Toward a User-Centered Academic Library Home Page
Fuente:
ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2008
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867181352916353025 |
|---|---|
| author | McHale, Nina |
| author_facet | McHale, Nina McHale, Nina |
| collection | Education Resources Information Center |
| contents | Toward a User-Centered Academic Library Home Page McHale, Nina Undergraduate Students Cues Advisory Committees Information Management Academic Libraries Internet Web Sites Librarians Testing Evaluation Case Studies Search Engines Databases Higher Education Graduate Students Surveys Catalogs Users (Information) In the past decade, academic libraries have struggled with the design of an effective library home page. Since librarians' mental models of information architecture differ from those of their patrons, usability assessments are necessary in designing a user-centered home page. This study details a usability sequence of card sort and paper and online survey methods conducted at the Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. The three top complaints about the existing Web page included information overload, lack of visual cues and guidance, and difficulty getting to what students knew was the heart of the library's Web page: online resources. Using qualitative and quantitative data from the card sorting sessions, the Web librarian, under the direction of the Web Advisory Committee, was able to create a more user-centered home page. Unique to this study are the use of undergraduate students in creating test instruments and a means of gathering information about what students value most in their library's home page. (Contains 3 figures, 5 tables and 28 notes.) |
| format | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| id | eric_EJ891737 |
| institution | ERIC Institute of Education Sciences |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| record_format | eric |
| spellingShingle | Toward a User-Centered Academic Library Home Page McHale, Nina Undergraduate Students Cues Advisory Committees Information Management Academic Libraries Internet Web Sites Librarians Testing Evaluation Case Studies Search Engines Databases Higher Education Graduate Students Surveys Catalogs Users (Information) Toward a User-Centered Academic Library Home Page McHale, Nina Undergraduate Students Cues Advisory Committees Information Management Academic Libraries Internet Web Sites Librarians Testing Evaluation Case Studies Search Engines Databases Higher Education Graduate Students Surveys Catalogs Users (Information) In the past decade, academic libraries have struggled with the design of an effective library home page. Since librarians' mental models of information architecture differ from those of their patrons, usability assessments are necessary in designing a user-centered home page. This study details a usability sequence of card sort and paper and online survey methods conducted at the Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. The three top complaints about the existing Web page included information overload, lack of visual cues and guidance, and difficulty getting to what students knew was the heart of the library's Web page: online resources. Using qualitative and quantitative data from the card sorting sessions, the Web librarian, under the direction of the Web Advisory Committee, was able to create a more user-centered home page. Unique to this study are the use of undergraduate students in creating test instruments and a means of gathering information about what students value most in their library's home page. (Contains 3 figures, 5 tables and 28 notes.) |
| title | Toward a User-Centered Academic Library Home Page |
| topic | Undergraduate Students Cues Advisory Committees Information Management Academic Libraries Internet Web Sites Librarians Testing Evaluation Case Studies Search Engines Databases Higher Education Graduate Students Surveys Catalogs Users (Information) |
| url | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ891737 |