks • USB Microphone—records audio (saved in Camtasia) • Instrument design • Developing tasks for old and new site • Moderator and recorder • Survey (subjective element) • Pretesting Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

11. What we learned about the process • Start earlier in the design process—don’t wait until prototype is complete • Have users help determine what tasks should be (first find out where they have problems) • You really don’t need a lot of users—in future, do more tests with fewer users • Remember—you’re testing the site, not the user! Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

12. Nielsen’s Five Users Five users find 80-85% of problems. Best to have 3 tests with 5 users each. “Real goal of usability engineering is to improve the design and not just document its weaknesses.” http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

13. More findings about the process • Some things about your website will always be out of your control, especially if you are part of a larger library system and/or are using a CMS • Don’t bother to consult users if you aren’t willing to act on their input (i.e., don’t be too in love with your design)—it’s called a feedback loop for a reason Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

14. What we learned about users • Users scan text more than actually read it—makes word placement important • Users generally do not know how to find journal articles—even with headings that say “Find Articles;” don’t recognize database names and acronyms (RILM, Music Index, IIMP, &%#&*!) • Users did not know how to use ORR (metatool for online library resources; http://www.library.uiuc.edu/orr/) • Some users will click and click before giving up, some will give up right away if they don’t find what they want Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

15. More findings about users • Users generally do not know what “class guides” or “subject guides” are • Users’ search terms are not necessarily what we use to describe resources • Users did not learn from experience—if they wanted to look for articles in catalog the first time, they would do it the 2nd time too • A good reference interview will always be needed—no matter how good your website is Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

16. What we ended with Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

17. Kirstin Dougan | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

18. Thank you! Kirstin Dougan dougan@illinois.edu Co-researcher : Camilla Fulton—Web Content and Digital Services & Development Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign