Just Because It's Called Access Services Doesn't Mean They Can Access It! What Usability Testing of Library Systems Reveals About Access Services Websites.

Abstract

Usability testing ensures that the average person can utilize a system efficiently and effectively. At Cornell University Library (CUL) the majority of tests conducted by the CUL Usability Group focus on assessing student interaction with research-related systems (finding books in the catalog, locating articles, etc.), while few address the findability of access services information. To measure the usability of access services web content, I drew on two sources of data: chat reference transcripts and existing usability tests of CUL websites. , , My analysis of chat reference transcripts revealed that over 50% contained questions about access services topics. Utilizing results from 27 usability tests at CUL, I identified 10 tasks that measured student performance accessing access services web content. The combined results of these analyses suggest that access services online content is an important, if often overlooked, part of the virtual library that would benefit from iterative usability testing. This presentation will outline the results of my research and illustrate how users are locating and interpreting access services information.