ALAO Conference
Last Friday was the ALAO (Academic Library Association of Ohio) Conference in Akron. Though I was a little bummed with how few technology sessions were being offered, this still provided my first chance to mingle with other Academic Librarians, and I was excited to do so.
There was one session that I particularly wanted to attend, Lorain Community College's presentation "Lean, Mean Library Website Machine."
Abstract: This presentation will describe our experiences with a usability study of the LCCC Library web site, including initial testing, redesign and re-testing. Because a library’s website is the primary tool for accessing the rich resources and diverse services it offers to the user community, a usability study can assess and improve the effectiveness and utility of the current website.
The study was modest and fairly crude in terms of professional usability studies, but the planning, execution and results were impressive for what they had to work with. They admitted that it was the "simple & cheap" version.
In total they observed 15 students, 5 at a time with changes being made in between groups. Students were asked to perform various tasks and to be vocal about their experience. They were watched via a SmartBoard so the observers could see what was happening without hovering over the students (nice low-tech trick).
I'll spare you a lot of the details because you can find their powerpoint and handout here. What I would like to do is just highlight some of the "oh yeah" moments from the session. Usability is not rocket science, but more just a matter of listening... something it seems you can't do enough of when it comes to usability.
Points Made:
- The resources are great, but need to be understandable, findable, and usable without being shown
- You need to understand how students view (scan) webpages (typically in a "starburst" pattern outward, not left to right) and lay them out appropriately
- Most students don't know library jargon and this should be reduced as much as possible
- Most students don't automatically know what OhioLINK is
- Students are used to Google and expect a "search everything in one search box" type of layout (if technically possible)
- A "How Do I..." Section was very beneficial
- One idea I really appreciated was the use of "marketing banners" to help educate users as to the library's services.
It's very important to note that having a library website is less about putting out whatever you can and more about understanding what is needed and providing it in a meaningful way. The best way to accomplish this is through usability studies. And usability studies are not one-time accomplishments but should be integrated into the process of developing and maintaining a library website.
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