{"id":118,"date":"2013-01-16T14:27:47","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T14:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/benefitsofsharing\/?page_id=118"},"modified":"2013-01-16T15:11:46","modified_gmt":"2013-01-16T15:11:46","slug":"user-experiences-and-understanding","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/benefitsofsharing\/users\/user-experiences-and-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"User experiences and understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

If a shared LMS were to emerge in Scotland, in whatever form it may take, would it enrich the user experience and benefit users as well as institutions?<\/p>\n

To better understand the potential benefits for users of a shared LMS for Scotland, we wanted to get an idea of how users perceive the current LMS and use those perceptions and feedback to inform any future shared LMS. As there was an expectation that users would not be familiar with the Library Management System itself,\u00a0 the focused was on services, such as the Library catalogue, the discovery service and Aquabrowser which are supported by the LMS. We also wanted to gauge user awareness of existing services which allow users to search the holdings of other institutions and to find out if users are willing to travel outwith their institution to access resources.<\/p>\n

Methodology<\/h2>\n

Staff and students are bombarded with various surveys throughout the academic year and, as a result, many may suffer from survey fatigue. Consequently, the intention was to make this a \u2018quick and dirty\u2019 survey in order to gather data quickly and as unobtrusively as possible- hence the vox pop style.<\/p>\n

The survey was conducted over two days; first on 11th<\/sup> October and then on 28th<\/sup> November at two different library locations at the University of Edinburgh.\u00a0 A total of 62 valid surveys were completed.<\/p>\n

The survey\u2019s eight questions included a mixture of check boxes and open-ended questions.<\/p>\n

In order to encourage participation, chocolate bars were offered in exchange for 10 minutes of time taken to complete the survey.\u00a0 Undoubtedly, in many cases, the chocolate was the overwhelming motivational factor and the timing coinciding, fortuitously, rather than by design, with participants\u2019 mid-afternoon energy slump.<\/p>\n

The project team would like to thank the large number of respondents who took the time to complete the survey.<\/p>\n

Survey Results<\/h2>\n

Q1: Type of Library user<\/h3>\n

In total there were 62 survey respondents, the majority were undergraduate students; the rest were Postgraduate students. No visitors or academic staff completed the survey.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1<\/p>\n

Q2: Length of time at the Institution<\/h3>\n

To gauge the level of respondent\u2019s expected familiarity with the library and its services, respondents were also asked how long they had been at the University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Figure 2<\/p>\n

Of the 28 users who had been at the University for less than one year, 19 were undergraduates and 9 were postgraduate students.<\/p>\n

Q3: How familiar with and how often do students use existing LMS supported services?<\/h3>\n

Library users were asked if they had used any of the following to find things on their reading list or for their study and research:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Library catalogue<\/li>\n
  2. Voyager<\/li>\n
  3. The OPAC<\/li>\n
  4. The Library Website<\/li>\n
  5. Aquabrowser<\/li>\n
  6. Searcher (Searcher is the service name for the University of Edinburgh\u2019s EBSCO Discovery service)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All these services provide access to the library catalogue. This question was intended to find out which methods of accessing the catalogue are most familiar to users and which are used most often.<\/p>\n

    Users were asked to select one of the following four options for each resource:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. No, never heard of it<\/li>\n
    2. No, heard of it, but never used it<\/li>\n
    3. Yes, used it once or twice<\/li>\n
    4. Yes, I often use it<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Undoubtedly, Q3 was a bit of a trick question and also a tricky question. It was obvious on several occasions, that when faced with this list, users were unsure of the terminology or \u2018label\u2019 applied (by the library) to the services they use.<\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      Figure 3<\/p>\n

      Almost half of the respondents, both postgraduate and undergraduate, have been at the University for less than a year which may explain their unfamiliarity with some of the LMS-related resources on offer.<\/p>\n

      There was a firm expectation that users would not recognise, \u2018Voyager\u2019 as the LMS currently in use at the University. To my knowledge, it is not promoted in any way and the assumption was that the LMS itself is irrelevant to users. This proved to be the case as 82.3% of respondents had never heard of Voyager.<\/p>\n

      Overall the Library catalogue emerged as the most used LMS supported service on the list: 38 respondents said they often used it to find items on their reading list or for their study and research. Reassuringly, only one individual had never heard of the library catalogue.<\/p>\n

      The OPAC was included as an option to test awareness of terminology. The expectation was that this would be slightly more recognisable than Voyager to users.\u00a0 Although the majority of people (46) had never heard of the OPAC, 12 people had<\/em> heard of it and four people said they used the OPAC, of these, three said that they used it often.<\/p>\n

      Having previously conducted usability surveys, I was also aware that users can confuse the Library website with the Library catalogue. This survey doesn\u2019t indicate if users made a distinction between the two. However, it is interesting to note that the Library catalogue is still used, at least by this group of students, more often than the Library website.<\/p>\n

      The Library website provides access to the Library catalogue and is a gateway to e-resources. As the library webpage is consistently one of the most viewed University webpages, I expected participants to be familiar with it. In fact, it is the second most popular choice, after the Library catalogue, amongst participants for finding items on reading lists and for study and research. 53.2% of participants say they often use it to find items on their reading list or for study and research.<\/p>\n

      The University of Edinburgh also provides access to the Library catalogue via Aquabrowser which provides a more Google-like discovery layer to search the catalogue.\u00a0 Surprisingly, given its arguably more user friendly interface, of the 40.3% who are aware of Aquabrowser, only 11.3% of respondents said they often use it. \u00a0In fact, over half the respondents, 56.5% , had never heard of Aquabrowser. However, it is impossible to tell within the scope of this survey if this is due to lack of promotion or usability.<\/p>\n

      Searcher is the University of Edinburgh\u2019s branded EBSCO Discovery Service. Users can search the Library catalogue and access e- resources via Searcher. Searcher emerges as the third most used resource amongst participants. More students have heard of the Discovery Service than Aquabrowser.<\/p>\n

      Q3 Summary<\/h3>\n

      The Library catalogue emerges as the most used resource. Is this because for new and old users alike it is a familiar and recognisable resource? Is it because during the first months of study this is the LMS-related resource promoted most heavily to new students or, is it simply because it is the most effective tool for finding books and journals required for study and research? However, does emerge is that the Library catalogue, from the list of the various tools on offer, is the most recognised and most used LMS-related service.<\/p>\n

      Q4: From the list in Q3, which resource do you find most useful?<\/h3>\n

      The fourth question <\/strong>had four parts and was designed to gather feedback on the resource the respondents found most useful and to find out which system users prefer to use to find library resources.<\/p>\n