ICAU 2002 Poster Session, MIT's OPAC Journey

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ICAU 2002

Paris

Poster Session: MIT's OPAC Journey

Presented September 30th, 2002

Poster Content

Usability Testing

Usability testing and OPACs:
Washington State University
Chisman, J, et al. (1999). Usability Testing: A Case Study.
College & Research Libraries, 60, 6, 552-569.

Usability Testing and MIT's new OPAC

Test 1 - Baseline
MIT's old catalog and other Ex Libris catalogs

- 7 undergraduates, 3 library staff
- 10 questions
- 4 out of 10 questions answered correctly

Test 2 - Prototype
1st prototype of the new catalog

- 3 students, 4 library staff
- same questions
- 7 out of 10 questions answered correctly

What we learned and designed

Take a look: http://libraries.mit.edu/barton

Basic Search

Users are used to keyword searching on the web and they don't know
the difference between keyword and browse searching.
- The default search is keyword
- Group like keyword and browse searches together.

If a known item is not found on the first try, often the user assumes it's not
there.
- Cast the broadest net by default and let the user then refine the search.

Users often don't know how to input search terms
- Give examples close to the point of input.

Users don't see important navigational items when there are many choices
- Ruthlessly cut out or rearrange less important options.

Results List Displays

Users didn't notice how to get more information about an item.
- Provide navigational clues, e.g. Display full record

If users didn't see important information in the first results display, they tended not to look further.
- Make the brief display as complete as possible
- Include subject headings, URL's and format information

Specialty Searches

Users don't know how conferences are cataloged.
- Don't make them know anything about it.
Make the search interface do the work for them.

Journal searching by keyword is not precise.
- Default to a title browse

Indexing can be used in creative ways.

More work to do…

- Improve the display of holdings information for serials.

- Get information about an item's availability on to the brief results display.

- Browse displays ought to provide feedback on if there was a direct hit or closest match.

- Improve ways to simply extend a search, such as for previous/later titles of journals.

- Future usability tests will focus on a new version and more complicated features.

Transition to the No-Frames OPAC

Available as an option in 14.2.5 or as the default OPAC in 15.2

Early implementers:
- Harvard University: http://hollis.harvard.edu {15.2}

Why make the transition?

- Not all users have browsers that can accommodate frames
- Frames don't always follow common Web conventions
- Frames are complicated to administer and manipulate
- Frames do not display consistently across all browsers

Benefits of the No-Frames OPAC

- Faster
- Accessible in all browsers
- Simpler to administer
- Works with common browser conventions

OPAC Improvements with No-Frames

Pre-search limits can be included on any search screen.

Brief results display, List View is more flexible than before. Sorting is available with file www_f_sort_heading. More fields can be included through file www_f_tab_short_999.

The URL structure is more flexible.
- Old URL: http://library.mit.edu/ALEPH/{session ID}/file/start-0
- New URL: http://walter.mit.edu/F/{session ID}?func=file&file_name=find-b

Style Sheets work properly.

Fewer pop-up windows

280 web OPAC files versus more than 500 with the frames version.

Javascript and the OPAC

- The new OPAC uses less Javascript, but not all functionality is available in text-only browsers.
- MIT will make an effort to minimize javascript customization in the web OPAC

Implementing the No-Frames OPAC

- Not all OPAC bugs have been worked out in 14.2.5
- Most tables can be reused. A couple of new tables have been introduced.
- It is not possible to reuse Frames-version OPAC HTML files in the no-frames version.

last updated: 9/30/2002