Making unmediated access to E-Resources a reality : Creating a usable ERM interface

Reference and User Services Quarterly

Volumn 48, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 287-301

  Fuller, Kate ^a   Livingston, Jill ^a   Brown, Stephanie Willen ^a   Cowan, Susanna ^a   Wood, Thomas ^a   Porter, Leslie ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 65349128730     PISSN: 10949054     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5860/rusq.48n3.287     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. Martha Kyrillidou and Mark Young, eds., ARL Statistics 2004-05: A Compilation of Statistics from the One Hundred and Twenty-Three Members of the Association of Research Libraries (Washington, D.C.: Association of Research Libraries, 2006), www.arl.org/stats/annual surveys/arlstats (accessed June 12, 2007);
2. Elaine Kroe et al., Data File, Public Use: Public Libraries Survey: Fiscal Year 2004 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2006), http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo .asp?pubid=2006347 (accessed June 12, 2007).
3. The UConn Libraries maintains SFX as an OpenURL resolver as well as Serials Solutions for both it's A-Z journal list and for adding MARC records of journals into the catalog; the ERM is not a comprehensive list of our electronic journal holdings.
4. Jeffrey Rubin, The Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests (New York: Wiley, 1994).
5. Jakob Nielsen, "Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability," www.useit.com/alertbox (accessed June 12, 2007).
6. Darlene Fichter, "The Age of Darwinian Design," Online 31, no. 2 (2007): 52-53.
7. Laura Cobus, Valeda Frances Dent, and Anita Ondrusek, "How Twenty-Eight Users Helped Redesign an Academic Library Web Site: A Usability Study," Reference & User Services Quarterly 44, no. 3 (2005): 232-46.
8. Brenda Battleson, Austin Booth, and Jane Weintrop, "Usability Testing of an Academic Library Web Site: A Case Study," Journal of Academic Librarianship 27, no. 3 (2001): 188-99.
9. Laura Manzari and Jeremiah Trinidad-Christensen, "User-Centered Design of a Web Site for Library and Information Science Students: Heuristic Evaluation and Usability Testing," Information Technology & Libraries 25, no. 3 (2006): 163-69.
10. Jennifer L. Ward, "Web Site Redesign: The University of Washington Libraries' Experience," Systems & Services 22, no. 3 (2006): 207-16;
11. Dawn Holland, "Practical Experiences of Using Formal Usability Testing as Tool to Support Website Redesign," SCONUL Focus 36 (Winter 2005): 31-35;
12. Robert L. Tolliver et al., "Website Redesign and Testing with a Usability Consultant: Lessons Learned," OCLC Systems & Services 21, no. 3 (2005): 156-66;
13. Carole A. George, "Usability Testing and Design of a Library Website: An Iterative Approach," OCLC Systems & Services 21, no. 3 (2005): 167-80;
14. Leanne M. VandeCreek, "Usability Analysis of Northern Illinois University Libraries' Website: A Case Study," OCLC Systems & Services 21, no. 3 (2005): 181-92;
15. Dominique Turnbow et al., "Usability Testing for Web Redesign: A Case Study," OCLC Systems & Services 21, no. 3 (2005): 226-34;
16. Heather Jeffcoat King and Catherine M. Jannik, "Redesigning for Usability: Information Architecture and Usability Testing for Georgia Tech Library's Website," OCLC Systems & Services 21, no. 3 (2005): 235-43;
17. and Jennifer L. Ward and Steve Hiller, "Usability Testing, Interface Design, and Portals," Journal of Library Administration 43, no. 1-2 (2005): 155-71.
18. See for example the articles at Jakob Nielsen's "Alert-box: Current Issues in Web Usability," a column published within his website, useit.com: "Usability 101: Introduction to Usability," www.useit.com/alertbox/ 20030825.html (accessed Julyll, 2007); "Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design," www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html (accessed July 11, 2007). Nielsen's "top ten" first appeared in a chapter of a book he coedited with Robert Mack: Jakob Nielsen, "Heuristic Evaluation" Usability Inspection Methods, ed. Jakob Nielsen and Robert L. Mack (New York: Wiley, 1994): 25-62. The list itself (not the chapter) is reproduced at Alertbox: Jakob Nielsen, "Ten Usability Heuristics." www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/ heuristic-list.html (accessed July 11, 2007).
19. John Kupersmith, "Library Terms That Users Understand," www.jkup.net/terms.html (accessed July 11, 2007).
20. Nielsen, "Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design."
21. Kupersmith, "Library Terms That Users Understand."
22. Not all actions are searches. We logged what the users did from this page: ran a keyword search, linked to a title letter, or chose a subject from the category pulldown menus.
23. We cannot say how many of these knowledgeable users are library staff and other "expert" users. We did not limit our collection of usage data to nonstaff IP's. It is hard to say at this point whether librarian use of the interface significantly affected these numbers.
24. Jakob Nielsen, "Quantitative Studies: How Many Users to Test?" wwwuseit.com/alertbox/quantitative- testing.html (accessed July 23, 2007).