Thank you for your willingness to be interviewed as part of Emory’s Digital Library Program. Our research today is focused on identifying end-user needs and preferences for online research activities. We’re seeking your feedback as a member of the Emory community in order to help us design effective online interfaces.
Our session today will last between 30 and 60 minutes. We’ll be recording the computer screen and session audio in order to better document the results. This will not be shared outside of the project team. Please sign this release to indicate your consent.
Offer release.
Thanks, we’ll start with a few general questions about your activities at Emory.
Pre-Questions
Can you tell me about your role at Emory?
What kinds of library resources do you consult as part of your work or research?
Do you consult digital material as part of your work, which could include text, images, audio, video, data sets, or disk images? (Follow up if yes.)
Are you familiar with Emory digital collections, which include materials unique to the University such as scholarly publications, primary source material, and research datasets? These might be hosted in systems such as LUNA, The Keep, ArtStor, ETDs, OpenEmory, or Dataverse. (Follow up if yes.)
Collections Protocol
Now, we’ll take a look at an example of a digital library interface. I’ll ask you some questions to guide the discussion, but we’re mostly interested in whatever impressions you have as we proceed. Please feel free to click and explore however you wish. I also ask that you to think aloud - meaning that you narrate what you're thinking and what you're trying to do as you navigate these pages.
Start user at http://library.ucsd.edu/dc/
General Questions
What are your first impressions of this site? What is the first part of the screen that your eyes gravitate toward?
What seems to be the purpose or utility of the site? What kinds of material do you think you can find here?
From the homepage, you can see options to search or browse. Can you tell me more about how these seem to work? Is the functionality broken up in a way that is logical and useful?
Browse
Let’s try browsing for collections, if you can find a way to do so.
We now find ourselves on a results page. Tell me about the presentation of material here. In this context, what does the collections concept mean to you?
Does each list result preview an appropriate set of fields and contextual information?
Look at the adjustments for the list view. Do these cover an expected range of functionality?
Now let’s look at the ways we can limit search. Does this group of facets seem complete? Are they labeled in a useful manner? Tell me about some of your often-used fields for searching and refining in this kind of context.
Click on a collection to examine further. Does the detail page provide appropriate and complete information?
Find a specific collection item to examine. Can you locate the collection context here? Is it easy to browse related items in this manner? (Ask about collection items in repository and online finding aid).
Repeat at http://dl.tufts.edu/
General Questions
What are your first impressions of this site? What is the first part of the screen that your eyes gravitate toward?
What seems to be the purpose or utility of the site? What kinds of material do you think you can find here?
From the homepage, you can see options to search or browse. Can you tell me more about how these seem to work? Is the functionality broken up in a way that is logical and useful?
Browse
Let’s try browsing for collections, if you can find a way to do so.
Once you find a list of collections, tell me about the presentation of material. In this context, what does the collections concept mean to you?
Does each list result preview appropriate set contextual information?
Look at the adjustments for the list view. Do these cover an expected range of functionality?
Select a collection of interest to you. Can you find a way to examine information about the collection as a whole?
Now let’s look at the ways we can limit search results. Does this group of facets seem complete? Are they labeled in a useful manner? Tell me about some of your often-used fields for searching and refining in this kind of context.
Click on an item to examine further. Can you locate the collection context here? Is it easy to browse related items in this manner? (Ask about collection items in repository and online finding aid).
Post-Questions
What positive and negative aspects of these systems come to mind immediately?
How would you compare the discovery and interaction process for collections between the two systems? Do they offer a suitable process for collections-based research?
How did these systems differ from those you’re familiar with at Emory?
How do you think a system like one of these might benefit other kinds of users you know at Emory?
Did interacting with these systems give you any ideas of how we might improve or expand your engagement with Emory digital collections?
Thanks again for your participation.