Testing the Sketches

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Dan and I will each test out two of the four sketches with people who would be using the website. Dan will be testing versions B and D. I will be testing versions A and C. One thing that is important in regards to testing the two sketches is how they will be presented to a person that will be asked the questions on how to find information. If both sketches are shown to the same individual one after another they will find it easier to locate the information that are asked to find in the second set of sketches. For example, if a person is shown version A first and than shown version C second they will find it easier to use.

Results from Testing the Sketches

Where would you go to search for the book The Great Gatsby?

Sketch A

Person 1 – Enter the name of the book into the the search form in the middle of the page and select ‘search catalog’.

Person 2 – Select ‘BearCat’ from the list of links located under the heading Catalogs.

Person 3 – Enter name of the book into the search field.

Sketch B

Person 1 – Missed search box on home page (In top right corner) instead found link roughly at center).

Sketch C

Person 1 – Enter name of the title in the search box and select ‘search catalog’ .

Person 2 – Enter term into the search field and then click the edge of the form field.

Sketch D

Person 1 – Found search Box, as it is large and dead center of content column.

How would you search for an item on reserves?

Sketch A

Person 1 -Select the word ‘Reserves’ from the home page

Person 2 -Select the word ‘Reserves’ from the home page

Person 3 – Select the word ‘Reserves’ from the home page

Sketch B

Person 1 – Took some looking to find it next to the link for the catalog near top center.

Sketch C

Person 1 – Select the ‘Reserves’ link on the home page

Person 2 – Select the ‘Reserves’ link on the home page

Sketch D

Person 1 – Took just a moment for eyes to find link below book search box.

How long can you check out a book for?

Sketch A

Person 1 – Select the ‘FAQs’ link located in the left hand navigation. After arriving at the FAQs web page and not seeing the answer it was unclear what to do next.

Person 2 – Select the ‘Contact Us’ link to find phone number and than call the library to find out.

Person 3 – Selected the ‘FAQs’ link. After arriving to the web page and not finding the correct information they selected ‘Contact Us’, so they could find a phone number to call one of the libraries.

Sketch B

Person 1 – Took roughly the same amount of time to work through the “About Us” link

Sketch C

Person 1 – This person looked in the ‘FAQs’ section first and than did not find what they were looking for. They did not know where the information was located, so they than selected the ‘Contact Us’ link in the navigation.

Person 2 – Select ‘Borrowing Policy’ link from the home page and than the word ‘Holds’ was selected. After noticing the information that they were looking for was not located here they than selected ‘Books’.

Sketch D

Person 1 – Took roughly the same amount of time to work through the “About Us” link

Where would you go to find a peer reviewed article?

Sketch A

Person 1 – Select ‘Journals’ from the links across the top of the page. When the content changed this person selected Academic Search Complete that was listed under the heading ‘Most used Resources’.

Person 2 – The person started in the ‘About Us’ section and selected ‘Crumb Library’. After arriving on the page and realizing it did not contain the information they were looking for this person than selected ‘Online Resources’

Sketch B

Person 1 – Would jump immediately to Frequently Used Resources at bottom on the homepage. Then maybe use resources by subject (after I directed the attention of the Subject to the left column).

Sketch C

Person 1 – Select ‘Journals’ from the links across the top of the page.

Person 2 – Select ‘Online Resources’ from the left hand navigation. After arriving at the web page select ‘Articles’.

Sketch D

Person 1 – Found Online Resources fairly quickly, however expressed doubts of the students knowledge in finding it easily. Suggested in some way to level the playing field by making the Online Resources or Articles as apparent on the homepage as books given their equal necessity.

How do you get research help?

Sketch A

Person 1 – Go back to the home page and select the word ‘Help’ from the navigation at the top of the web page.

Person 2 – Select ‘Contact Us’ from the navigation located in the left hand column

Sketch B

Person 1 – Took a minute to find help link at top, also thought about visiting the “How Do I…” link at the bottom.

