140 · Representative Documents: Assessment Reports and Instruments
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
CAR Usability Study Brief
CAR Usability Study Brief
The Usability Study took place between April 1 and April 12, 2013. Six participants took
part and the CAR project librarian, Kristen Merryman, carried out all sessions. The
participants were all graduate or PhD level students and all had done research in person at
the SCRC in the past year. There were two students in higher education administration,
one library science student, two public history students (one in museums and one in
archives), and one student who was a PhD candidate in Communication, Rhetoric, and
Digital Media who specialized in rhetoric of science.
Tasks Overview
1. “Tell me what your initial impressions of this page are. What strikes you about it?”
Most of the participants noticed first the large first image of the folder and most of their
focus went to the image – to the detriment of noticing more explanatory elements on the
page around the image. This lead to confusion about what the page represented (a folder,
rather than just a single scan). Many did note the high quality image from the scan of the
document. Some participants were confused as to what the large title referred to and did
not pick up that it did not refer to just the letter, but the folder as a whole.
Those who did notice the other elements liked them – especially the search box at the top
and the “What is this” box. One participant noted though that typically one looks to the
top left for information first on a website and most of our description about what is on the
site is on the right side.
One participant noted “based on what I’ve seen of other special collection sites it’s a
much cleaner design.”
2. “Is there anything on this page that is confusing to you?”
The “Pages” label was confusing to people. They did not understand what that meant.
One person wondered if they were representing archival subseries.
The “Names” biographical boxes were also confusing to users who did not understand
what their purpose was or how they connected to the main image at the top.
3. “Is there anything you dislike about this page?”
No one had anything in particular they did not like, other than a few confusing elements.
One participant did say that the page is pretty long, you have a scroll a lot, but “all the
info is all right there, so it’s ok.”
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
CAR Usability Study Brief
CAR Usability Study Brief
The Usability Study took place between April 1 and April 12, 2013. Six participants took
part and the CAR project librarian, Kristen Merryman, carried out all sessions. The
participants were all graduate or PhD level students and all had done research in person at
the SCRC in the past year. There were two students in higher education administration,
one library science student, two public history students (one in museums and one in
archives), and one student who was a PhD candidate in Communication, Rhetoric, and
Digital Media who specialized in rhetoric of science.
Tasks Overview
1. “Tell me what your initial impressions of this page are. What strikes you about it?”
Most of the participants noticed first the large first image of the folder and most of their
focus went to the image – to the detriment of noticing more explanatory elements on the
page around the image. This lead to confusion about what the page represented (a folder,
rather than just a single scan). Many did note the high quality image from the scan of the
document. Some participants were confused as to what the large title referred to and did
not pick up that it did not refer to just the letter, but the folder as a whole.
Those who did notice the other elements liked them – especially the search box at the top
and the “What is this” box. One participant noted though that typically one looks to the
top left for information first on a website and most of our description about what is on the
site is on the right side.
One participant noted “based on what I’ve seen of other special collection sites it’s a
much cleaner design.”
2. “Is there anything on this page that is confusing to you?”
The “Pages” label was confusing to people. They did not understand what that meant.
One person wondered if they were representing archival subseries.
The “Names” biographical boxes were also confusing to users who did not understand
what their purpose was or how they connected to the main image at the top.
3. “Is there anything you dislike about this page?”
No one had anything in particular they did not like, other than a few confusing elements.
One participant did say that the page is pretty long, you have a scroll a lot, but “all the
info is all right there, so it’s ok.”
