Designing for experts: How scholars approach an Academic Library Web Site

This study examines the use of an academic library Web site by experienced researchers and active scholars. Subjects were asked to complete eight online tasks, beginning each task at the library's home page. Data were gathered by means of screen- and audio-capture software, and human observers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Information technology and libraries 2004-03, Vol.23 (1), p.16-22
Main Authors: MACK, Thura, MANOFF, Maribeth, MILLER, Tamara J, SMITH, Anthony D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic libraries
African American literature
American literature
Audio data
Company Web site/Web page
Computers
Educational Technology
Efficiency
Environment
Exact sciences and technology
Graduate Students
Information and communication sciences
Information Needs
Information Retrieval
Information science. Documentation
Information seeking behaviour
Information sources
Libraries
Library and information science. General aspects
Library Instruction
Online information storage and retrieval
Online Searching
Qualitative research
Researchers
Sampling
Sciences and techniques of general use
Searching
Services
Software
Statistical Analysis
Studies
Success
Teaching Methods
University and college libraries
Usability
Use and user studies. Information needs
User training
Users
Virtual libraries
Walker, Alice (1944- )
Web site design
Web sites
Web sites (World Wide Web)
Websites
Work stations
Workstations
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Description
Summary:This study examines the use of an academic library Web site by experienced researchers and active scholars. Subjects were asked to complete eight online tasks, beginning each task at the library's home page. Data were gathered by means of screen- and audio-capture software, and human observers as study participants worked through sets of tasks. Results were analyzed in terms of the experience and expertise of the participants, success rate, and the first click indicating the chosen path to the information requested. Subjects had high success rates for most tasks. Searching for information about journals and locating journal articles proved to be the most difficult tasks to successfully complete. Analysis of session recordings revealed some traits of expert users that can be used to improve Web site design, and indicated a correlation between success in searching and the double-expertise of subject knowledge combined with frequent use of the library's Web site.
ISSN:0730-9295
2163-5226