A Method of Improving Library Information Literacy Teaching With Usability Testing Data

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Journal / Book Title

Weave: Journal of Library User Experience

Abstract

Usability testing is a commonplace practice in many academic libraries, but the data produced during the course of usability testing have many more stories to tell if given the chance. Not only can the data help us improve our users’ online experience as they engage with our website and search tools, but it can tell us about how our students search and research, and what motivates those choices. That kind of data can guide our information literacy practices to be even more successful. This article describes the methodology used to analyze usability testing data for insights into information literacy teaching under the auspice of an IRB-approved study. It concludes that usability testing data can be analyzed and re-used to help bridge gaps and make connections between different library departments and roles and to motivate change in teaching practices that are informed by observations of local user behavior.

Comments

This paper was refereed by Weave's peer reviewers.

This article is licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/weave.12535642.0001.802

Published Citation

Catherine Baird, Tiffany Soares. ( 2018.) A Method of Improving Library Information Literacy Teaching With Usability Testing Data. Weave: Journal of Library User Experience. Vol 1. Issue 8.

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