The Sojourner Truth Library (STL) is located on the SUNY New Paltz campus. It is committed to providing support to both faculty and students. Per the STL mission statement, the library seeks to provide and encourage learning by providing access to information resources. This learning does not stop at the library’s doors, but is continued through its website.
A user test was undertaken to learn more about the usability of STL’s website. The focus of this user test was the homepage of the library’s website. Seven users were recruited for testing; they represented a mix of undergraduate and graduate students. Participants were asked to participate in a “think aloud” test to understand issues and advantages of the STL website. Users were also asked to complete pre- and post-test questionnaires to better gauge their familiarity with academic library websites and their opinions of the site. Users were tested both remotely and in-person to simulate actual user experiences.
The user test revealed three key issues:
1. Users were unsure of where to look for resources and unfamiliar with some of the terminology used by the search interface in the homepage’s header.
2. Users were overwhelmed and unable to absorb all of the information in the three columns on the homepage.
3. The website has low learnability for new users.
The following recommendations were made:
1.1 Add the text ‘Search’ above the search tabs.
1.2 Change some of the search tab titles in order to better indicate their functionality.
1.3 Include explanatory text for Discovery Search to make it consistent with the other search tabs.
2. Add a hierarchy to the links in the three columns and formatting in dropdown menu styles.
3.1 Increase recognition for the passive search tabs as live links.
3.2 Increase recognition and visibility of the search box.
3.3 Increase visibility of links below the main header.
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