Document 3: Website Focus Group Discussions

A Summary of Our Findings

Purpose of the Study

1. To gather student, faculty and staff input on what their needs and expectations are when seeking information in an online environment.

2. To find out what types of design structures and aesthetics users prefer when seeking information in an online environment.

Purpose cont.

3. To obtain user input on their needs and expectations when using the library’s website.

4. To find out what types of information (staff, hours, services etc), research tools, and instructional tools users would find useful when seeking information using the library’s website.

 The information gathered will be used to create a library

website that is centered on the research needs and expectations of Blinn College students, faculty and staff.

Methodology

Series of discussion led by moderator A revised version of a pre-tested script was

used Four student discussions (2 in Brenham, 2 in

Bryan) with 17 total participants Two faculty/staff discussions (1 in Brenham, 1

in Bryan) with 10 total participants

Part One: Searching the Internet

When students use the Internet to find information, the majority go to search engines first.– Yahoo and Google were mentioned most frequently– Ask Jeeves, Excite, MSN and Alta Vista were also

mentioned several times

What students like about search engines:

Fast Straightforward No Boolean searching Efficiency (“Just type in a

question and it answers you.”)

Broad variety of information

One stop shopping

Doesn’t give impertinent information

Take you directly to what you need

There’s nothing you can’t find

Types of information students are looking for on the internet

Recreational information: movie times, band sites, sports

Services: online banking, job searching, apartment searching

Newspapers and news resources Images Government information and government news

Opinions on the sites they use

Things students like: Attractive Colorful Contain a lot of

information Contain graphics and

images

Things students don’t like: Sites without graphics Sites without color Too much text

Part Two: Discussion of the Library’s Current Website

A Compilation of Student, Faculty and Staff Opinions

Student Quiz

A short quiz was administered to the students to assess how easy it is to find information using the library’s website

Student Quiz

The Bad News: 38% of students are confusing the “Periodicals”

link with the “Electronic Resources” link Only 48% of students were able to locate

information on library services Only 27% of students were able to locate

instructional information

Student Quiz

The good news: 88% of students were able to identify the online

catalog as the place to search for books

Ease of Use: Student and Faculty Perceptions

Most students find the site “fairly easy”or moderately easy to use.

Most of the faculty find the site “easy” to use Many students find the site “difficult” to use. Many of the faculty find the site “somewhat

confusing” All faculty members agree that students have

difficulty navigating the site

Why Students and Faculty are using the site:

The majority of students use the site for research related to their classes

The majority of students do not use the site for personal reasons

5 out of 7 faculty assign library research projects to their classes (71%)

3 out of 10 faculty/staff use the site for personal research (30%)

Issues with the design of the site:

The white background is sterile and unwelcoming

Layout of homepage and second tier pages are overcrowded, confusing and too busy

The site contains too much text. Information on second tier pages is too buried

Navigation Issues

Many students have difficulty navigating the site

Many students have difficulty navigating through the electronic resources

Suggestions for Improving the Design of the Site:

Simplify Background color Images Graphical icons Mouse over menus Buttons No scrolling Consistent menus

Remove bullets More white space Group links into 4 or 5

main categories Don’t use all caps for

words Make page more inviting

Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site:

Links to Blinn Campus Resources: Blinn Log Boris WebCT

Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site cont.

Instructional Information: Electronic Resources Citing Sources Selecting Search Terms/Constructing

Searches

Suggestions for Improving the Content of the Site cont.

Prominent display of: – library hours– library news and announcements– email link for contacting the library– online renewals– news links

Meta search feature on the homepage

Part Three: Opinions of the Website Demos

Students were shown two alternative versions of the library’s website:

http://Blackbeard/Library/LibraryDemo/Homepage/Index.htm

http://Blackbeard/Library/homepagedemo/index.htm

Blue Demo: Positive Aspects

Names of links are clear, easy to read

Not a lot of text Simple to understand Categories are easy to

understand and see Categories are broken

down Looks easier to operate

“Meat” of the site in center of page

Contains a lot of space Aesthetically pleasing Dummy proof Inviting Looks like a homepage

Blue Demo: Suggestions for Improvement

Change the font color Bolder links and higher contrast Add the Blinn logo More contrast in colors Incorporation of mouse over menus

Yellow Demo: Positive Aspects

Prominent display of library news and announcements

Contrasting colors Separated into categories The layout of the sections The structure of the page Appears to contain more information Prominent display of the library’s hours Colorful

Yellow Demo: Suggestions for Improvement

Many students felt the page “had to much stuff on it”

Several students suggested changing the yellow color

Version of the homepage preferred overall

The majority of participants said both demo sites are improvements over the present homepage

The majority of participants suggested merging the strengths of the demo sites an incorporating mouse over menus– Simplicity, categories and groupings of blue demo– Prominent news and announcements and library

hours of Yellow site