1. Who are you?

• 20 UW Faculty (8%)
• 49 UW Staff (21%)
• 87 UW Graduate/Professional Student (37%)
• 47 UW Undergraduate (20%)
• 13 UW Alumni/UWAA (5%)
• 13 UW Libraries Staff (5%)
• 8 Not affiliated with UW (3%)

2. How often do you use the UW Libraries Information Gateway?

• Daily - 47%
• Weekly - 35%
• Monthly - 10%
• First Time User - 4%
• Less than Monthly - 3%
  

3. What did you use the Information Gateway for today? (write in response)

Most responses related to using the catalog and/or databases. Some examples:

• "search the Libraries' catalog"
• to access the library catalog
• to look up a book on the catalog
• To access OCLC, to search UW library catalog, to access PubMed.
• Find items in the catalog
• Search books, log into my account, finding e-journals
• Look up book titles & holdings.

4. Did you successfully find what you were looking for?

Yes - 88%
No - 12%

5. How easy was it to find what you wanted?

• Easy - 36%
• Very Easy - 29%
• Somewhat Easy - 22%
• Somewhat Difficult - 4%
• No response - 4%
• Difficult - 4%
• Very Difficult - 1%

6. If it was difficult to find what you wanted, how can we improve your experience? (write in response)

Many responses were related to Navigation:

• Sometimes needed information buried inside larger headings; took some browsing
• I think wordage could be more direct for users who are not library employees.
• Hard to find the summit button
• less clutter on main gateway page
• all the databases are confusing, need training and substantial knowledge to be able to search and use them
• The e-journals are hard to access because they are just in one long list.
• a way to find out what type information is on the different databases - there are so many and if you do not know which one to use it can be hard

7. Check the 3 Information Gateway resources that are most useful to you.

Top 10 Chosen Resources

1. Library Catalog (82%)
2. Databases and Catalogs (51%)
3. Electronic Journals (49%)
4. Your Library Account (39%)
5. Top 25 Research Databases (30%)
6. Reference Tools (21%)
7. Electronic Course Reserves (15%)
8. Library Hours (15%)
9. Resources by Subject (10%)
10. Services for Faculty/Students/Visitors (6%)

8. If you could add one new feature to the Information Gateway, what would it be?

• Searching across multiple databases - 46%
• An online 'wizard' to help idenfity useful research databases- 21%
• Other - 10%
  • "Ability to search for title AND author simultaneously"
  • "Click on a call number and get an approximate X marks the spot for the shelves!"
  • "Direct link to OCLC"
  • "easier to find specific hours or contact info for other Library units"

• Librarian-selected resource lists linked from your class pages - 7%
• Enhancements to the MyGateway customizable portal - 3%
• Information about Libraries resources or news (published in MyUW) - 2%
• No Response - 11%

9. In general, how satisfied are you with the Information Gateway?

• Satisfied - 49%
• Very Satisfied - 32%
• Neutral - 14%
• No Response - 3%
• Unsatisfied - 2%

10. What can we do to improve the Information Gateway? (write in response)

Improvements to logging in:

• Allow access to library records through input of UW id.
• Why so many options before logging into one's account? I don't see the point. Simple is good
• Make it easier to log in. Provide way to authenticate using a UW NetID, or at least a quick way to enter the first part of the number that (most people?) have in common. Finding and typing that number is the only negative part of the experience. I always find it frustrating.

Improvements to navigation:

• Strip away pointless resources that aren't updated or understood like Find It's "Browse Subjects".
• Make it easier to find library departments.
• Certain links takes a few too many steps to reach. Such as Library hours, and places are on separate places, Your Library Account leads to more options unnecessarily etc...
• More explanations of what links to use to find what you are looking for.
• Sometimes the thing I'm looking for isn't under the main topic that I'd think I'd find it in. For example, I'm always looking for the "Reference Tools" link under "Help".
• The left nav bar is really full -- you could pare that down and bury some of those items in submenus.
• Change the design to emphasize the most commonly used tools/links and de-emphasize those that are less frequently accessed.
• Remove a lot of the options on the main page. It's too cluttered now
• Improvements to use of databases and catalogs
• Improve keyword search; enhance the record display
• I hate searching multiple databases. Make it stop.
• The pages for Databases & Catalogs is unwieldly--too many obscure websites and other data sources.
• Consolidate databases so you can search them all at the same time, because you often do not know which one to use in the preliminary stages of research.

11. Please make any other general comments about the Information Gateway. (write in response)

• Compares well with similar pages from comparable institutions
• Takes too many clicks to reach the search textbox; doesn't distinguish between title proper and uniform title; plain interface
• Would be interested in a few short profiles on the site that show how other people commonly use the gateway"
• Maybe some general instructions in very basic language for people like me who aren't really up on how to navigate the library system.
• Use less library jargon. e.g., instead of databases, explain what they're for.