Maximizing the research of library resources

We need to be looking ahead -- outside the box -- expanding our horizons.... I know we don't want to be the bleeding edge, but we also need to be more cognizant of the skills of our user base which range widely from rock and chisel to expert electronic multi-tasking. Is there a better way of providing both a learning and a research environment for our students? Can we provide... say multiple portals ... within the constraints of the ACC Web context? Will ACC Content Management be too long in development to provide us with the necessary tools to meet user wishes and needs?

Earlier in the blog article quoted below, she mentions the NCSU catalog we've mentioned before and the Primo product from Ex Libris. NCSU is an in-house product, the like of which would be possible for us with a CMS and some programmer dedicated to library resources. Can't see that happening anytime soon, can you?

From one of Lorcan Dempseys blogs...

We have been used to thinking about the catalog and the integrated library system as at the centre. But as more comes onto the network we are surrounded by many systems to help us do our research, learning and play. This is one reason why I think we have seen a gradual shift in focus over time from database to website to workflow.

And this means that it becomes more important to think about how library resource and functionality play well with the "real design center", the network, and the multiple other network systems that consume the attention of library users. This suggests that we need good ways of solving the many to many issue within the search engines (how do you connect users to resources that they are authorized to use without cluttering the user experience with resources they are not authorized to use), and we believe that the developing OpenWorldCat program is one way of doing this. And it suggests that we need to make library resources more 'service-able' in ways which facilitate their integration with user workflows and other applications.

User-Centered Design

This was part of a discussion following a webcast from Learning Communities about "User-Centered Design in Your Library." Held last week when I was away.

I particularly was caught by the statement about lessening the number of click to popular pages. Something we should know and think about but somehow don't always. I'll pursue that line of thought as we fiddle with the home page. More as I get more data... mp

Prior to the fall 2005 semester the library staff here met with the university web site designer to plan a re-design of our library home page - style and content - and to develop a style for lower level pages. The existing library page did not have any design elements similar to the overall university design which likely added to navigational issues. We conducted focus groups with students in the spring of 2005 and asked a number of questions about the library web site. The main message we heard was - make it more streamlined, reduce the number of clicks needed to get to necessary resources, and other useful feedback. We took those comments into account when re-designing the web site. We didn't do any sort of formal useability study that could have involved watching students use the old website - but that could be helpful with the new one.

Our re-designed site now has many of the same navigational features of the university website, so it's more familiar to users. We added "breadcrumb" trails through the site so students can always find their way back to the page they started from. We made the most heavily used pages (based on web stats) mostly accessible with a click. - or two. We eliminated our static news box and replaced it with an RSS feed of our library blog which can be updated more frequently and more easily. We also eliminated our "What's New" page, and now just point users to the blog site. Our news now get read more frequently - and users don't miss important announcements.

We haven't surveyed our students since the re-design but annecdotal evidence suggests they are happy with the re-designed site's enhancements.

Thank you.

Steven Bell
bells@philau.edu

About sustaining attention

From Lorcan Dempsey, 1 Feb 2006

...
In a Media 2.0 environment, production and distribution have become cheaper and attention has become scarcer. So, for example media are now available in multiple ways - single TV programs and tracks are available as downloads; we have an extraordinary range of media outlets; there is an explosion in 'prosumer' content available through blogs and so on.

These economics create competence traps for media incumbents in a 2.0 world: since attention is now relatively scarce, economic advantage flows to whichever players can allocate attention - not production - most efficiently. That is, to try and make sure, wherever possible, each viewer, listener, or reader is consuming media where, when, and how they derive the most value from doing so. [Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab]

Think about libraries. The dynamic may be different in academic and public, but there are some similarites. Think of pictures of the traditional scholarly communications chain: it shows a small number of channels by which published research reaches readers. Think of how this has changed.

Where attention is scarcer one wants to provide engaging experiences that encourage people to return, one wants to place services where they are most needed in the reader's workflow (think of the commuter interest in audio, for example, or the learner's interest in seeing library resources in the course management system), one wants to have a clear well understood offering, one wants to project custom services into specific user environments (think of placing a metasearch of subject-specific databases in a course-page)....

work- and learn-flows

Although a focus of this particular piece is "institutional repositories," the idea of work flows should be one of the factors driving the design of a web site. --mp

From Lorcan Dempsey's Networkflows January 28, 2006

One way of characterising recent developments is to look at our locus of engagement with the network. We can see a trend from database, to website to workflow. And this is not really surprising. As more of our working, learning and playing lives moves onto the network we need better workflow support. One can state one of the major challenges facing libraries in these terms. Historically, users have built their workflow around the services the library provides. As we move forward, the reverse will increasingly be the case. On the network, the library needs to build its services around its users' work- and learn-flows (networkflows).

Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye

<<<<>>>>
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/full/060109-13.html

Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye
Potential readers can make snap decisions in just 50 milliseconds.

Michael Hopkin


Quickly now: like what you see?
Like the look of our website? Whatever the answer (and hopefully it was yes), the chances are you made your mind up within the first twentieth of a second. A study by researchers in Canada has shown that the snap decisions Internet users make about the quality of a web page have a lasting impact on their opinions.

We all know that first impressions count, but this study shows that the brain can make flash judgements almost as fast as the eye can take in the information. The discovery came as a surprise to some experts. "My colleagues believed it would be impossible to really see anything in less than 500 milliseconds," says Gitte Lindgaard of Carleton University in Ottawa, who has published the research in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology(1). Instead they found that impressions were made in the first 50 milliseconds of viewing.

Lindgaard and her team presented volunteers with the briefest glimpses of web pages previously rated as being either easy on the eye or particularly jarring, and asked them to rate the websites on a sliding scale of visual appeal. Even though the images flashed up for just 50 milliseconds, roughly the duration of a single frame of standard television footage, their verdicts tallied well with judgements made after a longer period of scrutiny.

In the crowded and competitive world of the web, companies hoping to make millions from e-commerce should take notice, the researchers say. "Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors," Lindgaard warns.

First impressions last

For a typical commercial website, 60% of traffic comes from search engines such as Google, says Marc Caudron of London web-design agency Pod1. This makes a user's first impression even more critical, he explains. "You'll get a list of sites, click the top one, and then either say 'I've engaged' and give it a few more seconds, or just go back to Google," he says.

The lasting effect of first impressions is known to psychologists as the 'halo effect': if you can snare people with an attractive design, they are more likely to overlook other minor faults with the site, and may rate its actual content (such as this article, for example) more favourably.

This is because of 'cognitive bias', Lindgaard explains. People enjoy being right, so continuing to use a website that gave a good first impression helps to 'prove' to themselves that they made a good initial decision. The phenomenon pervades our society; even doctors have been shown to follow their initial hunches, Lindgaard says, relying heavily on a patient's most immediately obvious symptom when making a diagnosis. "It's awfully scary stuff, but the tendency to jump to conclusions is far more widespread than we realize," she says.

Beauty and beholders

These days, enlightened web users want to see a "puritan" approach, Caudron adds. It's about getting information across in the quickest, simplest way possible. For this reason, many commercial websites now follow a fairly regular set of rules. For example, westerners tend to look at the top-left corner of a page first, so that's where the company logo should go. And most users also expect to see a search function in the top right.

Of course, says Caudron, the other golden rule is to make sure that your web pages load quickly, otherwise your customers might not stick around long enough to make that coveted first impression. "That can be the difference between big business and no business," he says.

References

1. Lindgaard G., Fernandes G. J., Dudek C. & Brown J. Behav. Inf. Technol., 25. 115 - 126 (2006).