Just Because It’s Called Access Services Doesn’t Mean They Can Access It! What Usability Testing of Library Systems Reveals About Access Services Websites

Abstract

At Cornell University Library (CUL) the majority of tests conducted by the CUL Usability Group focus on assessing student interaction with research-related systems (finding books in the catalog, locating articles, etc.), while few address the findability of access services information. To measure the usability of access services web content, I drew on two sources of data: chat reference transcripts and existing usability tests of CUL websites. This presentation will outline the results of my research and illustrate how users are locating and interpreting access services information.