These are preliminary observations based upon a brief heuristic analysis and from observation analysis of  a small group of student researchers. 

1. LCC / SuDoc / NLM menu

Recommendations/Questions

• Users did not seem to know what these meant or would do (if clicked).

Remove or hide this feature (done)

• Only 1 of 2 users tried this feature; neither knew what they did exactly: They had some idea that they were narrowing by “category” but little understanding of why or how – did not associate the letters with call numbers.

See above. The “big grey bandaid” should be eliminated entirely.

2. Narrow results by “Subset”

• Option does not always show up.  (Users do not understand why it is there sometimes and sometimes not.)

When do these NOT show, and why?

• Confusion w/ “Material Type”. Users used “Subset” first, as it appears at the top of the page, and did not notice “Material Type” until much later.  Were surprised to find “Material Type” and a little upset, because it often provided more choices than “Subset.”

Recommend removing “subset” and placing “material type” above the fold.

3. Narrowing results by Language

• Users desired way to filter only English-language results (probably because example search was for Napoleon) but did not know how to find them. This occurred even after they had noticed “Narrow by …” options on left-hand side of screen. 

Suggests the removal of some facets and possibly a way to trigger higher placement of language facet when multiple languages are available.

4. Options to remove Narrow Results filters

• Not noticeable enough – no noticed or at least not used by users

Odd placement; should be above facets, not adjacent to search results.

5. “Hide/Show” links for LCC / SuDoc / NLM menu - not prominent enough?

• Once clicked, they kept menu open.  Did not use “show” link, but LCC link.

Kill the grey bandaid completely.

6. RSS Button

• Not clear what RSS was, how it was used, or what advantages it provided.

Phoenix PL has a nice tutorial next to its RSS button and has agreed to let us “borrow” its text.

7. Need for more description/summary/TOC info

• Users seemed to rely heavily on these to determine if a result was relevant

TOC and abstracts appear to be valuable. Positive finding for libraries investing in these services.

8. Sort Results

• Users had trouble interpreting results. Confused by terms such as “main author, “most popular,” title a-z

Rename “Main Author” to “Author”;  expand “Most popular” to “Most popular results”

9. Unclear “Availability” links

• “Summary holdings”

Evaluate other opacs for language.

• “Library Has”

See above.

• Electronic resources – See link to Connect:

To be consistent, direct link should appear where “Available” normally appears.

• Many do not have anything in “Availability” column

How to address empty availability? Are users confused?

10. No ability to sort or filter by availability

11. Records w/ online TOC's are listed as "online resources"

This needs discussion system-wide, as this may be related to a known problem with Aleph and a lack of granularity with material types. It needs resolution but we need more data.

12. Need for a MARC record display?

• 1 user tried out of curiosity, but neither knew what it was/did for them.

Librarian-based feature; harmless as long as it doesn’t mislead others.

13. “Sign-in screen” for making requests – intimidating / confusing?

• Users immediately clicked away from this when they saw it.

Needs to be clearer (e.g. picture of FSU ID, etc.)

14. “MORE” link under Narrowing Facets – not noticeable enough?

• Users found it eventually, but not right away.

Evaluate bolding/placement.

15. Understanding of what “sign-in”, “end session” meant

• Users did not explore these links on their own. When asked, they said they had no idea what these would do for them (added features/functionality.)

Examine other OPACs for language and placement.

16. Ability to determine book icon, journal, etc.)

• Users wanted to know very clearly w/out clicking on the item: 1. whether item was available and 2. how to get it

Consider book jackets, material type icons, and emphasizing availability

Appendix: Other Issues/Notes

Typo w/ “end sesssion”

Click on "find it @ FSU" – took long time (problem w/ SFX server?) . . . never came up.

1 user considered publication date (how recent) very important, but could not find sorting options.

Ability to search for type (“book”, “journal”, etc.) using search box?

Linkable locations – what does “Strozier Special Collections” mean – where is that?

Linkable call numbers – where is this call number? What floor of what building?

Why are Add to List, View List, Check All - all the same w/ no distinction in purpose (visually or via placement on page)?

Add to list – seemed pretty clear in purpose, but 2 example users still preferred using paper and pencil to record relevant results. E-mail, print, format, or save options were never discovered or used.

Users relied on “number of pages” to see how many search results were turned up – either make # of search results more prominent, or provide page numbering at top to make more noticeable?

No one used the “subject heading” or “author” links in detailed display