Summer 2001 IT Services Gateway Usability Survey

Executive Summary
Jennifer Ward
Christopher Holstrom

From 23 July 2001 to 13 August 2001 IT Services posted an online survey linked from the Gateway homepage. The goal of the survey was to determine how well the navigation and features on the Gateway were serving users. The survey received 53 total responses, including two double submissions and two blank responses – leaving a total of 49 unique responses. The respondents were 34% UW Faculty and Staff, 38% UW Graduate and Professional Students, 19% UW Undergraduates, and 6% were not affiliated with UW. Nearly 87% of the respondents used the Gateway daily or weekly.

Navigation

Most respondents found the Gateway easy to navigate, but there is reason to suspect that the ease of navigation is largely due to experience and familiarity with the Gateway. Finally, some respondents made suggestions for improved navigation on the Gateway.

The following is a summary of the responses regarding navigation:

• Nearly 80% of respondents reported that they successfully found what they were looking for on the Gateway.
• Over 66% of respondents reported that it was “very easy” or “easy” to find what they wanted.
• Approximately 80% of respondents felt that the Gateway provided the right links and that these links were under the right headings.
• Familiarity with the site might be a significant factor in a user’s ease of navigation: - “Once one becomes familiar with the site, it’s easy to navigate.” - “It was easy because I know how to do it. The first time I wanted to do it, however, I needed help from library staff.”
• Some suggestions for improved navigation:
  • “A BIG link to Cascade…on the Gateway.” (2)
  • “[Improve] that messy ‘By Subject’ section. What the heck is up with that?”
  • “Why not have a separate category for ‘Interlibrary loans’?”
  • “A help section detailing what journals are under what categories.”
  • “Better access to media center.”
  • “I think it would be cool if there were rollover messages that told the user what they would find if they clicked on any given link.”
  • “I think ‘View Your Library Record’ and ‘Renew a Book’ could fall under the same category because they both require you to enter your account.”
  • “I was looking for e-books once, and finally found a link for it under ‘news.’ I think that’s too buried.”

Features

The respondents tended to use the Gateway as a research tool for accessing the Library Catalog, Databases, and Journals. While many respondents considered the “View Your Record” feature as important, most information about the library itself was considered less significant. Respondents suggested some intriguing new features for the Gateway. Their responses also revealed that some existing features might be too well hidden.

The following is a summary of the responses regarding features:

• Over 90% of respondents considered the Library Catalog to be one of the three most important features on the Gateway.
• Following Library Catalog in order of importance was: View Your Library Record and Renew a Book (55% combined), Databases and Catalogs (45%), Electronic Journals (32%), and Top 20 Databases (21%).
• Suggested new features that the Gateway currently does not support are:
  • “A field to search e-journal article titles, keywords, etc. on the first page.”
  • “A link from the call number to a map of where the book is.” (3)
  • “Access to restricted materials with Net ID in addition to proxy server.”
  • “An option to pop up a thesaurus menu.” (For library terms.)
  • “Sort [search] results by…author, library status, etc.”
  • “Book due reminder which can send an email to remind the book due date that a patron checked out.” [sic]
  • “I would like to be able to put materials on hold at special collections and order photocopies through the library webpage.”
• Suggested new features that the Gateway currently does support are:
  • “Pay my fines through the Gateway.”
  • “Interlibrary Loan requests.” (2)
  • “Categorize all accessible databases do for instance I can look for engineering -> aerospace or engineering -> electrical.”
  • “Please put your telephone number on the Gateway somewhere!”