IT Training Module

Lorem ipsum (Dummy post, will post the true link later).

Systems Analysis

Lorem ipsum (dummy post, will post the true link later!)

Usability Test

The usability test I have designed is for the University of Alabama website, http://www.lib.ua.edu. It can be found at the following Scribd link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/28184240/Usability-Test

Public Users in the Academic Library

For my term paper in LS 531, I have decided to pursue the topic of the extent to which the general public is served and/or welcomed in the academic library, and the arguments both for and against allowing public, or unaffiliated users access to resources within college and university libraries. A surprisingly substantial number of academic libraries have policies allowing public patrons to borrow books and some also permit them to access databases and online resources. The debate began several decades ago in the middle of the twentieth century when some universities decided that it was in their best interest to open the doors of their libraries to the public. It was the opinion of some librarians that the academic library, whose primary responsibility was the students of its university, also had an obligation to assist other patrons as well.

A survey of college and university libraries conducted in 2001 indicated that a majority of libraries allow access into the library building. However, not as many libraries allowed those users to borrow books. (1) There is a different story with access to online resources. In the same survey, it was determined that about 70 percent of the libraries had canceled their print subscriptions to journals, newspapers, etc. and that they were only available online. (2) It is assumed that authentication is required to access the online journals. The survey also addressed whether the missions of the academic libraries included serving unaffiliated patrons. The majority of the libraries stated that was part of their mission, for various reasons, but about 5 percent stated that it was not part of the mission.(3)

Nova Southeastern University has taken a unique approach to this debate by joining forces with a local public library to create a joint-use facility, that is, one which is open to students, faculty and the general public. Nova Southeastern University is a private university with approximately 19,000 students located in Broward County, Florida. Donald Riggs, the librarian at NSU, first proposed a joint-use library to county officials in 1997. There was a positive response to his idea and eventually a facility was opened to the public in December of 2001. According to Lubans, there are myriad benefits to having a joint-use library. The building is very high-tech, with state of the art computer equipment and wireless connectivity; the library benefits both county residents and NSU students by having materials geared to both groups; the community service mission of the university is fulfilled. "Overall, there's a great pride in the library among the community--students, staff, and the general public. NSU's president, Ray Ferro, Jr. says the library is the soul of the university."(4) The experience of NSU's library project demonstrates how this type of collaboration can positively affect the community around a university.

1. Courtney, Nancy. "Unaffiliated Users' Access to Academic Libraries: A Survey" The Journal of Academic Librarianship 29, no. 1 (January 2003), 4

(2) Ibid., 6

(3) Ibid.

(4) Lubans, John Jr. "A Portrait of Collaborative Leadership: Donald E. Riggs and Nova Southeastern University's Joint-Use Library" Library Administration & Management 16 no. 4 (Fall 2002) 177

Accessibility & Project Management Software

In addition to usability, the issue of accessibility is also an essential part of the development of websites. Accessibility is defined as a property of a website which allows users who have certain disabilities to access the site. This could include providing data for voice-output software which reads information on the website to blind users and making sure the fonts on your site are legible and large enough for older people to read. According to Dan Comden and Sheryl Burgstahler, Website accessibility for disabled individuals is more important than you might think: "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that U.S. programs and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. A 1996 Department of Justice ruling (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/foia/cltr204.txt) makes it clear that ADA accessibility requirements apply to Internet resources." (Comden & Burgstahler, University of Washington)

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Technology/universal.design.html

Project management software is used for major organizations to help them organize large-scale projects. Usually these programs will allow their users to create timelines and schedules for projects and communicate with the personnel involved. Several different software packages are available. One of the most popular of these is Microsoft Project. Here is a screenshot of MS Project showing a Gantt chart, which is a graphical representation of a timeline that has been created for a Wikipedia article: http://tinyurl.com/ybu983v

While Microsoft Project is a proprietary software package (one which cannot be modified in any way by the end user), there are several open source options available; these allow great flexibility in the way in which they can be used. One increasingly popular attribute of project management software is that it be web based. This is because web-based sofware allows the project data to be stored on a server where it can be accessed and modified by multiple users, thus providing for greater collaboration and communication among personnel. This type of software can be of great help to a large academic library or a consortium of libraries to help them achieve long-term goals.

Usability and Usability Testing

Usability is one of the key concepts of website design. It is paramount that any website be designed with the needs of potential users in mind, and that it is easy to find items and perform tasks on the site. A wide variety of individuals are taking advantage of the resources and information on the World Wide Web, but these individuals have diverse needs and preferences.

At his site, www.useit.com, Jakob Nielsen defines what usability is all about and how to perform usability testing. He explains why usability is important: "If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave." He also states that usability is also a fundamental part of e-commerce because if customers cannot find something, they obviously cannot buy it. So how does one find out whether their website is usable or not? By performing user testing. User testing involves asking several different people (representative users) to perform tasks on the site while monitoring their performance.

Nielsen also says that international users should be given special consideration. One interesting example he gives is an educational software called "Give the Dog a Bone" in which small children identify objects to give to the dog. He says it is "otherwise excellent", however, "when the dog asks for its ball, most European kids would probably point to the biscuit rather than the football since they have never experienced balls that are not round."

(http://www.useit.com/papers/international_usetest.html) This example shows how native cultures should be considered when designing software and sites for foreign countries.

In my next assignment for LS 560, I will be designing a Web usability test for a library website, describing about five users who would participate and the tasks they will perform. In addition, I will describe the methods I will use to monitor and report on their performance.