Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria home page layout Look and Feel Secondary/tertiary page template/layout university library branding University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Like BYU-- top third is image with search interface as an overlay. left two thirds (when full size) has chunks for research and news & Events with columns of links. Right side has (most needed?) library info and resources as tiles with specific user group sections below that on left side. Good use of chunking of info and breaking up layout between columns, tiles and expandable menus. I really like the layout-- meets a lot of user needs and business objectives--Discovery interface dominates at top with research tools expanded in center of page Info for common tasks as tiles on left side, different user groups below that, and News & Events beginning and present just above the fold. Help is called out well with Ask us! and icon. Consolidated pages for headers (ex. "Start your Research") not accessible through header links but through "more" when present or not at all. Must get to these pages by going down a level and clicking on links in breadcrumbs. E-Journals, Databases, Encyclopedias, E-Newspapers, are all LibGuides templates. Page layouts are a mix of columns and tabs, with no single unified layout. Non LibGuides pages basic 2-3 columns of headers and list items/links, no images. University of Washington Libraries branding prominent in banner with UW logo. UW colors (purple and gold) throughout as headers and links. However, Gold UW logo looks like it's part of University Libraries branding. Actually, it is separate, and takes you to UW home page. Big image carousel of news, collections, services, with smaller preview icon on right (mimics carousel on Vandy homepage), some touch buttons, emphasis is not on research (search is a button in navigation - no search box on page unless you hover over search), not a lot of scrolling, flat colors with slight gradient in header, black and gold Vandy colors, plus complimentary color palate, responsive design removes image carousel, homepage fits on screens easily, "Use the Library" box has icons and links of most heavily used services 2 different colors used for page name and headings (h1, h3), but not always consistently used, image bar at top of every secondary and many tertiary pages that is random on Consistent logo throughout, small persistent bar at top to campus website, and other links Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Look and Feel Website Evaluation Criteria fonts and colors use of image use of video balance of text, image, white-space Experience Across Devices responsive University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Headers and body text all sans serif, but weird (very little) spacing between page headers and text. Beige/Gold not a very strong choice for headers. The purple subheaders stand out much more. Similar to UH, they seem stuck with a very narrow range of University-branded colors-- purple, gold and sometimes dark grey. Use of full bleed image on home page behind search and use of images in tiles very effective. Not much of a visual grammar in terms of images after that. Different shapes and sizes positioned sporadically throughout the site. No full bleed images I can find other than home page. Nice use of image in banner on pages below home page, although they used the same image for every page. Good or Bad? Very thorough well organized library of research instruction videos. Found under Support>How Do I . . . Cannot find any promotional use of video. Very good balance of text in short columns with images and tiles breaking up the layout, clarifying the different chunks of information. Yes. Navigation hides under menu icons and columns collapse as needed. Images do not really adapt however. Mobile view also retains graphical and image elements, breaking up the text columns. I really like how the most needed tasks when someone is on mobile are called out in the mobile view. Helvetica, lots of whitespace, black, gold, turquoise colors Lots of images, images in headers on secondary/tertiary pages are scalable and still display on mobile, 2 images also always display in the "Use the Library" box (latest news and special collections), use of icons match theme and are unique, use of oak leaf and acorn consistent throughout site Video tutorials (Camtasia) under some branches, but not necessarily at point of need Nice balance, good spacing, many images, but not necessarily relevant to content on page Yes, very nice. Big images are removed, smaller images are SVG, and some content is rearranged so much used services (like hours and locations) are at top in buttons, site designed for both tablets and smart phones, Primo doesn't become responsive for tablet sizes, but does for smart phone size, and it looks terrible. Also, all navigation goes away no more user portals. Campus libraries link changes to Locations button. Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria big touch targets optimized for touch limited hover behavior, tooltips Discovery of Discovery interface resources Location and presentation of search tools architecture University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Other than tiles on expanded home page, big Yes. Buttons or big images are links. No touch targets aren't implemented. Mostly hamburger buttons anywhere. On pages traditional text links. deeper in site that have internal navigation (giving, scholarly communication), navigation stays the same (links) and are difficult to touch. Hover is present, but can open menus with Hover in main navigation, but in responsive touch. No real concerted use of tooltips design, all user portals disappear, so no more hover. No noticeable use of tooltips. I really like the presence of the search A search box is not visible anywhere on the site. interface in top right on all pages after home A gold search button is prominent in the header page. It is always visible which I think works main navigation, and when you hover over that, better than hidden behind a dropdown (UH). a tabbed search box appears. A search for all Three paths -- WorldCat, UW Libraries, and gives bento box approach with names of tools, Site Search. First two have unclear helper not items you find in them (pictures, articles, text, Site Search has clear helper text. I really books, etc.). DiscoverLibrary is one of the like the Site Search/Item Search distinction, options. Then under Catalogs tab, but WorldCat vs UW Libraries is confusing. DiscoverLibrary is listed there, and they treat it Searching by database is hidden behind like a catalog. Makes me think they are going to Advanced search. Search tools well phase out Acorn soon. I like that search is organized in center of page under "Start your available from anywhere on the site, but not that Research," However the categories seem to it's perpetually hidden. overlap and are confusing. BYU does a really good job of consolidating tools under understood categories. Also-- I really like a discovery section "Start Your Research" that includes research tools plus course reserves and collections Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website EvaluationLocation Criteriaand Discovery interface Discovery of resources Presentation of search results presentation of search tools University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ The search as three tabs effectively distinguishes search paths. Other than that, Search tools are represented in body as traditional links. Users interact with specific tools (e.g. databases, research guides) interaction through LibGuides templates, usually design (tabs, involving bright yellow tabs. FOUR buttons, etc) DIFFERENT layouts organizing info by alpha-- Articles, e-Journals, Research Guides, Subject Librarians. Terrible use of tabs in LibGuides templates. Using them as links not as actual tabs. WorldCat is featured, followed by the Catalog (UW Libraries Search). E-Journals, which tool(s) Databases all given equal weight as links, is/are Research is the bottom link and not featured emphasized. Interesting-- they include "Mobile Search Tools" UW Worldcat results restricted to those with UW NetID. UW Library search is primo. Aggregated display of results. Facet options and controls are typical of Primo. I don't understand why you can continue to refine, but not expand again. BYU results have Aggregated and usability checkboxes that allow your to refine multiple faceted display of facets at once, and apply any combination in search results any one action. "Check for Availability" and (discovery system "Check for online access" seem redundant default results) over "Availability" and "Access Options" links. On search results page, you lose Libraries logo and way home. I really prefer BYU's search results that put research tool options above the search satisfaction results. I am not satisfied with the way facets work in this Primo configuration. 6 options are present: All, Catalogs, Databases, E-Journals, Research Guides, and Site Search. All have helper text, some have additional info. New users won't know what DiscoverLIbrary, Acorn, or WorldCat are. They don't use the word "articles" anywhere, so it leaves users (me) confused. I feel jerked around a bit by jargon and my personal understanding of how libraries typically use discovery systems to find articles vs. books and other types of materials. Not sure if one tool is featured more than any other, Uses bento box approach N/A Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ n/a usability Presentation of search results n/a Federated "bento box" display of search results satisfaction Findability of clarity of separation of research and library most needed operations info info services Clarity in Search interface; Common info/tasks about using the library separated out and featured; Start Your Research and Use the Libraries I think is a good way to separate these kinds of info Displays search results in Bento box style, with practically unusable results. I think I'd get better results just going into the discovery system (which if you remember is only directly accessible under catalogs tab) than trying to comprehend the jargon and poor display of search results. NOT satisfied. Can't tell what the search results material types are. I apparently have to know that acorn = books (mostly?) and that DiscoverLibrary = articles (mostly?), and that one, which would be the most important to students, is at the bottom of the page! Also, the word "more" is confusing. I thought it meant more results, but apparently it instead takes you to the record or page. Only some categories (DiscoverLibrary and Acorn) offer to "See All results" which take you into Primo or the catalog. Additionally, Liaison librarians show up under Research Help and don't seem to have consistent or logical matches to the queried topics. Eg., a search for "science" returns no science databases and instead a library developer's test page. Also, this federated approach makes the page load considerably slow at times, or time out completely. Good in theory, but poor implementation. NCSU and BYU's versions are much better There is clarity of separation for sure. Research is hidden under a tab. Homepage is all about the news, services, events, and collections. Anything about the library itself (About, Employment, Staff) is in the footer. The Use the Library bar is persistent throughout the site, always on the left, and contains helpful links. I like user portals, and I understand why so much info is in footer. Just weird. Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria hours Findability of most needed info services ILL/borrowing reserves study rooms/using or reserving a space computer/equipment/room availability University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Like Wisconsin, they have a bunch of libraries so cannot display hours on home page (although I think they can show 2 biggest libraries). Easily findable behind tile, however, hours page is long lists of libraries and numbers and then another link to their hours. They are featuring phone number before hours? Could include open/closed status and maybe hours for two main libraries on home page and highlight them on hours page. Also reduce clicks to hours. Easy to find under Use the Library (expected). Question: Is this where students will need access to ILL? Or is it in the search result? Very findable as visible link under Start Your Research Button on top right in main navigation, goes to page with table of every library (9 places) and shows all hours for a week. No display of current hours on homepage - all libraries are treated equally. Page is full of horizontal bars and not visually attractive or easy to use quickly . Not as friendly or clear what's open NOW as NCSU's hours page. Listed with icon in the "Use the Library" menu, and sometimes listed under each of the user portals. ILL/Faculty Delivery is commonly used. This is buried on the Student Portal page. You then have to click on Student Services, and read to then discover that you need to log into Acorn to find print reserves and OAK to find electronic reserves. Not very prominent or clear. Reserve a Space very easy to find as a tile on Getting to the "Study Rooms/Carrels" page is home page. However, study rooms are listed easy as it's listed in the "Use the Library" menu on specific library sites, so hard to find and a and under the Student portal. However, it's a bit confusing. long page with procedures and policies, and there really aren't that many rooms to reserve. Each library is different. Also, the page "Find quiet study areas" is a narrative list that goes through each library and tries to describe floors and areas. Visuals would really help with this instead. Also, this info is completely separate from just finding a study space. Basic computer info is very findable -The info is available under Student portal. You however the equipment is managed by can look at availability of circulating iPads and Learning Technologies in IT -- must follow link laptops in each library, not presented anywhere there, but no info on availability. else on site. Also, you can see the total number of all other types of equipment and computers available for checkout/use in each of the libraries, but doesn't display live availability data. Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Research guides link is present but not featured-- at bottom of list items under Start Your Research header. research guides my account point of need help Support ask us grad students presenting information to User Groups different types of users findability of services dedicated page faculty findability of services dedicated page Research and course guides available under Student portal. They have a LibAnswers box on their Research Guides homepage. Nice theming. All navigation except VU goes away. Very prominent as a tile. (Could not log in.) Only visible under the Students and Faculty/Staff portals. Help & Support persistent in global nav and The only place to get help is on the Ask a ask us! persistent and very visible in top right Librarian page, and it's as sparse as can be. corner NOT really helpful, unless you type in something and go to LibAnswers. Also, there are no email addresses visible for any librarian on the staff directory - you have to use webform on site to contact them. There are email addresses available for service points or libraries, but those are more buried. No way to get help by calling, emailing (unless you search first), texting and chat not options. ask us! graphic is persistent and highly There is the Ask a Librarian page, but to get any visible. However, chat takes you to a new help, you have to do a search. No contact info page that replaces current page. immediately available. No chat. No text. No service desk numbers or emails listed, just link to Subject Librarians page, Contact page, and Staff Directory - none of which are that immediately helpful. Quite findable -- grad student-specific Grads are lumped under student services. One resources visible on homepage and a page is of the major portals in the main navigation dedicated to them Yes yes as with grad student resources, visible on Faculty and Staff are put together as one of the home page. However, going straight to those major portals in the main navigation resources puts user into the middle of the site. Yes yes Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria alumni / visitors findability of services dedicated page those with disabilities findability of services dedicated page balance of meeting student needs and library marketing objectives Content Strategy voice findable from home page Special Collections physical/digital distinction University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Same as grad students/faculty. They even break up visitors into K12 and Alumni/Visitors. However, borrowing privileges hidden under Visit logistics Yes These are separated out with entirely different links under them. They are 2 of the major portals in the main navigation Pretty good, but under "MORE" which takes you to Using the Libraries. Also under Using the Libraries No Buried under the About Page, which is only accessible through the footer. Focus is definitely on research/using the library, but