1
Focus on the UserUser Centered Design for Finding Articles
David LindahlDirector of Digital Library InitiativesUniversity of Rochester Libraries
4
User Centered Design at Rochester
Usability group Design group
Content groups• Library science• Content• Content providers• User interfaces• Users
• User interface design• Visual design• Web standards• Technology
• Usability testing methods
Skills
5
User Centered Design at Rochester
Usability group Design group
Content groups• Define key tasks• Raise issues• Manage project
• Create design iterations and prototypes• Respond to issues and test results• Manage issue-response process
• Select appropriate tests to perform• Perform tests• Report results• Manage key-task process
Responsibilities
6
User Centered Design at Rochester
key tasks
test results
issue-response
designs
issues
What the user wants to doin the users language.
Product that attempts to supportusers performing key tasks.
Test results from Usability groupand issues from Content group.
Captures test-results and issues, and associates them with appropriatedesign group responses.
Work Products
9
User Research at Rochester
IMLS Grant:
Study of faculty work practices to identify faculty needs
Institutional Repository(DSpace)
10
User Research at Rochester
DSpace Feature Perceived Fit
Institutional Repository
Support for a Variety ofDigital Formats andContent Types
Digital Preservation
Access Control
Metadata
Open Source Software
0%
25%
25%
100%
0%
0%
11
User Research at Rochester
DSpace Feature Actual Fit
Institutional Repository
Support for a Variety ofDigital Formats andContent Types
Digital Preservation
Access Control
Metadata
Open Source Software
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
12
User Research at Rochester
Faculty Needs:
• Work with co-authors
• Work from different computers and locations, both Mac and PC
• Make their own work available to others
• Make digital items permanently accessible
• Have easy access to other people’s work
• Keep up in their fields
• Organize their materials according to their own scheme
• Control ownership, security, and access
• Preserve digital items
• Ensure that documents are persistently viewable or usable
• Have someone else take responsibility for the server
• Be sure not to violate copyright issues
• Keep everything related to computers easy and flawless
• Reduce chaos or at least not add to it
• Not be any busier
13
Faculty Needs:
• Work with co-authors
• Work from different computers and locations, both Mac and PC
• Make their own work available to others
• Make digital items permanently accessible
• Have easy access to other people’s work
• Keep up in their fields
• Organize their materials according to their own scheme
• Control ownership, security, and access
• Preserve digital items
• Ensure that documents are persistently viewable or usable
• Have someone else take responsibility for the server
• Be sure not to violate copyright issues
• Keep everything related to computers easy and flawless
• Reduce chaos or at least not add to it
• Not be any busier
14
User Research at Rochester
UR Research• Customized UI• DSpace Software
Enhancement:• Researcher Page• Researcher Tools
15
User Research at Rochester
Open Source• Added as a DSpace patch • Downloaded by Hokkaido University
16
User Research at Rochester
Study of Undergraduates
Techniques• Retrospective Interviews• Reality-TV recording• Cultural Probes
Outcomes• Facilities• Reference• Web Services
18
User Task: Finding Articles
• Hide the technology• Users and tasks• Library website pathways• Metasearch (vs. databases)
19
User Task: Finding Articles
Serials Failure– Difficulty selecting databases and subjects
– Wanted a no-knowledge-needed pathway
Customized Encompass for Resource Access– Simplified screens
– Eliminated choices
– “Full text in two clicks”
20
User Task: Finding Articles
• Enter keywords and select databases
• Select databases or “SHOW ALL”
• Select a result
• View metadata
• Select a full text source
• View full text online
Encompass UI
23
Focus on the UserUser Centered Design for Finding Articles
David LindahlDirector of Digital Library InitiativesUniversity of Rochester Libraries