Sketch C

Person 1 – Select the ‘Online Resources’ link after not finding information that would be helpful this person then selected the ‘Contact Us’ link from the navigation located on the left hand side of the sketch.

Person 2 – Select ‘Contact Us’ link

Person 3 – Use the search field to get the help they needed.

Sketch D

Person 1 – Located help immediately in the right hand column.

Other Notes of Interest

The word ‘Journals’ was a little confusing for someone because they where unclear what it would allow you to do. One suggestions was to change ‘Journals’ to become ‘Journal Search.

Change the word ‘Journals’ to become ‘Journal Title Search’.

The word ‘Holds’ is confusing. It is not clear what the word means to some people.

Borrowing Policy – Put names of items in order by there importance. ‘Books’ should occur first because this is more important to someone than ‘Holds”.

The phrase ‘Search Catalog’ was confusing to one person. Two other possibilities would be to just use the word ‘Search’ or the phrase ‘Search Library Catalog’.

 

Sketches

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Over the past couple of weeks we have been creating sketches for what the new College Libraries website could look like. A total of four different versions were created.

Below are the first iterations of three of the four sketches:

A Home Page

B Home Page

C Home Page

Here is what those sketches became:

A Home Page Revised Version

B Home Page Revised Version

C Home Page Revised Version

After creating the sketches Dan and I got together last Friday to take a look at all of the sketches that we have created. Next we began to create a total of five questions that we are going to ask people about the sketches. Dan mentioned that we need to make sure that we ask people questions based upon the tasks that people that represent our target audience actually do.

The questions that we came up with are:

  1. Where would you go to search for the book The Great Gatsby?
  2. How would you search for course reserves?
  3. How long can you check out a book for?
  4. Where would you go to find a peer reviewed article?
  5. How do you get research help?

Thy will be help us test out the sketches and help us to determine where people may have trouble finding the information that will help them to answer each question.

Here is a slide show of all of the sketches that have been created.

A revised information architecture

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Today Patrick and I met to revise our information architecture based on feedback gathered from 7 individuals. This feedback allowed us to clarify content by changing the titles of some categories. For example, what was once “Databases” was renamed “Online Resources.” We’ve also decided to add the FAQ category back into the IA for testing purposes and have discussed the possibility of combining it with the Help category.

The next step is to begin sketching before moving onto creating and testing wireframes.

Here is what the information architecture looks like at the moment.

You can view a larger version by going to the following URL: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1PD9Yc4ru3NW7EoUyKGg40KXXTF_gJWFjSppJ-g5Rr18/edit?hl=en

Part II Information Architecture Creation

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After we finished placing all of the index cards into categories based upon the results of the card sort we began to talk about each one in more detail. As we began to look at each category we began to write down more terms on index cards that consisted of both content and subcategories for the website. For, example three subcategories were created and placed under the main category ‘Databases’. The sub categories are called:

  • Audio/Visual
  • Electronic Books
  • Articles

These subcategories are almost identical to the ones that were created by the fourth group that participated in the card sort. You can read about the categories they came up with in the post Card Sort Results by Group. The ‘Policies’ category was made into a subcategory and was placed under “About Us.

What the Information Architecture Looks Like

Here is what the tentative information architecture looks like in outline form:

  • Home
    • About Us
      • Crane Library
      • Crumb Library
      • University Archives
      • Employment
      • Policies
        • Borrowing Policy
        • Building Policy
        • Collection Development Policy
        • Course Reserves
        • Interlibrary Loan
    • Contact Us
    • Help
      • AskUs
      • Consultation Request
    • Citing a Source
    • Databases/Resources
      • Audio/Visual
      • Electronic Books
      • Articles
    • Subject
    • Site Map

Information Architecture layout

The following site map exists as a drawing that was created using Google docs.

You can view a larger image of the information architecture by going to the following URL: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1F9DFYDDfFWL1s0E22Lq6ZXzJpfl8fVzHf3qYQMztVAo/edit?hl=en

Feedback

The reason for using the word tentative is that it is now time to start testing the information architecture by showing it to a few people and getting feedback. After we get feedback we will than reevaluate what we have done and make any necessary changes.

