Protocol 1: Federated Search and Discovery
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.)
Federated Search 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://www.alexandria.ucsb.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 testing out browsing. What browse option seems the most useful to you as a researcher or staff member? Try clicking that option.
Now that we’re on a new page, can you describe the purpose and features you observe? What do you think about the way the information is organized? Click an option to explore further.
We now find ourselves on a search results page. Tell me about the presentation of material here.
Does each search result preview an appropriate set of fields?
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.
Exploratory Search
Now let’s try performing a search of items. On first glance, do you think this search tool provides the capabilities you expect to form a query? Do you typically prefer a more simple search tool, or a complex one?
Choose a keyword, perhaps one related to your subject area or interests, and search for it. (Offer “research” as a keyword if one is not forthcoming).
What do you notice about the types of results and their ranking?
Try examining the search limiters to see if there might be any that are useful to apply.
Known-Item Search
Imagine that you’re looking for an electronic thesis or dissertation by a person named John, but you’re not sure of their last name. Can you show me what your search process would be to find possible matches?
What aspects of the search process made this task easy or difficult?
Now try to find an audio file of interest and play it. Does the player have the functionality you need, or are there additional features here you’d find useful?
Post-Questions
What positive and negative aspects of this system come to mind immediately?
How did this system differ from those you’re familiar with at Emory?
How do you think a system like this might benefit other kinds of users you know at Emory?
Did interacting with this system give you any ideas of how we might improve or expand your engagement with Emory digital collections?
Thanks again for your participation.