Supporting Self Discovery
Designing Effective Subject Pages
Darlene Fichter
Data Library Coordinator, U of S Library
Subject Pages
The problem
Defining our purpose
Rounds of testing
The results
Articles and Databases by Topic
Usability Studies in 2002 and 2003 showed that:
66% of the time our site failed to support the
user.
Only 33% could locate databases by topic
 Two useful full text databases on religion
Many participants gave up after trying for 3 or more minutes.
Find an article?
Choose a database?
Databases by Subject
Subject Page
Zoom In
What We Learned
Mental model
User preferences
“If I just knew a
journal title that had
articles on muscle
strain …”
“I don’t usually
search for articles. My
research assistants
do.”
Time for a Tune Up
What could we do given our time and
resources?
– Evidence that our current site fails users
– Widespread desire to change the databases
page (but many different ideas about how)
Staff survey to ask how library staff think user
communities look for information
How do People Look for Library Resources?
Approaches Ranked by Importance:
Approach
Undergrad
Grad
Faculty
database name
5
2
2
product name
6
5
6
subject/discipline
2
1
1
course
4
6
4
format - I need article, book
1
4
5
journal title
3
3
3
Subject Pages – Our Key Assumptions
#1. Not designed for the expert user, but for the
undergraduate who doesn’t know the system
–
Best Bets
#2. ‘Just in time’ information, not ‘just in case’
–
–
Online access information (licensing restrictions)
Designed for “recognition not recall”
Assumptions
#3 ‘Less is more’
–
–
Very brief information
Reduce information pollution / cognitive overhead
#4 ‘Some of these things are not like the others’
–
–
Similar things are grouped together (e.g. format,
tutorials, librarian info)
Use structure, layout, and position to organize
information
New Design
Ideas from Rochester’s Course Pages and Washington Subject
Page study http://www.lib.washington.edu/Usability/by-subj/
Zoom In
Articles
Best Bets
Challenge: What elements/where?
Full text
Prototype
Full text
Date
On the Left?
Froogle?
Maybe both?
The Answer to Full Text Indicator
Kept it on the left
Real answer was a smarter interface
– Open URL resolver
Summary
Clear definition of the purpose of the page or
service
Simple and easy to use is not always simple
and easy to design
Thank you
Questions?
Darlene Fichter
University of Saskatchewan Libraries
library.usask.ca/~fichter/