Author: Colin Webb

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Individual Assignment 3 – Colin Webb

Jefferson County, located in Florida’s panhandle, is known as Florida’s Keystone County. It borders Georgia on the North and extends to the Gulf of Mexico on the South. It’s library system, the Wilderness Coast Library System, serves three different counties in North Florida and is comprised of four libraries. The libraries are: the Franklin County – Carrabelle Branch, the Franklin County – Eastpoint Branch, the Wakulla County Public Library, and the Jefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library.

My user is a female high school senior interested in fashion design and is familiar with using websites. She is someone who does not give up easily and is persistent in finding the information she desires. A student at Pembroke Pines Charter High School, she frequently visits a large branch of the Broward County library system that is adjacent to her high school. The Broward County Library system is the largest and most expansive library system in Florida.

I chose to observe the probing test method. I decided on this method of testing because I believe it would be best for the user to explore the website by herself.  I believe by observing without any interaction or disturbance is the best way to gather information accurately from her experience.

The changes to my group’s original tasks are:

  • Task 1 – A change in researching the Ides of March to any subject in Ancient Rome. I wanted to give the user the freedom to search for something she would be interested in.
  • Task 2 – No change was made. The user will find the library’s operating hours.
  • Task 3 – In addition to my group’s request that she find the library’s computer and printing availability, I asked her to see if the book she found could be sent to a library in a different location for pick up.

My test involves the user finding a book on any subject of their choice related to Ancient Rome. Once my user chooses a book, she needs to determine which of the four locations in the Wilderness Coast Library System the book is located. She will also need to gather the library hours to see if it will coordinate with a high school student’s schedule. If she was a patron of the Wilderness Coast Library System, the library where the book is located may not be convenient. The largest distance between 2 libraries in this system, the R.J. Bailar Public Library to the Franklin County Public Library: Eastpoint Branch, is approximately 180 miles away, approximately a 3.5 hour drive. The final task will be to search for services the library may provide, including being able to have the book sent to another Wilderness Coast Library.

For Task 1, my user chose to look for information about clothing worn in Ancient Rome. When she started on the Wilderness Coast Public Library’s homepage, there were three main areas to choose from: Member Libraries, WILD User Survey, and About Us. She noticed the home page did not have a clear library catalog search bar. Looking at the tabs available on the top of the home page, she chose the Resources tab. The Resource page had certain links and the first was the “WILD Catalog”. This led her to a page with a search bar. She began her search for “Ancient Roman Clothing”, but all the book results were unrelated to Ancient Rome and/or clothing. In an effort to try again, she changed her search to “Ancient Rome” which resulted in 30 pages of book titles. However, less than 2 of the result pages contained books having “Ancient Rome” in their titles and none of them appeared to reference clothing. In addition, the results of the catalog search had no information of what is contained in each book. Clicking on a book title led her to the standard information such as the author, the publication date, ISBN, etc. and a tab labeled “Title Notes”. This tab contains additional information about the book’s subject. She found the contents of the “Title Notes” tab inconsistent since some of the books had this section missing or empty. My user had to explore each book’s “Title Notes” until she found a book called “Ancient Rome” by Richard Dargie. The title notes stated it “compares the lifestyles of the rich and poor in Ancient Rome, including, dwellings, clothing, and food”. She was also able to determine the book’s location, WCPL Junior, in the “Holding” tab on this page. However, this abbreviation was confusing to her as she did not understand what it meant. Her only choice was to return to the homepage and see what WCPL Junior referred to. At the homepage she clicked on Member Libraries and noticed one of the libraries is named the Wakulla County Public Library and realized it matched the abbreviation.

Once my test user found the book she wanted, the next task to complete was checking for the Wakulla County Public Library’s operating hours and if they coordinated with a normal high-school student’s schedule. She checked the hours and learned they were open after school and was glad to know the library is also open on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

With the hours found, her last task was to search the availability of computers and printers, and to find out whether the book could be sent to a different library in the Wilderness Coast Library System. She started back at the Wilderness County Public Library home page, followed by the WPCL library homepage and clicked on the “Services” tab at the top. This gave information, such as computer availability and printing cost. Computers at the WCPL Branch are available to residents with a library and non-residents with guest passes. Printing is available from their computer or by flash drive. It states that double-sided printing is available as well as the cost for black-and-white or colored prints. Finishing Task 3 was researching if the book could be sent to a different library within the Wilderness County Library system. She returned to the book tab, but all she could do is place it on hold. There is no information on the website regarding transporting books.

