USABILITY TESTING OF INTERFACE DESIGN IN THE VIRTUAL LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT

摘要

The University of South Florida's Virtual Library (VL) made its debut in November 1997 and serves as the single access gateway to all of the resources (both print and electronic) offered by the USF Libraries. The number of resources available to users has grown over the years from just over 20 electronic databases at the inception of the Virtual Library, to over 400 today. In addition, each resource is remotely accessible to current university students, faculty and staff effectively creating one of the largest collections of research tools in the state. With a student population of over 36,000 spread among five regional campuses, as well as more than 2,600 distance-learning students, the provision of remote access is critical to academic achievement. With the growth of the Virtual Library, it has become necessary to continually update and evaluate the user interface in order to maintain easy navigability of resources in an increasingly complex environment. Part of this process includes periodic usability testing to ensure that the site remains intuitive and accessible to the user groups served by the VL. Using a rigorous methodology incorporating a comprehensive testing instrument designed to encompass the navigational aspects of each part of the Virtual Library (including Interlibrary Loan, online services, databases and the online catalog), combined with a tightly controlled testing environment and a participant population gleaned from each of the major user groups in the university community, this usability study set out to determine the inherent weaknesses and strengths in the Virtual Library interface.