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.)

Complex ETD 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 https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/

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?

Known-Item Search

Try to find the electronic theses and dissertations on the site.

We now find ourselves on a results page. Tell me about the presentation of material here.

Does each list 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.

Try to find the thesis by Rebecca Hiscott (https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:13623) and review its item page. Locate the list of files associated with the thesis.

When you see this list of files, how do you think they relate to the thesis being described on the item page? (Followup: How do the files relate to one another?)

Is the information presented about each file enough for you to determine what it may contain, or how it relates to the item page? (Followup: If not, what additional information might be helpful?)

Try to find the thesis by Muhammad Zuhair Yusuf (https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:14381) and review its item page. Locate the files associated with the thesis.

When you see this list of files, how do you think they relate to the thesis being described on the item page? (Followup: How do the files relate to one another?)

Is the information presented about each file enough for you to determine what it may contain, or how it relates to the item page? (Followup: If not, what additional information might be helpful?)

Navigate to https://etd.library.emory.edu/

Try to find the thesis by Hasan Rasheed Ahmed (https://etd.library.emory.edu/view/record/pid/emory:94133) and review its item page. Locate the files associated with the thesis.

When you see this list of files, how do you think they relate to the thesis being described on the item page? (Followup: How do the files relate to one another?)

Is the information presented about each file enough for you to determine what it may contain, or how it relates to the item page? (Followup: If not, what additional information might be helpful?)

Post-Questions

What positive and negative aspects of these systems come to mind immediately?

How would you compare the discovery and interaction process for theses and dissertations between the two systems?

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.

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