California Digital Library Assignment 9: Pilot User Study APPENDIX B: Raw Data

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Pre-Test Questions

[Appendix A: Pre-test questions]

Participant #1:

year at SIMS	2
used CDL before?	yes description: library catalog, mainly used directed search (author/title/subject) pretty easy to use. also some advanced search. frequency: 20-30 times
familiarity with on-line library resources	Melvyl (command-line) Melvyl (webbased) Gladis
types of library resources used	books and some magazine articles

Participant #2:

year at SIMS	1
used CDL before?	no, but heard of it
familiarity with on-line library resources	Melvyl (command-line) Melvyl (webbased) Gladis
types of library resources used	journal, books

Participant #3:

year at SIMS	1
used CDL before?	yes, looked at it onece and found it slightly confusing
familiarity with on-line library resources	Melvyl (command-line) Gladis
types of library resources used	photo collections and items of random interest

 

Critical incident logs

Participant #1:

Scenario 1. Completed in 3 minutes
Scenario 2. Completed in 9 minutes
Scenario 3. Completed in 12 minutes

Participant #2:

Scenario 1. Completed in 2 minutes
Scenario 2. Completed in 11 minutes
Scenario 3. Completed in 9 minutes

Participant #3:

Scenario 1. Completed in 2 minutes
Scenario 2. Completed in 7 minutes
Scenario 3. Completed in 18 minutes

 

Follow-up interview

[Appendix A: Follow-up Interview]

Participant #1:

general impression	- couldn't find anything I didn't already know about - things weren't where I expected them to be - very difficult
frustrations	- couldn't remember the diff. between Searchable DB's and Elec. Journals on the Web; they looked too similar when you followed the links to them - the expansion & collapsing of the source tree confusing - similarity of Starting Points & left navig. panel was confusing
learning	- It's just really big, I didn't see that before when I used CDL - but way too many choices presented & I didn't want to read every line - it was not clear from the lists which sources might be appropriate for my search
improvement	- provide keyword searching over sources, at least covering relatively fine-grained topics like "theater" - aesthetic: the method for highlighting in left panel ("marshmallow letters") distracting - functional: refining a search (e.g. to UCB only) did not persist as additional links were followed

Participant #2:

general impression	- overwhelmed, long lists - home links, better to go to shrunken lists, see whole thing. - needs to fit on smaller screen - map, clickable? unclear. also triangles
frustrations	- scenario subjects - nice to have all info but too much, where to start. - go to Melvyl - known - more obvious link to "Browse by" Topic from home
learning	- so many available, hard with specific task
improvement	- get to browse topic in one click - narrower menu - home - yellow menu, too many words, too much info - home - orange explanation, unnecessary

Participant #3:

general impression	- looks nice and attractive - not the interface but would like an explanation on what it means to be a library. the roles of the 9 other libraries are obvious but not for this one. - as a library, expect to find full text at the end.
frustrations	- main list of journals and databases too long to browse and pick out. - difficult to browse when more than 1 screen
learning	- not really, very little - still fuzzy in understanding
improvement	- main page, having the menu on both sides does not seem necessary. from the front page, want to be funneled somewhere.

[ Appendix B: Pre-questions | Critical incident logs | Follow-up interviews ]

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