We will be asking people the following questions:

  1. If you want to find out how you would get a library card what would you do?
  2. You are interested in finding out what type of equipment that you can check out from the Crane Library what would you select?
  3. If you wanted to call the University Archives to make an appointment what would you do?

Dan and I are both planning on testing out the information architecture with at least two to three people throughout the rest of the week. We are planning on meeting again early next week to talk about our findings and make any necessary changes. The next step in the project will be too start writing content and drawing sketches for the new website.

Information Architecture Creation Part I

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Earlier this week Dan, Lauren, and myself got together for about an hour and half to start creating the information architecture for the college libraries website. We started off by briefly talking about the different categories that each group created during the card sort and how some items were easy for them to put into categories and others were not. After discussing the results briefly, I began to write down the common category names that were created by each group onto index cards and placed them on a large table.

Category Creation

The following items were written on index cards:

  • Citing a Source
  • Contact Us
  • Databases
  • FAQ’s
  • Libraries
  • Policies
  • Subject
  • About Us

The next step was to take the words used for the card sort and place them under these categories based upon the information that we gathered from the card sort a couple of weeks ago. As Dan and Lauren started to put things into categories, I mentioned that we do not have to use all of the items that appear on the index cards because some words and phrases were duplicated in one way or another. For example, the word ‘Jobs” was eliminate in favor of the word ‘Employment’. It was also decided that the phrase ‘print poster’ could be removed because it would only refer to a small number of students each semester who would be taking a class with a specific instructor. As part of the class a person from the libraries gives the class a presentation and the specific information they need.

In addition to the categories created during the card sort, we created a new category called ‘Help’ and placed the terms ‘Ask Us’ and ‘Consultation Request’ under it. At the moment this is a separate section; However, it will probably be incorporated into the design of the new college libraries website and thus the category could be eliminated. The advantage of incorporating it into the design is that the information would always be immediately available to someone making it easier for them to get assistance.

Along with eliminating duplicate items and creating new categories we talked briefly about the terms from the card sort that should probably be available on the home page of the college libraries website. The items that we came up with are:

  • Hours
  • Library Catalogs (BearCat, WorldCat)
  • Interlibrary Loan
  • Reserves

Interlibrary Loan is a unique term because of what it allows you to do. Please read through the previous post Category Similarities for additional information. The term ‘Reserves’ is also another item that is important, but it is also hard to determine the best location for it to be located. How do I find a book on reserve? is a very common question that gets ask by many students. From a faculty perspective they want to know how to put a book on reserve. The process of trying to find a book on reserve is a very convoluted process that is more difficult to do then it should be; Therefore, providing information on the process is very important.

Removed Categories

When we started to place things into different categories we eliminated the ‘Libraries’ category in favor of ‘About Us’ instead. The results of the card sort indicated that the four groups used these terms interchangeable and placed the same items under either category. The FAQ’s category has also been eliminated for a couple of reasons. The first is that several of the questions that were used for the card sort were either directional or yes or no in nature. These questions are:

  • Do you have a fax machine?
  • Can I sign out a group study room?
  • Do you have a scanner?
  • Where are your copies?

You may be asking yourself why would you want to eliminate a directional question such as ‘Where are your copiers?’ or ‘Where are your bathrooms?’ It is our belief that these questions can best be answered in person and that the target audience would not be using the website to find the answer to these questions. The remaining questions used during the cart sort are:

  • How do I get a library card?
  • How do I find a book on reserve?

It was decided that the information required to ask these questions could be found in various locations of the website. Therefore it was determined that the FAQ category could be eliminated without making it difficult for a person to complete a task.

Category Similarties

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In looking at the Card Sort Results by Group we can start to understand how people organize information together as it pertains to the library. The results indicate that several groups created some of the same categories as each other. For example, all four groups created a category called ‘Citing a Source’. There were a total of seven categories that at least three of the groups came up with.

