Usability testing [3]

In October we did some usability testing on our own version of Blacklight with 10 volunteers comprised of library staff and students.  None of the participants in these tests were the same people that did the previous testing in May.  We followed the same pattern as with our previous testing, asking users what they thought about the general display and layout of the system and individual records and asking them to perform a number of searches and then to refine those searches.

Results for performing the searches were similar to the first round of testing, which generally showed that users could easily do basic searches.  Users had most difficulty in the first use of limiting by facets, but for subsequent use of these they quickly learnt what to do.  As before, although a system may be unfamiliar, users soon learn how to use it.  This was helpful in confirming that our version of Blacklight was as easy to use as the others we had tested.

Equally important were the views of our testers on the general displays and features of the system.  These should help us to make improvements where appropriate and also confirm which elements are liked by users.  Among the general comments there were several instances where users mentioned that the displays were “clear” and “uncluttered” and it appeared that they liked this feature.  We also asked their opinions on the different facets for limiting searches and again there were useful comments.  In particular, all wanted the Publication date facet to be presented in a chronological order since this would be an easier way to refine such searches.

There were a few concerns around relevance ranking in particular and thus the order in which search results were presented.  It was also commented that this seemed to lead to a loss of precision and made it less easy to find both expected and specific items.

Overall, the testing has provided us with plenty of information which will be useful if the University decides to continue developing its own version of Blacklight for the library.

[Posted on behalf of Diane Leeson]

Tags: blathull