The Test
Introduction

Testing Process

Testing Materials

The Results
Overview

Success rate

Observed problems

User survey

[web advisory group]

	[rated on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 is the best)]	1	2	3	4	5
1.	Overall, finding specific information was: (difficult --- easy)	0	1	13	10	4
2.	Organization of our site was: (not effective --- very effective)	0	3	11	12	2

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3. Which pages or sections of our site do you find to be the most valuable?

The largest category of pages mentioned were our various databases and resources pages:

• databases and resources
• resources
• links to all the databases
• databases: WorldCat and Books in Print
• resources, databases, links to other libraries
• Barker and Science databases and ejournals
• all databases by subject or alphabetically
• resources and databases
• resources
• resources, esp. databases
• links on left of home page, resources, etc.
• large number of web resources
• subject list

Barton (our online catalog) was also frequently mentioned:

• Barton
• Barton
• Barton, resources
• Barton, databases, virtual ref
• web searching for book, thesis, and periodicals

Also mentioned were individual library home pages, and the main home page:

• individual library home pages
• individual library home pages
• individual library websites
  
  
• home page
• home page
• home page and services page
• overall appearance and design of homepage

The search engine was also mentioned:

• "find" page - search engine
• find page, links to individual libraries
• search engine

A few other pages:

• pages listing what the library has
• library hours and policies
• page that Deb Helman created for my class

4. Use this space to describe any ideas you have for new content or features you would like to see on our web site.

Testers made the following suggestions for new content or features:

• virtual guided tour
• each library should have circulation policies page
• list of new books sorted by subject with links to book reviews
• database: Book Review Digest
• short description of how to get started for new users
• page that describes databases available in addition to online catalog
• alternative home page in other languages - especially Japanese
• a central page indexing the whole library system (in columns to avoid scrolling)
• more explanations of the different kinds of databases and how they work
• things linked according to category, esp. for databases and ejournals, integrate with info about physical journals held

Testers also used this space to suggest changes or mention features that were problematic:

• change title of Virtual Reference
• resources and subjects guides are confusing
• list resources more prominently on Home page
• change home page to draw attention to most important resources
• lists are too long, require too much scrolling down
• make finding statistics easier, esp. for humanities people
• have pop-down menus to explain links on Home page, esp. Barton
• ask MIT to make it easier to find library page from web.mit.edu
• front page is nice, but confusing, instead have list of services available by topic
• better centralized information system, too much info. hidden in specific library pages
• simplify titles on screens
• add more data, could not find anything about electrical engineering
• whole site is not flexible enough
• some prompts on form buttons are ambiguous
• saw many pages that I didn't realize were available and have gone outside the institute to find in the past
• "find" should be larger, didn't notice until end that there was a search function

 webgroup-lib@mit.edu
2 April 99