Enhancing Research Support: Subject Guides Usability Study

1. Project 3Cookie Cutters Kevin Huynh Sean Tsusaki Jordaniel Wolk

2. What are Subject Guides? • Method of help for researching and find resources • Separated by subjects • Further separated by courses in some cases • Created by librarians, and used by librarians and students

3. General Usability Problems • Largest concern = consistency • Some guides only have a small resemblance to one another. • Although there is a template in place, it is not actively enforced. • A few interface issues. Examples… • No communication on what the guides are on the main page • No “Help” function on the main page.

4. Other Problems • Some consistency issues include… • High probability of confusion in navigation when using multiple guides • Some course guides are integrated into subject guides, while others are separated. • Certain guides have separated their search functions for multiple databases. • No uniform naming convention. • A few customer concerns… • Is it apparent that the tabs are clickable? • Are the Web 2.0 functionalities being used? • Are the comments, voting, polling, etc. systems being used? • Is the tag system viable? • What do students think of subject guides? Are they using them? Do they even know about them?

5. Overview of Methods • Interviews • Semi-structured • Gather user domain knowledge and familiarity with the library website • For interviews accompanying usability studies, ask about general impressions, difficulties, suggested improvements • Separate note taker and interviewer. Audio recorded and later transcribed. • Usability Studies • Guided studies – user performs specific tasks as they navigate the guides • The user verbalizes their thoughts as they navigate, giving a more thorough understanding of their rationale. • Separate note taker and interviewer. Sessions recorded with screen recording software.

6. Users • Librarians • Interview → Usability Study • Focus: understand how they use others' subject guides in their work and make it easier to navigate • Focus: find out rationale for how and why they built their guides and see if there is a better, more uniform alternative • 3 sessions to be conducted. • Students • Usability Study → Interview • Focus: assess how easy it is to navigate and find information in the study guides, and find out how they are being used. • 9 studies to be conducted.

7. Tasks • Librarians • Interview to uncover general issues beforehand • Navigate someone else's study guide • Given a set of links to go to that are decided upon beforehand • Rationale: gauge ability to find information • Have them give a walkthrough of elements in some of their guides • Rationale: uncover their reasoning and methods for displaying information as is • Students • Gather background information • Determine which study should be conducted • Give a set of tasks depending on the study • Rationale: determine how simple it is for them to navigate • Follow-up interview to gather suggestions and get feedback

8. Scheduling and ManagementOverview

9. Scheduling and Management • We have broken down the tasks that we expect to be accomplished • Interdependencies of tasks are addressed (as well as concurrency) • Processes chosen based upon the time we are given to conduct research, analysis, and solution creation

10. Week by Week • 2 scheduled meetings a week • We have shared our schedules already to learn how our project schedule fits into the larger context of each team member’s personal schedule • Times outside of the general meetings have been proposed for interview and usability testing • Work broken down into tasks for an individual to do, and work requiring the presence of the whole team is completed during general meetings. • Scheduling for outside obligations

11. Resources for Management and Scheduling • Google Sites, Docs, and Calendar • Communication Protocol • Gantt Chart (for scheduling and tracking progress) • Website centralizes announcements, artifacts produced, project management and schedule overview

12. Questions and Answers