Name Variations by Category

Two categories that were created by the groups had several name variations, but they each had one common word within the phrase. The first category was the use of ‘libraries’ and ‘library’ that was part of the phrase that was created by three of the groups. The phrase variations are:

  • College Libraries
  • Libraries
  • Library Facilities

The second category used the word ‘subject’ as part of the phrase and it was also created by three of the four groups. The phrase variations for this term are:

  • Search by Subject
  • Subject Focused
  • Research by Subject

One group used the word ‘major’ instead of the word ‘subject’ for the same category. Regardless of the phrase that a group used they put the same items into the category. This category consisted of the following items:

  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Education
  • English
  • Math
  • Music

Common Categories

When you start looking at the results from the card sort in detail there are certain trends that begin to appear. Several of the groups came up with similar categories; However, the placement of items varied from one group to another. Along with several similarities amongst all of the groups there are also items that were treated much differently. As mentioned before in previous posts Overview of Card Sort Results and Card Sort Results by Group the phrase AskUs and AskUs 24/7 meant something entirely different to each group.

When we combine the results of the card sort from all four groups together there are a total of eight categories that overlap among all of the groups. The only category that all four groups used was ‘Citing a Source’. The category ‘Subject’ is a distant second because of the name variations that each group had created for it. Here is how the categories break down by the number of groups that came up with the same name.

Four Groups

  • Citing a Source

Three Groups

  • Contact Us
  • Databases
  • FAQ’s
  • Libraries – Name Variations =
    • College Libraries
    • Libraries
    • Library Facilities
  • Policies
  • Subject – Name Variations =
    • Search by Subject
    • Subject Focused
    • Research by Subject

Two Groups

  • About

There are some terms such as ‘Inter Library Loan’ and ‘Library Catalog’, that each group placed in a different category from each other. Part of the difficulty with these terms is that they can fall into many different categories based upon a persons perspective. For example, ‘Library Catalog’ appeared as a category heading for one group and for another it appeared under the heading that they had for databases. On the other hand, Inter Library Loan is a service that is provided to people, so they can borrow books from other libraries and it too can fall into multiple categories. Along with being a service it allows for interaction between other library catalogs, such as WorldCat and itself. When you find a book in WorldCat you can select the link ‘Request interlibrary loan’ which will automatically take you to Inter Library Loan and populate the data from the book.

 

 

Card Sort Conclusions

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Conducting the card sort with four different groups provided some valuable insight to how students organize information as it pertains to the library. The first group was video taped as they organized items into categories. Here is short excerpt from the hour long video:

Whenever you are conducting research and gathering data there are always limitations and this exercise was no different. The limitations of this study are as follows:

  • Only Juniors and Seniors volunteered to participate
  • There were no first or second year students regardless of their degree status
  • No graduate students participated
  • There was no participation from the School of Education, which is one of the largest departments on campus.

The most frustrating part of the entire process was recruiting volunteers to participate in the card sort. I knew that it would be difficult to find participants, but I did not imagine it would be as difficult as it was. The whole process of designing and building a new website is iterative where you do something and then show what you have done to people to get feedback. As we move forward we will no longer need to recruit groups of people to participate at one time; However, we will still need to recruit people.

The next step in the process is to take the results from the card sort and start combining what each group of people did into meaningful categories. The card sort will segue into the next step which is to create the information architecture for the new website.

Card Sort Results by Group

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Here are the categories that each of the four groups created during the card sort.

Group 1 Categories

  • About
  • Citing a Source
  • College Libraries
  • Databases
  • FAQ’s
  • Library Catalog
  • Policies
  • Search by Subject
  • Services

Group 2 Categories

  • About Us
  • Citing a Source
  • Contact Us
  • Databases
  • FAQ’s
  • Majors
  • Policies
  • Tehcnology

Group 3 Categories

  • Libraries
    • Contact Us
    • AskUs 24/7
      • Reserves
      • Noise Policy
      • Borrowing Policy
        • Films On Demand
        • Books
        • Article
        • Subject Focused
      • Citing a Source

Group 4 Categories

  • Citing a Source
  • Research by Subject
  • Library Facilities
    • Crumb Library
    • Crane Library
    • University Archives
  • Databases
    • Library Catalog
    • Article
    • Streaming Music
    • Films on Demand
  • Library Policies
    • Fines
    • Course Reserves Policy
    • Noise Policy
    • Collection Development Policy
    • Borrowing Policy
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ’s

The headings that appear in each column of the table below represents a different category that each group came up with.

