Special Collections @ DU Usability Testing Study

PROJECT, DURATION, ROLE

The Special Collections @ DU site is the online digital repository for the University of Denver Archives, including collections relevant to the history of the university, the city of Denver, and the state of Colorado.

This user research study was conducted for the culminating practicum for my Master of Library and Information science degree at the University of Denver from January to June 2017. I served as the User Experience Researcher.

PROBLEM, GOAL

At the time of the study, this site was underperforming in traffic and use. Students, faculty, and other stakeholders did not seem to know what the site was, how to access it, and what kinds of information and materials they could find there.

The goal of this study was to set a baseline level of knowledge for how users were interacting with the site and to provide recommendations for its improvement.

USER RESEARCH SUMMARY

This project included three phases:

User Personas – developed three user personas based on typical users of the DU Special Collections
Usability Testing – developed a testing script and conducted research with 5 current DU students
Comparative Analysis – compared the Special Collections @ DU site with other repositories at similar institutions

USER PERSONAS

Three common researchers who might be interested in the Special Collections @ DU site are DU students, faculty, and community members. A user persona for each of these categories was created to create a detailed image of who will be using the site.

Xavier is a student in an upper-level history class, and Army veteran, and a non-traditional student. He is researching about the campus climate during the Vietnam war and needs three primary source items. His challenges are being unfamiliar with the library website and how to use it to do research. Javier is personally interested in this research and the Special Collections @ DU site contains lots of materials that could be of use to him.

Dr. Forrester is a faculty member in the College of Medicine researching historical medicine. They are an experienced researcher and have been at DU for just under a year. Their current research project is on the impact of Jewish philanthropy on TB treatment at the turn of the century and they will need a wide variety of sources to support this research. Though Dr. Forrester is an expert researcher, they are not currently familiar with the Special Collections @ DU database and its contents. The contents of this database can add a specific, local history focus to their research.

Margaret Smith is a Denver young professional whose grandmother graduated from DU in the 1950s. She is new to historical and genealogical research. She wants to know more about her grandmother's time at DU and is especially interested in photographs. She is unsure where to start or how to narrow down results for her particular interest. Successful research with Special Collections @ DU could transform her into a potential financial supporter of DU.

USABILITY TESTING

One-on-one interviews with students were conducted on May 23, 2017 at the DU University Library. I set up a room near the entrance and offered students donuts for participating. I recruited four undergraduate students and one graduate student to help test the site. The full report and testing script can be viewed here.

Testing identified the following pain points:

CONTEXT: It was unclear to participants what kind of information they could find on the site.
SEARCH BAR: Participants were more likely to click on one of the images on the site rather than using the search bar to find information on the given topic.
LOCATING THE SITE: Users were unable to find the link to the repository from the main library site.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

I also conducted a comparative analysis of the Special Collections @ DU site by observing other institutional repositories based on the same Islandora software. To get ideas for the site layout I looked at Hagley Digital Archives and PALMM Digital Collections. I identified the Barnard Digital Collection as the most promising example to base our upgrades on, since it had a prominent search bar and tools that could be more easily taught to and accessed by users.

RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the personas, usability testing, and comparative analysis, I developed the following research recommendations:

RETHINK THE PURPOSE OF THE SITE: To create clarity about what the site is for, the side should be focused solely on digital objects from the Special Collections & Archives (not course artifacts or other digital humanities projects)
DEVELOP A NEW SITE LAYOUT: Because participants in the usability study had such a difficult time locating artifacts, make the search bar the main feature on the page to reduce confusion.
CREATE AN “EXHIBITS” FUNCTION: Based on comparative analysis, curated collections of objects would be especially useful for instruction and regular assignments.
MAKE THE PAGE EASIER TO FIND: Making the link more prominent will make it more available to students in the future.

My first two recommendations were used to update the site and are visible on the current version.

FURTHER RESEARCH

The following questions could be used to pursue further usability research for this site:

How can the site be iproved to accommodate faculty and community researchers identified in the remaining two personas?
How can instruction and learning design, in both the library and classrooms around campus, be improved to help students use this resource more effectively?
What virtual exhibits can be developed to illuminate specific materials in the collections?
How accessible is this site? What improvements can be made to ensure that all users have success searching this resource?

Jennifer Eltringham