News & Events are visible slightly above the fold. Giving, however, not present at all. Yes, and Yes yes Focus is definitely on news, events, collections, exhibits, and less emphasis on student services or research. Very odd for a research library and a campus with as many graduate students as undergraduate students, but I know why this is the case, unfortunately. Uses a lot of bullet points. In cases of Some bullets, mostly narrative in short narrative, however (ex. dropdown menus), it's sentences. Too wordy in some places. Too too wordy. On specific library sites there is much library jargon, abbreviations (ILL). some narrative, but still it's all in bullet points. Professional in voice, but typos and spacings wrong in many places and was distracting. yes, link under Start your research, but not Yes, in the "Use the Library" menu. Not really called out accessible anywhere else. Not even in About section. Very good physical/digital distinction on Spec Coll homepage and navigation is odd. Collections & Archives page. in two widely Nothing but images with text, so you have to separated columns. read everything, and everything has equal weight. It also says featured collections, but not everything is a collection. You can search collection by subject, but you can't easily see what subjects there are unless you read everything on the length of the page. Also, under ANOTHER area where there are 4 main collections, they list Book, Manuscript, Photographic, and University Archives. None of these are digital. Can't easily find digital collections. Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria each findable from home page link in footer Branches different look and feel/layout between branches? Users think it's a different site? Giving to the findable from home page Libraries getting back to the home page How flexible (can options grow?) Navigation Primary and secondary University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Yes, under Libraries & Hours Yes, under Campus Libraries. (There aren't other campuses, just branch libraries.) Believe it or not, yes. (there's a bunch) Nope, because they are all listed in the main navigation. Branch libraries have the same layout Branches all look the same, almost too much framework. Local nav is in the same place the same because of the repetitiveness of the and styled the same. Very clear you're on the images. Links are different, but categories are same site. The layouts of each libraries' sites' all the same. The only site that's different is the body text can vary. Some similar blocks and Biomedical Library. some very different layouts, depending on (clearly) the resources of the individual library Under about the libraries as Support the Yes, in the footer, very prominent. Can't miss it. Libraries. Not very prominent. Lose Home icon in UW Libraries Search results page. Only way home is link in footer. Home is redundant in global navigation on lower level pages. W logo is confusing, because it seems part of the libraries logo Global nav could add 1 more option on full size screen; Getting back to the homepage from anywhere in the site is very easy, although once you are in DiscoverLibrary (Primo) or Acorn (Catalog), you can only click on the logo in the footer. Breadcrumbs seem to work well. Main nav doesn't have more room, although in tablet view, it moves below logo. Use the Library menu can grow because it's a list instead of a horizontal row. Navigation both vertically and laterally can be problematic. 2nd level pages are only accessed through "More". (BYU puts "view all" closer to header, which makes more sense.) Start your Research is not displayed in global navigation on home page, but appears on all pages below. On home page, it is at the same level as News & Events, but that's not in the global nav. Unclear where user group pages are in the architecture. There is no "More" in the navigation, so that's not a problem. However, like Washington, for many other things, you have to scroll to the bottom of a list to see "more" options. It's also used on pages where there could be a lot of content, and instead they only display 1 sentence and then have the "more". Also, "more" is consistent throughout the site because they use a little yellow arrow, so it becomes familiar. On the homepage alone, there are between 5-6 mores. Number of links How are options (other content) that are not displayed handled? Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria quick access links in appropriate/expected places Within microsites My Account managing unique navigation needs for sites within sites (like Spec Coll, Giving and Technology pages) What services (whether library or campus services) are listed under the link, and what the interaction is like what information is presented Staff profile pages are images standardized across profiles? how publications/scholarship is presented Maps & Directions how are the various branch locations presented to users? how are locations and directions to different service points within the library handled? (e.g. Spec Coll, ARC, LC, Rockwell) How are past events handled? News & Events How are regularly occurring events handled? Do they have a homepage existing outside of an event calendar? (like Poetry & Prose does) University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Excellent job of providing quick links to common info needs on home page-- hours, computers & printing, etc.; Cool idea -- Quick Fact Resources in right side panel on Start your Research page. I like the Use the Library Menu. It's almost always there on the left, and the little icons are nice. Not many other links, seriously. Hours is a button, and Search is also persistent, but no real Help or My Account prominent. Force users to use portals. User group pages -- take you to pages under This is done fairly well on branch pages as well main site categories, but you don't know as pages like Scholarly Communication and where you are or how to get back. Also -Giving to the Libraries. It's a box with links and a navigation to sections of UW main site and picture on the right side of the page. Very clear. other campuses present above banner However, it doesn't translate well on mobile. Quite visible as a tile on the home page, but Only visible under the Students and no idea what services lie behind it. Many Faculty/Staff portals. My Account takes you to services, like reserving a room, required UW an Acorn (catalog) login page, must have VUnet NetID log in. Library Account is authenticated ID. No access to any other services except with UW NetID. faculty delivery, which is through the catalog. Staff Directory is bad. Browse by searching Not spectacular. Contains basic contact info, with no search terms. Only contact info for and mostly only librarians have pictures. Email staff, while subject librarians have very addresses aren't listed - have to use contact extensive LibGuides pages. form. Individual email addresses are listed on separate library pages, under "Ask ____" no Sort of. Either small head-shot or the Vandy logo. Some list publications in separate tab on Nope. LibGuides. Profile Link is a loop. Home>Libraries & Hours>Hours & Contact The are small images that lead to PDFs. That's Info>click on map>big map with location it. PDFs. highlighted. No directions,however. No map for the individual libraries, only lists of They aren't. Service point info found on some of service points by floor. Service point info the individual library pages, not consistent. found on site of individual library Do not see any past events No events. Just news (Wordpress) and there is an archives of that, and an extensive category list. New page header is NEWS EVENTS None that I can tell. EXHIBITS Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria How broad is the scope of events? How are users able to keep current with news? RSS, email, subscription, other? Are there other sources of news (like spec coll blog) and how are presented with the other news (separate or aggregated)? Electronic resources issues Notes University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ NEWS EVENTS EXHIBITS; provides links to College of Arts & Sciences calendar and UW calendar; Calendar can only be reached by clicking on individual event Events are mixed in with News. However, Special Collections Exhibits site lists events. There are also events on Scholarly Communications page. No calendars, no signups, just news about it. Library Calendar, News & Info and Blog feeds RSS. That's it. on separate page. Can subscribe to each. Stay Connected has Social Media + Sign up for E-News Don't see any blog posts on Events page, but Exhibits are handled completely separate, and may exist, I just haven't found any. there is some news there. Mixed in with news, if at all. How are these presented to the user? General notes that don't fit any criteria Home page meets a lot of needs (search, Clean, consistent design common tasks, user groups, promote events) Nice use of images Strengths Most used services, news, and Special Collections access available throughout in “Use the Library” box Nice use of tag lines to give more info about a Responsive design is very nice, and some section or page content is removed and some moved to top with nice touch targets Responsive (to some extent) Nice information architecture of scholarly communications Easy access to common tasks on mobile Nice distinction between site and item search Addresses needs of different user groups Services split out by users so info is more relevant and not overwhelming Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria Strengths Weaknesses University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Presents one research across several (oncampus) libraries, but each library has a separate space for describing their resources Over-reliance on LibGuides; info may not map well to templates governed by (ugly yellow) tabs. Easy to get lost (site map not always clear) Very trim site, not a lot of info, and what’s there is often very narrative although some attempts to reduce content with “see more” yellow arrow Noticed several typos (misspellings) UW WorldCat/UW Libraries Search clear to user? Help not prominent, and only self-help is really emphasized; No way for users to easily call or email (both buried or forced to use webform); Chat and Text options not present Research not prominent; search hidden, search results slow and not entirely relevant; Primo interface needs improvement Too much jargon and branding of tools: DiscoverLibrary, OAK, Acorn, ILL, etc. Touch targets just links and hover IT manages computers, determining availability on site difficult Library Website Competitive Analysis Data Sheet Website Evaluation Criteria Weaknesses University of Washington Vanderbilt University Robert Newell Rachel Vacek http://www.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ Experience varies across different libraries’ sites. Some have research resources, some just description (users would use these two kinds of sites differently). Confusing when most research info on big Libraries site, but physical resource info on specific libraries sites; for room resources, can alternate between main site, a specific libraries’ site, and IT site Services split out for different types of users makes a lot of assumptions - Technology not usable by faculty? Students don’t need subject liaisons? Special Collections info only about print, and exhibits totally separate site, with some “collections” there (curated online exhibits?) Weak staff profile pages No calendar