Card Sort Results
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

About

Employment

Hours

Address

315-267-2000

library@potsdam.edu

Citing a Source

APA Style

Chicago Manual of Style

MLA Style

College Libraries

Crane Library

Crumb Library

University Archives

Databases

Academic Search Complete

JSTOR

PubMed

Films on Demand

Article

Electronic Books

FAQ’s

Make Suggestion

Suggest an item for purchase

AskUs 24/7

Ask us

Can I sign out a group studyt room?

Do you have a scanner?

Where are your copiers?

Ho do I get a library card?

How do I find a book on reserve?

Do you have a fax machine?

How do I print from a laptop computer?

How much does printing cost?

Library Catalog

BearCat

WorldCat

Policies

Noise

Collection Development Policy

Fines

Course Reservers

Borrowing

Consultation Request

Search by Subject

Chemistry

Anthropology

Englsih

Math

Music

Education

Communications

Services

Books

Digital Camera

Laptop

Labtop Computer

Headphones

DVDs

Audio CDs

Records

Listening Rooms

Group Study Rooms

Inter Library Loan

Reserves

Items that people did not know

Books 24×7

Credo Reference

Naxos

Print Poster – did not know that you could do this in the library

AskUs

Words Not used

Copiers – question was used under FAQ’s

Jobs – used Employment instead

About Us

Consultation Request

Employment

Fines

Listening Rooms

Hours

Print Poster

Group Study Rooms

Reserves

Citing a Source

Chicago Manual of Style

APA Style

MLA Style

Contact Us

University Archives

Address

315-267-2000

Crumb Library

Crane Library

library@potsdam.edu

Make Suggestion

Suggest an item for purchase

Databases

Article

Books

Records – as in a record in a database

Academic Search Complete

PubMed

Credo Reference

Inter Library Loan

JSTOR

NAXOS

BearCat

Library Catalog

WorldCat

FAQ’s

How do I find a book on reserve?

How do I get a library card?

Do you have a scanner?

Do you have a fax machine?

Can I sign out a group study room?

Where are your copiers?

Majors

Education

Anthropology

Chemistry

Englsih

Communications

Math

Music

Policies

Course Reserves Policy

Borrowing Policy

Collection Development Policy

Noise Policy

Technology

Electronic Books

Laptop Computer

Copiers

Digital Camera

DVDs

Headphones

Audio CDs

Items that people did not know

AskUs 24/7

Films on Demand

Books 24X7

Words Not Used

AskUs

Jobs – used employment instead

Libraries

Hours

Employment

How do I get a library card?

Digital Camera

Laptop Computer

Collection Development Policy

Fines

Inter Library Loan

Consultation request

Do you have a scanner?

Contact Us

Address

Make Suggestion

Suggest an item for purchase

315-267-2000

AskUS 24/7

Reserves

How do I find a book on reserve?

Course Reserves Policy

Noice Policy

Listening Rooms

Headphones

DVD’s

Audio Cd’s

Group Study Rooms

Can I sign out a group study room?

