03/15/2007
by:Bryan Goodwin, Mt. Holyoke
Five College Libraries
Research, Instruction and Outreach Committee (RIO)
Minutes of the February 12, 2007 Meeting
Present: Bonne Vigeland (chair), Bryan Goodwin (recorder), Margaret Groesbeck, Sherre Harrington, Beth Lang, Barbara Polowy, Susan Edwards, Betsy Barone
Current Aleph Issues
For failed “Title Begins With” searches, RIO recommends that the error message follows the MITmodel. This would involve placing in bold text at the top of the screen, “You Search For.” Also, RIO recommends that the terms used would also display at the top of the screen.
For records involving Electronic Resources, RIO recommends that on the record screen the message “Connect From” followed by the url should be shown unless info on the url is unavailable.
Usability Testing
General process will be to test various functions, compile a list of issues and then forward the list on to the AMC for them to prioritize based on the level of difficulty in resolving them.
General model will be for RIO to develop a set of core questions that can be used at all five institutions. Librarians can also ask other questions that are specific to a particular library.
A useful article on Usability Testing was suggested by Susan Edwards. It can be directly accessed at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crljournal/crl2004/november/Novotny.pdf.
Guidelines for the Usability Testing Program:
*Testing should involve timed responses to test how system response time may be a factor in the usability of the catalog.
*There should be group testing: 2 Student Groups consisting of 2 students in each group; 1 Faculty Group consisting of an instructor from the Sciences and one from the Humanities; and a Staff group consisting of staff outside of the library.
* The testing should consist of 5-6 questions lasting about _ hour. The objective is to elicit from users catalog usability issues that are not currently known by librarians.
*A Five College Survey Test should also be developed to test for issues that are currently known by librarians.
Tasks for RIO to be completed before the March 12 meeting:
*Susan Edwards will develop a draft of a Five College Survey Test that RIO will revise by March 5. Bonnie Vigeland will ask Jan Jourdain about the possibility of providing a link to the survey from within ALEPH.
*Barbara Polowy will inquire about a consultant that Smith has used to conduct testing with focus groups and report back to RIO members via email.
*Bonnie Vigeland will ask Jan Jourdain about extracting data from ALEPH on failed searches for possible use in our usability testing.
Other RIO Business
RIO will begin planning for a summer (post July 1) Five College Reference meeting devoted to discussing techniques on Teaching the Catalog to our users.
Sherre Harrington mentioned that library directors’ liaison assignments to Five College committees are up for review. RIO recommended that Sherre remain our liaison.
Next meeting: Monday, March12, at 9am at Hampshire College.
