Auraria Library Website Redesign Project 2015 A First look at Preliminary Students Study Result

1. WHAT DID STUDENTS TELL US?
Auraria Library Website Redesign Project
A First Look @ Preliminary Students Study Results
2014 – 201?

2. Demographics (recruitment survey)

3. Demographics (in-person study)

4. How did students find out about the
recruitment survey?
137
130
14
11 5
5
From Library Website + At the Library Physically
= 88%
From the Auraria
Library Website
At the Auraria Library
CCD Email
Through word of mouth
Outside the Auraria
Library (On Campus)
Social Networking

5. How did we do it?
9 one hour in-person studies 9 x $35
+
1 raffle draw for completing online survey 1 x $35+
Supply, Equipment, Refreshment $100
$440
302
=
(Recruitment Survey + Study) Per Student Cost $1.50
$ Cost

6. WHAT DID STUDENTS
TELL US?
Survey

7. What do students come to the Library Website for?
36%
50%
53%
65%
68%
81%
82%
86%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Find music and/or videos
Find course reserves
Ask for help or advice
Use research guides
Find e-books
Find journals
Find books
Find online articles
Indicated Usage

8. Background: What Did GATell Us (08/14 -
10/14)?
Summon (Start my
research)
33%
Database list
26%
Skyline
12%
Journal list
4%
My account
4%
Research
Guides
4%
Search Course
Reserve
3%
Prospector
2%
Cite it!
2%
WorldCat
1%
Other
9%
Library Homepage Event Click Usage
Web Services Homepage Click Though Events Direct Landing (Sessions)
Summon 65000 2800
In-House Database list 50000 5000
Skyline Catalog 22300 15700
SS Journal List 8200 10900

9. Where do they usually start their online
research?
8%
9%
10%
18%
26%
17%
20%
23%
23%
34%
42%
15%
21%
31%
25%
29%
39%
37%
36%
43%
32%
32%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Ask Us
Search Course Reserves
Research Guides
Start My Research
Google Scholar
Journal List
Find Books&Media
Catalog (Skyline)
Find Articles
Database List
Google
THIS IS WHERE I USUALLY START Likely

10. How easy is it to use the following to find
resources for assignments?
Very easy or easy to use
37%
38%
44%
44%
52%
56%
58%
59%
59%
63%
75%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Search Course Reserves
Ask Us
Research Guides
"Start My Research"
Journal List
Find Books & Media
Google Scholar
Database List
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Google
Percentage

11. DON’T USE vs WASN’T AWARE OF
5%
15%
16%
14%
16%
19%
22%
29%
34%
44%
30%
1%
8%
8%
9%
10%
10%
14%
16%
17%
24%
25%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Google
Database List
Find Books&Media
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Journal List
Google Scholar
Research Guides
Search CourseReserves
Ask Us
Start My Research
WASN'T AWARE OF THIS SERVICE I DON'T USE THIS

12. Future Website MarComm Opportunities
Students implied they would be interested in learning more about the
following topics from the library website
Additional Suggestions:
• A event that gives us free rental books.
• Community events similar to library events - lectures, book readings, etc - on campus or
near campus.
• Learn more about archived microfiche and machines would be awesome.
• I think it'd be cool if the library had a lecture series (at the discovery wall). Then listings of
those would be awesome.

13. Mobile Support Needs
Students indicated that they would like to use their mobile devices to do the
following activities online:

14. Student Comments - Impression
1. Students appreciated the current library’s offerings, and recognized the importance of library
resources and services
When asked: “What do they LIKE THE MOST about the library
website?”:
• 40% - the library website is easy to use, well-organized, and
options rich.
• 20% - expressed their appreciation of the size and diversity of
the library research resources. 3% of them specifically
expressed their appreciation of the reliability of those scholarly
resources.
• 13% - said they enjoy the anywhere access to online books,
online articles and other services, so that they don’t’ have to be
at the library physically.
• 5% enjoyed the current aesthetics of the library website
Note: Only the items/features that received => 5% (Statistical
significance) votes/comments were highlighted.

