Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Article Testing an Academic Library Website for Usability with Faculty and Graduate Students

Abstract

Objectives-This usability study was developed to observe faculty and graduate students' reactions to a recent redesign of the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries' website. The redesign included new navigational features, introduction of a federated search tool, a quick search box on the front page, and research subject pages. The study also provided the opportunity to observe the practices of faculty and graduate students in locating and retrieving information on the Libraries' website. Methods-Ten participants (five faculty and five graduate students) representing diverse disciplines were solicited for the study. Participants were required to access the Libraries' website to answer a series of questions regarding new and updated features of the website. Observational analysis using Morae™ software was 24