The user is always right

Usability testing drives WorldCat Local interface

By David M. Duke

A plaque on the wall at the back of the Usability Lab at OCLC in Dublin, Ohio, reads: the user is always right. A fitting axiom, says Mike Prasse, Consulting User Interface Designer at OCLC and head of the U-Lab since its inception in 1990. “You could add a word and say that the user’s perceptions are always right.”

The U-Lab’s purpose is to evaluate how well users are able to interact with OCLC products that are still under development and correct any problems that may arise. And in recent months, the U-Lab has played host to extensive evaluation of the new WorldCat Local service.

Testing of WorldCat Local was a two-step process. The U-Lab began by recruiting OCLC staff to test it. These testers were employees who had no connection to the product team and little knowledge of the service.

• Changes implemented to WorldCat Local after its first round of testing included:

• Making journals easier to access by displaying availability and location on article records

• Placing online access URLs directly above the print availability display

• Placing URLs to online access on the detail record rather than on an intermediate page

• Placing all fulfillment links/buttons into one area on the screen above and below the availability display

Test results were presented to the product team, and the designers used the information to make changes, tweaks and fixes. Then the product was returned to the U-Lab for another round of testing. At this point, OCLC recruited students from the University of Washington for a series of on-site tests.

A second round of testing yielded the following changes:

• Making the default tab display “item details” instead of “libraries that own the item”

• Adding editions information to the detailed record (e.g., first edition or illustrated edition)

• Adding the ability to scope to a library or group in WorldCat Local

• Adding the ability to narrow results by some of the more popular formats, including DVD or audiobook

• Adding the ability to display and request print versions of items if a user is on an electronic version, allowing the user to request an item through ILL if it is unavailable at his or her library

Another method employed to test WorldCat Local involved contextual inquiry, whereby the user becomes the teacher and must show the testers how to work the program. “We sat there and watched them do their research with WorldCat Local,” says Prasse. “And while they’re doing that they’re considering us as the student trying to learn how they do research.”

Prasse claims that such a testing methodology provides valuable information, and in only a few sessions with different users he can see commonalities in how people do research. “And from that you can develop models that feed into changing our software to match the mental model that we have now derived from doing these on-site interviews.”

Designers and developers at OCLC continue to monitor the success of improvements made during the usability testing phase of WorldCat Local, and are dedicated to addressing any user issues that may arise in the future.

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