15. Impression (Cont.)
2. There are always room for improvements:
When asked: “What do they LIKE THE LEAST about the library website?”:
• 33% - had experienced difficulties or issues with using the library website to find the information, services or
research resources.
• 21% - implied that Library could do better to help them via providing workshops and more online tutorials, etc.
• 13% suggested that the Library Website’s look and feel could use improvement.
• 7% indicated that more campus wide outreach maybe needed to increase the awareness of the access to the
library’s offerings.
• 6% - expressed that there are too many clicks/changes of systems to get to what they need (book, article, journal or
database, etc)
• 6% indicated their dislike of current setup for off-campus authentication: too many or too frequent logins required.
• 5% pointed out the issues with inaccessibility to certain online items after locating them (file not found, or no full-text
when indicated otherwise, etc)
Note: Only the items/features that received => 5% (Statistical significance) votes/comments were highlighted.

16. Impression (Cont.)
LIKE
Resources Discovery:
• 13% - Databases/Database List
• 9% - Homepage Start My Research Search
• 5% - E-journal/Journals
• 5% - Skyline + Prospector Catalogs
Help/Self Help (less than 5%):
• Ask Us (Specifically the Chat)
• Library homepage hour display
• Quick Links group at homepage
• Cite it
• …
DISLIKE
Resources Discovery:
• 10% - Homepage Start My Research Search
• 7% - Databases/Database List
• 6% - E-journal/Journals
• 5% - Skyline + Prospector Catalogs
Other (5% or less):
• Mobile incompatibility
• Slow website(s)
• Lacking of features (hold, computer map, etc)
• Lacking of workshop, training and tutorials
• …
3. Different online services that are powered by different systems and vendors are often lumped
together and referred to as the “library website” by students.
For example, when asked the “LIKE THE MOST” vs “LIKE THE LEAST” questions about the library website,
students commented about the following specific features/services:

17. Impression (Cont.)
4. Possibly the MOST used web service of the Auraria Library is the Summon® Service. The Summon
”Start My Research” search has apparent design and usability issues that need further study.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Google
Database List
Find Books&Media
Find Articles
Catalog (Skyline)
Journal List
Google Scholar
Research Guides
Search CourseReserves
Ask Us
Start My Research
WASN'T AWARE OF THIS SERVICE I DON'T USE THIS
• 75 students indicated that they were not
aware of the “Start My Research” search
box
• 91 students indicated that they do not use
“Start My Search” search box
• 31 students commented that they had
various difficulty/frustration with using the
search
• According to GA and comparing to
Skyline’s 33.74% page exit rate, Summon’s
page exit rate is at 19.66%
One student in the interview said that she didn’t know this was the labeling for the search
box, because it was placed outside that grey color search block. Instead, she thought that
was the welcoming message for the library homepage.

18. WHAT DID STUDENTS
TELL US?
In-person Study

19. A: Cornell University Library
Useful features:
• Single search box location
• Additional research options right
beneath the search box: Catalog,
Full-text Articles, Databases, etc.
• The use of categorized quick links
layout
• Using the word “borrowing, renew
and return” under Services.
• Layout is clean, and color
variations among different regions
provide a nice contrast to the
eyes.

20. B: NCSU Libraries
Useful features:
• Search box location
• Search “All” box with other filtered
search options as tabs: Articles, Books
& Media, etc.
• Additional More Research Tools
provided right below the Search box:
databases, Journals, Citation Builder,
etc.
• Available Now indicators for Study
Room, Laptops and Tablets Checkout.
• Chat Now access is available at the
homepage.
• Making major relevant event
announcement like “Library Open
Overnight” very visible.
Note:
8 out of 9 students we interviewed did not
know about our library’s laptops/tablets
checkout service.

21. C: University of Toronto Libraries
Useful features:
• Search box location (of course)
• Two types of search filters provided,
and the placement of additional
research tools.
• Quick accesses to frequently used
services and information placed at a
prominent location of the page
• Combination use of icon and text for
each quick link service help to draw
visual attention without
compromising usability.
• Workshop events listing was
conveniently displayed at homepage
with date and time displayed clearly.

22. Q: “Which of these 3 examples would be
the most useful to you as a starting point
for finding the articles you need?”
A: Cornell 44%
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 22%
Q: “Which of these 3 examples would be
the most useful to you as a starting point
for finding the books you need?”
A: Cornell 22%
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 22%
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked B (NCSU). The clearly spell-out labeling with search
option for them seems to be the answers.

