Catalog in Transition: A Look at Usability

User Interface History

Design Guidelines

User Feedback

Definition

Priorities and Accomplishments

Sample OPACS

Goal of the OPAC Task ForceGoal of the OPAC Task Force

USER  INTERFACE HISTORY 

• Card Catalog: Circa 1932
• 1990-97 Innovative Interfaces, Inc. OPAC via telnet (login: library)
• 1997-2007 Innovative Web OPAC (non-functional facsimilie)
• June 2007 Innovative WebPAC Pro
• New Beta Version
• The Future?  LibraryThing, Scriblio, AcquaBroswer,WorldCat Local

OPAC Task Force Charge

• To get an improved re-designed OPAC up and running
• To carryout on-going improvement and development
• To continue a willingness to put new features out there
• To create a good foundation for real innovation in the future

Goal of the OPAC Task Force

To improve usability and to find new ways for people to customize the OPAC to meet their needs

DESIGN GUIDELINES 

Appearance

1. Design an OPAC interface that fits in with other Simmons Library pages for improved branding
2. Keep the page clean, uncluttered and simple
3. Presentation of information to be kept at a minimum, using hyperlinks for the user to get amplified details only when requested

ADA Compliance

1. Add "alt" tags for all images whenever possible
2. Limit the amount of HTML coding for use with screen readers
3. Ensure ability to enlarge screens in all browsers for viewing and printing.
4. Strive for consistency in navigation
5. Accessibility guidelines:
Simmons College Web Office
Simmons Library Policy
6. Accessibility Validators:
Watchfire (Bobby)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Audience

1. Provide a seamless search interface for the novice searcher
2. Provide advance search capabilities for the sophisticated GSLIS searcher

Challenges

1. Standardization vs. in-house customization
2. Innovative's low priority for accessibility compliance

USER FEEDBACK 

July 2007 to present

DEFINITION 

Usability (Usability 101: Introduction to Usability by Jakob Nielsen,  Alertbox, August 25, 2003)

TASK FORCE PRIORITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Current List of Ongoing & Upcoming Developments to be Completed by Time of Beta Launch

• Simplify serial record display when possible, example
• Create a icon glossary page which will, at the very minimum, be linked in a help page
• Set a cookie for preferred search type (Basic vs. Advanced)
• Add some basic synonyms/variant spellings to catalog to see how it affects results, examples
• Review and edit help documentation for new OPAC
• Worldcat ISBN-based search & functions (demo)
• Additional targeted search types such as e-content, etc.) [This may not be possible]
• Persistent URLs for bibliographic records [This may not be possible; conflicts with "add to RefWorks option"]

Current List of Recent Changes Made in Response to OPAC Development Taskforce and User Feedback Suggestions:

• Changes incorporated in present OPAC and available now to users


Renamed "My Catalog" to "My Account" for clarity
Group study rooms tab
Alerted users when search was changed because of lack of results
Request/suggest a purchase
Changed "Other Resources" tab to "Other Libraries" for clarity
Added Spell Check
Back-end Stat collection for conducted searches, etc.


• Changes incorporated now in Beta OPAC version and available to users at realease


Improved nagivation to reduce number of open frames
Constant menus
Added "Find Articles" to menu
Added targeted search for print and/or e-journals
Email preferred searches
Improved icons that include text underneath image
Inclusion of LibraryThing Tags and "similar books" links, examples
Added book covers (works better in FireFox)

USABILITY SELECTIVE AREAS

• Use of tabs
• Additional format search options, e-books (42,000 titles), e-journals (34,000) (good collection marketing)
• Library 2.0 features? rating resources 1-5 stars rating by popularity not relevance, or tagging like PennTags or LibraryThing
• Personalization
• On screen help: adequate, easy to find?
• Clarity of Icons
• How easy did you find navigation of the interface to be? Was it consistent?
• Were the results pages easy to "read"?
• How satisfied are you with the task performed?
• Holdings info for serials clear?
• Is it clear which search option to use?
• Did you find what you were looking for?

TIMELINE 

OTHER OPAC EXAMPLES 

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, California
Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

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___________________________________________
Website created by ©Linda Watkins, GSLIS Librarian
Simmons College Library
Last updated 04/15/08
Available at: http://web.simmons.edu/~watkins/

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