The Wilderness Coast Public Library website is confusing and disorganized, which is a disadvantage for all user levels. A major change that should be made is placing the individual library links on the main page to make it easier for users to know which library they wish to visit. Even if that were done, the current Member Libraries page states that the “Wilderness Coast has four library locations in three counties”. However, right below that statement there are only three links, instead of four, which is confusing. It seems the Franklin County Public Library has two branches and those individual library links are shown only after choosing the primary Franklin County Public Library link. The search results for books are disorganized as they show titles not related to the search. It would be clearer if the search responded with “No Results Found” instead of a list of unrelated material. Another major improvement to the book search results would be to include a brief description of the book’s subject and/or the information it contains. This way users will not have to spend time looking into each individual title. Also, the library’s homepage should be highlighting upcoming events to attract community participation. Instead, there is an “Events” tab that leads to a page with several listed events, some of which have already occurred. These are just a few improvements I would suggest for this website, I could identify many more.

The Wilderness Coast Library System may be able to assist those who walk into the library, but it needs to be able to assist all the patrons they serve electronically since this library system covers 180 miles. Its website needs major improvements in order to be beneficial to all patrons.

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Individual Assignment 2 – Colin Webb

Website

The Boston Public Library, established in 1848, was the first large free municipal library in the United States. It was also the first library system to establish branches to serve their community. As of today, it has 26 branches throughout the city of Boston. After 175 years of serving the public, this public library system has seen many revisions throughout its years.

The Boston Public Library’s homepage (Boston Public Library (bpl.org)) seems clear and concise. At the top of the page, there are drop downs to guide me to different areas of the library. However, looking below those banners, there are two sections labeled, “Featured” and “Featured Events”. When chosen, each featured item took me to a dedicated webpage pertaining to that feature. I noticed that the targeted webpages did not always have the same titles as they did on the homepage’s “Featured” posting. This is a violation of the heuristic of consistency and standards because it could confuse users into thinking they are looking at the incorrect information. Confusion could be avoided if the titles of the features matched exactly the title of the webpage titles.

Evaluation

The focus of this evaluation is searching for available English-speaking classes in the Boston Public Library system. My approach for this evaluation was to see if there was a straight-forward way to obtain where in the Boston area I could take English-speaking classes. I started by moving through the dropdown menus on the homepage and noticed “classes” was located under the services dropdown. However, when I clicked on it, I was taken to the “Events” main page. Although classes can be considered events, it is not clear because classes were listed under the “Services” dropdown instead of the “Events” dropdown. This violates the heuristic of flexibility and efficiency of use because inexperienced users would be confused by accessing classes from two different paths. Under the “Services” dropdown, finding classes is a direct link, while under the “Events” main page, I had to additionally choose the “Workshops & Classes” filter. Even more confusing is under the “Events” dropdown, there is no mention of classes or workshop.

Once filtered down to just workshops and classes, there is no additional search for a specific class that someone may want. There were 287 items under workshops and classes which resulted in 15 pages to search through. I then took a different approach and used the main search bar which is present on every page. I chose events in the dropdown and when I typed in “English speaking classes” the results revealed ESOL classes, which stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. Despite the abbreviation being described below the description of each event, the audience may not know what it means at first. This also violates consistency and standards because it is showing the abbreviations that users may not know until they open the page. It would be more informative if the abbreviation and its meaning were placed closer to each other.

All ESOL classes were listed in the results in chronological order. Some of the classes gave information on whether registration was full or required, while other classes did not have any information on how to register for them. This a violation of the help and documentation heuristic. Clicking on a class that did not have any information on registration will not tell the user how they can attend the class or any other information other than the date and the time. Every class available show information on how to participate. If registration for a class would be available at a future date, it should at minimum inform the user “Registration coming soon”.

Filters, located on the left side of the events page, can be used to further narrow the particular location and audience (by age). It would be more advantageous if there was a filter for the knowledge level of those wanting to learn English. For example: beginner, intermediate, conversational, etc. This would make the website comply more with the heuristic of flexibility and efficiency of use.