Borrowing Policy

Films On Demand

Books

Library Catalog

WorldCat

BearCat

Books 24×7

Article

Academic Search Complete

PubMed

Credo Reference

NAXOS

JSTOR

University Archives

Subject Focused

Music

Education

English

Communications

Math

Chemistry

Antrhpology

Citing a Source

MLA Style

APA Style

Chicago Manual of Style

Items that people did not know

AskUs 24/7

Films on Demand

Words Not Used

Library Card

Copiers

Records

Databases

FAQ’s – used ‘Contact Us’ for a category heading

Print Poster

Jobs – used under employment

Crane Library – was combined with Crumb Library to become Libraries

Crumb Library – was combined with Crane Library to become Libraries

Citing a Source

Chicago Manual of Style

APA Style

MLA Style

Research by Subject

Math

Communications

Music

Chemistry

Anthropology

English

Education

Library Facilities

Crumb Library

Copiers

Crane Library

Copiers

Group Study Rooms

Listening Rooms

MIDI Lab

University Archives

Databases

Library Catalog

Reserves

BearCat

WorldCat

Inter Library Loan

Article

Academic Search Complete

PubMed

JSTOR

Streaming Music

NAXOS

Films on Demand

Electonic Books

Library Policies

Fines

Course Reserves Policy

Noise Policy

Collection Development Policy

Suggest an item for purchase

Borrwoing Policy

Laptop Computer

Records

Audio Cd’s

Books

DVDs

Digital Camera

Headphones

Contact Us

Hours

Address

Phone

Email

Make Suggestion

AskUs 24/7

Consultation Request

Employment

FAQ’s

How do I find a book on reserve?

Can I sign out a group study room?

Do you have a fax machine?

Do you have a scanner?

Where are your Copiers?

How do I get a Library Card?

Items that People did not know

Credo Reference

Books 24×7

Print Poster

Word Not Used

AskUs

Jobs – used employment instead

 

Each group did not use all of the items that were on the index cards. In taking a look at how each group categorized the items on the index cards it is apparent that even though they thought they understood what a term meant in reality this was not the case. This can be seen by taking a look at the visual representation of the categories created by group 3. This group created two categories called AskUs 24/7 and Films on Demand. Films on Demand is a database the college libraries subscribe too and AskUs 24/7 is a chat based service.

The categories that group three created are the most difficult to understand. This group started with the main category of ‘Libraries’ and all items when appear under this main category. Under the category ‘Library’ the categories ‘Contact Us’ and ‘Ask Us 24/7’ would appear. The rest of the categories are placed underneath the heading ‘Ask Us 24/7’.

Group 3 Results

Here is a visual representation of the categories that group 3 created and how they organized the terms that appeared on the index cards.

Visual representation of categories that appear in the table above for group 3.

If you having difficulty viewing this image and would like to see a larger one please go to the following URL: http://www.patrickrunfit.com/potsdamlibweb/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/group31.gif.

Group 4 Results

Here is a visual representation of the categories that group 4 created:

Visual representation of the categories created by group 4.

If you having difficulty viewing this image and would like to see a larger one please go to the following URL: http://www.patrickrunfit.com/potsdamlibweb/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/group4_categories1.gif.

Overview of Card Sort Results

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After asking some general questions as stated in the previous post How Each Card Sort Was Conducted each group was asked an additional five questions. Here are the questions along with the responses that each group gave:

Are there any words or phrases that are confusing to you?

Group 1

Books 24×7, Credo Reference, NAXOS

Ask Us – The group did not know that this was a chat based service. Rather it was just an area that would allow you to find the information that you need.

Group 2

Ask Us 24/7, Films on Demand, NAXOS

Group 3

NAXOS

Group 4

Credo Reference, Books 24×7

Is there anything missing that did not appear on the cards?

Group 1

Printing Information – The group created two additional questions about printing and put them under their heading FAQ’s.

Group 2

No

Group 3

No

Group 4

Midi Lab

Would you rename any of the items that appear on the cards to become something else?

Group 1

No

Group 2

No

Group 3

No

Group 4

No

What do you think AskUs 24/7 means?

Group 1

A place to go to ask someone a question who works in the library. Only one person in this group new that Ask US 24/7 was a chat service.

Group 2

Made Ask Us 24/7 a category to start with, but than changed it to become FAQ’s

Group 3

A location where you can send an email or you can get the answer to a question by looking in a specific place. Another way it was described was a way to search through information to locate the answer that you need. This group used Ask Us 24/7 as a category.

