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A Vibe Check for our Glow Up:�Gathering User Feedback During an Upgrade

Ben Rearick�Web User Experience Specialist

Anne Shelley�Digital Repository Services Librarian

Olivia Wikle�Head of Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

Parks Library, Iowa State University

"Main (east) entrance to the Library, 1944", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9r785p70

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Background

~120,000 items
Upgrade from DSpace 7.2 to 7.6.2
Hosted and supported by Atmire (custom client)
Repository organization relies on entities

3 communities + ~8 collections
Half of our collections are entity-based

Author profiles (Person)
Campus units (Org unit)
Journals + Volumes + Issues (Journal)
Series (Custom)

Used test instance during interviews

"Photograph of students studying in the Veterinary Medical Library", Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Collection, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9m03z44b

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Motivations

Give users an opportunity to participate in the upgrade process
Assess users’ ability to locate and retrieve content, and identify patterns in their search and browsing behaviors
Learn what modifications to the repository might improve users’ overall experience
Leverage the ongoing upgrade process as an opportunity to integrate user insights into interface and functionality improvements requested by the repository team

"Library card catalog instruction, 1951", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9125q94v

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Research Questions

How do users search DSpace? How do users browse DSpace?
What elements of DSpace present barriers to users trying to complete a task?
How do users adapt their approach when needed in order to complete a task?
What do users find easy about using DSpace? What do users find challenging about using DSpace?

"Head reference librarian, Elizabeth Windsor, helping students at the Information Desk, 1962", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9ht2gc16

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Methodology

Think-aloud usability sessions
Four librarians, one graduate student, one faculty, one P&S staff
Six scenarios
60-minute Zoom sessions, recorded and transcribed
Offered $10 gift card for university dining

"Student chatting with reference librarian William Birdsall", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w95m6273r

Ben

1.5 minutes

We conducted a series of think-aloud usability sessions using the test site of DSpace which was in a final draft stage.

To ensure diverse perspectives from researchers and other user groups, we reached out to specific campus stakeholders and invited them to participate as volunteers.

As an incentive for volunteering for these usability sessions, participants were given $10 gift cards for use at university dining locations.

Prior to testing with external participants, we first conducted four sessions with library staff to ensure the tasks were clear and workable. After refining the tasks internally, we completed three additional sessions with a faculty participant, a graduate student, and a non-library staff member.

We wrote six scenarios with search and browse tasks and supplemented these tasks with five broad overview questions about users' overall experience with the session and updated repository interface.

Each session was scheduled on Zoom for 60 minutes, and participants were invited to share their screens as they spoke aloud about their experiences completing each task. They could skip any task at their discretion, and all sessions were recorded for later analysis.

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Tasks

Search for a known item
Use filters to discover how many items exist from a certain month
Search for a type of item within a certain year
Discover how many items are present for a certain department
Usage stats for a certain type of item
Find a specific author profile

"Photograph of students studying in the Veterinary Library", Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Collection, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9z60c83n

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Results - Observations

Observations by participants

5 out of 7 said icons were helpful when asked what they liked
4 out of 7 mentioned alphabetizing the list of departments
Naming of different sections caused confusion with expectations (ex. "Statistics")
2 librarians mentioned some features as more useful for internal usage
3 compared features and expectations between other academic search platforms

Observations by us

Direct searching by 6 of 7 on first task (1 selected an icon)
3 of 7 encountered or voiced frustration on Browse confusion with selecting filters loading immediately on second task (including 1 failure)
Loading time and speed with which a filter would cause a new load was unclear across at least 3 tasks

"Student using early library computer", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w99p2w65m

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Discussion

Changes we requested based on interviews:

Short and consistent collection names

“Author Profiles” instead of “Academic and Administrative Profiles”

Default alphabetic sort on certain collection landing pages

Org unit entities
Person entities

Accessibility issue with colors in filter label

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Appendix: Task Prompts

Task 1: You want to know who the advisor is on a particular dissertation. The title of the dissertation is “Configural, holistic, and coordinate processing: The same or different?” (Search for a known item)

Task 2: You would like to know how many records in the Digital Repository were published in March 2018. (Browse site by date)

Task 3: Your colleague Cassandra Rutherford presented two papers at the 2020 Engineering Project Organization Conference and they were published as proceedings. You have forgotten the paper titles and want to look for the proceedings in the DR. (Search within collection, filter by author and year)

Task 4: You are the chair of the Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management at ISU. You want to know how many publications related to your department are in the DR. (Identify number of items by department)

Task 5: You are preparing an annual report for the Graduate College. You want to know which Creative Components have the highest usage statistics. (Locate statistics within collection)

Task 6: You are a faculty member in the Architecture department. You want to know how many publications display on the author profile for your frequent collaborator, Shelby Doyle. (Find a specific author profile)

"Library monitor checking books inside library Rotunda (south) entrance, 1961.", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9js9h80d

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Thank You + Questions

Ben: brearick@iastate.edu

Anne: aeshelle@iastate.edu

Olivia: omwikle@iastate.edu

https://dr.lib.iastate.edu

"Student consulting a librarian at the Card Catalog Information Desk", Iowa State University Photographs, Iowa State University Library Digital Collections, https://n2t.net/ark:/87292/w9v40k03x