I additionally put “ESOL” in the event search tool and it resulted in the same list of classes. But there was a new “Computer/Technology Classes” event type filter to choose from. These classes were for non-English speakers and focused on strengthening their technology skills, which is unrelated to learning English. This violates the consistency and standards heuristic because English speaking classes specifically use the acronym ESOL, but the search results are different. ESOL is a broader search encompassing more than just English-speaking classes.

Analysis

One main flaw that I realized when searching for English-speaking classes is that the results are given in the English language. A suggestion would be to allow users of the website to choose an alternate language, especially since they may not read or understand much English. Another suggestion would be to create a separate section for classes only and not group them in with events. This would be a direct way for any user to find what courses are offered.

The Boston Public Library has proven itself a memorable and useful library, but its website still suffers from some of the issues that other libraries have with their own websites. It appears to be more focused towards patrons who have used their libraries before instead of new members. It needs to find a correct balance between assisting new users and old users.

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Individual Assignment 1: Designing for Users

Website and User:

The Broward County Library is the biggest library system in Florida. Its website helps users not only find books, movies, and music they may wish to check out, but also provide information on events, online resources, and job opportunities. My user tested the Broward County Library website due to how resourceful it is. This was her first time using the website.

https://www.broward.org/Library/pages/default.aspx

User Actions:

She was interested in seeing if the library offered the use of a sewing machine and a Cricut machine. I expected her to search the Creation Station page first, as it would be the most relevant page for arts and crafts, but instead she started by using the search bar and did not notice that it was labeled “search catalog”. She thought it would provide her with information about what is offered, but instead she received a list of books on the subject(s) as a result. The books were not organized in any order. She then decided to search the Creation Station page hoping to find information regarding the devices. However, that page only had some categories listed under “Special features” and closest category she found in that list was “Arts & Crafts”. Nothing pointing specifically to a sewing or Cricut machine availability. She also did not find any links regarding any devices offered to the public. Some users who would be curious as to what certain Creation Stations of the library have to offer may end up disappointed due to the lack of information provided.

My test user when on to search for adult classes focusing on Microsoft Office. When she searched under “Education – Adult”, she first encountered online resources of different subjects. She was wanting an in-person class, but that was not one of the options listed. Another search led her to the event calendar, where she found a class for Microsoft outlook. This is a problem for people who want to choose the way the training is given. Also, nothing points specifically to a page that shows what classes are available, they are mixed in in with the library’s event/activities.

After finding the event calendar, she decided to test out the filters for ages and locations. When my user searched around the events even further, she forgot she set filters. What has been observed is that the event pages do not remind the user that filters have been set, which can be troubling if users are changing their searches. When she went back to the library’s homepage, she noticed that some upcoming events were listed toward the middle of the page. However, they were in a user-friendly format that included pictures and straight forward information as to the date, time, and location. On the events calendar the events are listed in list format and not as clear. She prefers the format of the events on the homepage.

Suggestions:

The Broward County Library website information is broad. Other than searching for books, it is hard to find specifics on all the library has to offer. This presents a problem for those who are not familiar with the library and/or their website. Specifically for events the website should at least be fixed to show when users apply filters. This way users can be reminded of what filter are being used for additional event searches, such as a certain location or a certain age group. The Creation Station is an essential part of the library but, the Broward County Library website does not show the devices that can be checked out nor does detail the vast activities the Creation Station provides. As someone who has been a frequent user of the Creation Station, there is no mention on their website as to gaming, musical instrumental, drawing aids, etc. The site should at least provide a general list of available tools for creation. It would be further informative if it identified items that could be checked out. Some easy improvements to the Broward County Library website could be the option to switch from a list format or a picture-type format. Also, having additional search options for education assistance, such as in-person, online classes, or personal tutoring.

Although the Broward County Library website holds a lot of information, it is not well organized. This presents a problem for any user, whether expert or novice. Its focus is on traditional library offering, such as books, movies, magazines, etc. but it lacks information on patron participatory events, such as classes, activities, and device availability. My user, who was a novice was easily frustrated and felt the website was unusable for her needs. An organized website is better suited for both new and experienced users to help them find what they desire.