Purpose of Study / Research Question

We first conceptualized this study as a way to address drop-down tab menus that had become excessively long. As our study development continued, we decided to investigate the impact of other recent changes, such as the libraries’ evolution to a functional service model. Throughout, we emphasized the impact of the libraries on UNC’s renewed commitment to student success.

Study Goals

Library websites serve various purposes for users compared to other university websites. The purpose of this website redesign was to gather student feedback on the University of Northern Colorado’s (UNC) University Libraries (UL) website, to support students’ success as researchers. The highly used UL website is a gateway to library services and online resources; during Spring 2023 and Fall 2023, it had ~100,000 views by more than 20,000 users. Several catalysts drove our project. Our most recent website usability study with students was in 2017-18. As information was added to the site over the years, several of the drop-down tab menus became overly long and difficult to navigate, especially on a laptop or mobile device. The updates also align with UNC’s commitment to putting students first and helped address the Libraries Strategic Plan objective to review and update the usability of the UL website. Finally, the Libraries recently evolved from a subject librarian model to a functional service model (focusing on assisting students and others as generalists, while elevating our functional specialties) and we wanted to see if students could effectively utilize the website given this change. 

For these reasons, the Libraries Interim Assistant Dean and the Web Specialist developed and conducted a website usability study during spring 2023. Due to budget and time constraints, the work was conducted entirely by current UL employees as part of their regular workload. 

This poster details our process and outcomes and provides a practical approach for those who wish to conduct a library website usability study. Although this work was specific to a regional public doctoral/professional university library and our study was focused on student users, the process could be adapted for a variety of libraries and users.

Design / Methodology

Our overarching research question was, how do UNC students use the UL website to determine how to get research assistance?

We conducted a literature review and examined the websites of several regional academic libraries to note current design trends. We then designed a website usability study asking students to respond to a series of primarily open-ended questions about the UL website. Students next used a series of prompts to show how they navigate the website in terms of drop-down tab menus, and participated in a card sort activity using the tabs, with options to add new or discard existing tabs. Participants talked through their thought process as much as possible. 

Students could choose to participate either in person or online. Prior to recruiting students, we received IRB approval and worked with the Office of Research to obtain an email pool to invite distance students to participate. 

We recorded all participant engagement on a laptop so we could review and analyze their steps on video and audio. This approach was more extensive than our 2017-18 study, which only asked students to respond to task-oriented prompts. 

We set up a table with a UL banner and laptops in both the main library and the music branch library at various times during a one-week period, where we briefly explained our study and invited passing students to participate. We borrowed costume bear heads depicting the university mascot from UNC Archives to attract attention and scheduled some recruitment sessions during a Libraries carnival. Participants were invited to enter a random drawing to win one of five $20.00 gift cards as a token of appreciation; Libraries swag items were an additional incentive offered to in-person participants.

Findings / Summary 

The study produced some unexpected findings. For example, several participants had difficulty finding instructional videos, and several were unaware that the libraries have equipment available for checkout. Although these were not the initial focal points of the study, we made changes to the website to address several of the unexpected findings, with the intention of making the website easier for students to use.

Engaging and Working With Other Stakeholders

The Libraries Leadership Group had some unanticipated concerns regarding the study findings and our initial recommendations. We conducted multiple rounds of revision, review, and discussion—more than we had initially planned—to formulate the changes in a way that was satisfactory to as many stakeholders as possible. Although we had written a report detailing our findings and suggestions, based on the leadership group’s concerns, we decided to augment it with mockups to show the suggested updates in a visual format. Throughout the process, we were careful to balance the needs of students with the needs of other stakeholders.