Group 4

This group was not sure what the phrase meant; However, they thought that it was a place you could ask a question about the libraries regardless of its hours.

Is there anything that you think is important for us to know?

Group 1

Add some information about the reference desk

  • What is it and where it is located
  • Why would someone use or go to the reference desk

Group 2

no response given

Group 3

no response given

Group 4

no response given

Even though a group may have answered no to a question in reality it may have been really a yes. When taking a look at how the groups organized the items into categories they may not have been placed in the correct location. The majority of the items that were confusing to people happen to be the name of the databases or the phrase ‘Ask Us’. Based upon these results of the card sort having a list of databases by name would not be useful because a person would not know which one to select. The only way a person would know what database to select is if they had used it in the past to find information or if someone has told them the name of a specific database to use. For example, if a librarian mentioned to a student that JSTOR would be useful in finding peer reviewed articles then a person would be looking specifically for this database by name. On the other hand, if they are looking for useful resources looking at a list of databases would not be useful to them because it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

There were a few words that groups did not identify as confusing that surprised me. I expected to see more names of databases to appear along with BearCat and WorldCat to be mentioned; However, they were not mentioned. Using made up words is not a good idea in everyday life and especially as it pertains to the internet unless it is the name of your company. In talking with the groups it was not a surprise that Ask Us or Ask Us 24/7 were confusing to them or that they did not know what they mean.

One of the most significant usability problems is to make up a name for something that nobody understands. It would be similar for a person who speaks Gaelic to try and talk to someone who speaks Arabic. According to Nielson and Loranger

“Clever made-up words or category names are problematic because people don’t understand them. People tend to skip over meaningless words” (192).

Another usability problem that still occurs is to use the color blue for headings or text that are not links. These are two very simple principles that still get ignored by many organizations. Lets stop making up words and start eliminating the barriers that prevent people from accomplishing their task. If we really want our patrons to use the electronic services that the libraries have to offer we need to make them easier to use.

Nielsen, J., & Loranger, H. (2006). Prioritizing Web Usability. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

How Each Card Sort Was Conducted

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A total of four different groups participated in the card sort and three of them took place on three consecutive days during the week of April 4th. To learn more about the details you will want to read through the post called Lessons Learned from a few days ago. I met the three groups that participated last week in the lobby of the Crumb Library at the agreed upon time and we either headed upstairs to Room 215 or to Room 117. The reason for using room 117 was that I was expecting anywhere from 5 to 12 people to show up, so a larger room was necessary; However, only a total of 5 people actual showed up to participate. In retrospect Room 215 upstairs in the library would have been large enough to accommodate the number of people that came, but it was nice to have the extra space. I met the last group at the Crane Library on Thursday, April 14th.

At the beginning of each card sort, I took a moment to briefly talk about why a card sort was being conducted. It was followed up by a description of what we would be doing. While talking with the participants, I told them that the I was in the process of redesigning and rebuilding the college libraries website (there is actually a difference between the two) and that a card sort will help me understand how people organize items into different categories. By having people that represent the target audience participate it will make it easier for people who use the libraries new website find the information they need.

Next we talked about what a card sort was and how it will be used to help people use the new website. A card sort is where you take words and phrases written on index cards and organize them into categories based upon similarities. Before the groups began working on putting the cards into categories, I gave a brief demonstration with a separate set of index cards. The important thing to note is that the example that was presented did not contain any of the words or phrases on the index cards that where given to the group. This was done on purpose so that the group would not be influenced by the demonstration. After the demonstration, I left the room and said that I would come back in about 20 minutes.

After coming back most groups where finished except for one, so I left and came back again. Once the groups were finished putting things into categories it was time to gather some additional information that would provide to be very useful. At this point, I asked two general questions

  1. Was it hard to put things into categories?
  2. Was this pretty easy to do?

Everyone who participated found it easy to put things into categories. Each group took a different amount of time to put things into categories and there was no relationship to the size of the group. The largest group of people fell right into the middle as far as the amount of time it took them to put things into categories. It took them about 25 minutes to put things into categories.