152 · SPEC Kit 294
http://ldp.library.jhu.edu/services/usability
Johns Hopkins University
Usability Services
Welcome to the Sheridan Libraries' Usability Services web site. Usability Services are
part of the Library Digital Programs unit. Researchers, customers and staff interested in
our usability evaluation efforts can review these pages and ask questions of usability
staff members by using the forum.
What is usability?
The goal of usability evaluation is to determine what can be done to make an interface efficient,
satisfying, and easy to use, to learn, and to remember. Usability evaluation involves selecting some of
the various methods designed to glean this information and applying them iteratively, from the early
stages of a system's development through its active use. These methods may include surveys, focus
groups, scenario-based think-aloud tests, contextual inquiry, card-sorting, link-naming, and heuristic
evaluation. The Library Digital Programs employ experience in using a range of methods to evaluate
library interfaces and related web sites in offering usability services for other academic interfaces.
Clients
The Library Digital Programs offer usability services to the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the
Whiting School of Engineering, and the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. We
have worked with the Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals to hold a series of
focus groups, in order to inform their web site resdesign process. We have conducted scenario-based
think-aloud tests during the redesign of the Krieger School web site.
We have also conducted usability evaluations for other organizations. We worked with the
Collaborative Digitization Program [http://www.cdpheritage.org/] to evaluate the usability of
Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection. We made observations at a workshop for teachers, and we
held scenario-based think-aloud tests with teachers and university students. We conducted scenario-
based think-aloud tests for ARTstor [http://www.cdpheritage.org/] ,a digital image library project of
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. We worked with Project Muse [http://www.cdpheritage.org/] to
conduct scenario-based think-aloud tests, link-naming, and a heuristic evaluation.
We have collaborated with other units within the Sheridan Libraries to evaluate the usability of various
web sites. We have held scenario-based think-aloud tests for the library homepage and the library
catalog interface. We have worked with Special Collections to conduct an online survey of the Roman
de la Rose [http://www.cdpheritage.org/] site, as well as to conduct focus groups and scenario-based
think aloud tests to evaluate the usability of the Sheet Music Consortium
[http://www.cdpheritage.org/] .
Usability Evaluation Methods
Surveys
A questionnaire is posted online for some period of time to gather feedback from users or the potential
audience of a system. Questions may focus on how they currently use the system and what
functionality would they like the system to have in the future.
Focus groups
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