23. Q: Which is best at letting you get help?
A: Cornell 22 %
B: NCSU 56%
C: UT 56%
Q: Which informs you about what’s
happening in a library the best?
A: Cornell 11%
B: NCSU 44%
C: UT 56%
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked UT &
NCSU, because both libraries offer the
“Chat Now” features at the homepage.
NCSU UT
Q: Why?
Over half of the 9 students picked UT,
because the workshops listing at
homepage, with easy to scan date and
time information displayed.

24. Current Site
Review
Useful features:
• Search box and its
location
• Today’s hour widget
• Quick links group
• My account
• Ask Us/Tell Us
• Library Maps
Note:
Generally speaking,
students feel that the
Auraria Library website’s
homepage is adequate in
providing them the access
to resources and services.

25. Participatory Design Quick Glance
Students were asked
to use the drawing
materials provided to
conceptually design a
library homepage just
for themselves to use.
Some pre-made design components were provided to the students as options

26. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Resource Discovery:
• One student did not include search box due to past negative experience with the search box on the library homepage
• 8 out of 9 students preferred the main search box(s) for research to be located at the prominent spot of their website
homepage (top center left or top center right of the main content pool).
• 6 out of those 8 students used the search box(s) with filtered search options available at the homepage:
• 2 students used the single search box design that includes additional filtered materials research options
available beneath the search box:

27. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Ask Us / Help:
• Although 44% of the students said that they do not use “Ask Us” service. 100% students included “Ask Us” feature in
their homepage design, and indicated that it is an important feature to have. 6 students included the access to the
instant help “chat” feature into their design.
Events & Workshops:
• While majority of the students were lukewarm about library news, 8 of 9 included library
happenings/events/workshops into their homepage design
Hours:
• Most student participants indicated that they like the feature showing today’s hour and/or the upcoming hours. The
only student did not include hours feature in the homepage design was the PHD student.

28. Participatory Design Quick Glance (Cont.)
Labeling:
One of the great advantage of doing the participatory design is to gain insight on what labeling students prefer for the
tools and services they used:

29. TAKE-A-WAY

30. Take-A-Way Recommendation
Short-Term Recommendation:
• Instead of going through an extreme radical interface redesign, a better short-term redesign
approach would be to bridge the redesign with the current interface by carrying over some level of
familiarity during the first release, and then, gradually implement additional changes and
improvements through progressive enhancement method on a per semester or per year bases.
• Short-term improvements objectives of the 2014 -201? website redesign project should focus on the
following identified areas:
• Improve overall system infrastructure to help increase the possibility of supporting more innovative feature implementation in the future.
• Deploy responsive and mobile-first design principle to improve the cross-platform user experiences.
• Prioritize IT resources to focus on improving several highly utilized in-house developed library website features to help maximize short-
term redesign impact to the user experience, for example: Database List.
• Removing low or no-usage website content, and collaborating with the library-at-large to brainstorm, develop, and curate new contents
per students’ suggestions. For example: Library events, tutorials, what’s news, and more.
• Collaborate with the library-at-large to Improve overall web content and metadata quality that will enable the possibility for more context-
driven resources and services discovery

31. Take-A-Way Recommendation
Long-Term Recommendation:
• Because the majority of the students lumped all web services of the Library together and referred to
them as the “library website”, we should treat the “library website” as an eco-system but not an
isolated component. We should also be mindful that any major changes made to a single web
service component within this eco-system will bring positive or negative impact to overall library
website user experiences.
• The students have echoed strongly about what are the core values of an academic library that they
appreciate: rich-offerings, research tools, resources reliability, subject expertise, and research help.
Therefore, in order to improve the ROI of our library, taking the approach of Full Library Discovery,
which have been adapted by several leading academic libraries, may be our Holy Grail?.
“We are beginning to see discovery environments which provide a layer over not only the
collections, but also potentially over the library website, library staff and expertise, resource guides,
and so on. In other words, we are seeing approaches to full library discovery emerge.”
-- Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research and Chief Strategist