Chauffeured by the User: Usability in the Electronic Library at the University of Arizona and OCLC

Abstract

Librarians have not traditionally been the developers of information retrieval systems. However, with the growth of the World Wide Web and online knowledge management opportunities, academic librarians have begun to emerge as online system developers and designers. As librarians jockey for position as experts in understanding information-seeking behavior in this virtual landscape, they must learn about usability testing. Usability testing reveals how users search for online information and is a key component in determining when a product is easy to use and ready for public use. Both the University of Arizona and OCLC have undergone usability evaluation in various ways and have integrated results of these evaluations into their Web and online product designs.