LIS site improvements since usability testing

Soon after the launch of the new Middlebury web site, the LIS website team conducted usability testing on the LIS parts of the site (see report 1, report 2). Many improvements have been made based on the feedback received during testing. Since part of the Team’s charge for this year included following-up on these recommendations, we thought it best to share some of the highlights. These changes were made with the help of many content managers and website editors; we thank you for your contributions!:

  • improved Google search has recently been implemented on the whole Middlebury site, which has already made searching for LIS content much easier
  • improved directory search results, so search “by department” displays the job titles for all members of the department. For example, the listing for all LIS staff
  • site banners that currently say “Library and Information Services” will soon display additional text for clearer branding of the different LIS website sections
  • quick links navigation items are now standardized across all parts of the LIS web presence
  • better color use in the “leaf” color theme for improved legibility
  • templates for the LIS blog that align with the Drupal site, with new design options for the LIS wiki in progress
  • on-page search boxes for pages that include sub-page lists is now labeled “Find on this page:” to distinguish from site-wide search boxes
  • added links to check ILL requests in My MIDCAT

Remember, there’s also an option for anyone to report issues with a page using the Problems with this Page? button, and you can get in touch with LIS Content Managers by finding them at go/liscm.

What’s next? We’re moving on from following-up on the old recommendations to working on marketing strategies for the site, and soon afterward, another round of testing, likely in the form of a user needs analysis and more usability testing. Feel free to send us feedback any time. Thanks!

3 thoughts on “LIS site improvements since usability testing”

  1. Rachel Manning

    Great to see the new ILL links in My MIDCAT (after login under “Article Requests”) and on the Journals A-Z page. I’d still love to see a direct link to ILLiad from the main Library page, maybe within the Library Quick Search box.

    go/ill

    1. Jess Isler Post author

      Thanks, Rachel. We won’t be making changes to the Library Quick Search box until after Summon is fully implemented, since it will change the portal in a significant way.

      1. Bryan Carson

        Thanks Rachel and Jess. With the Summon launch, we rolled out several improvements based on feedback from the usability testing. Direct ILLiad access from the “Library Quick Search” portal widget is one of the changes. It’s prominent under the “Catalogs” tab where users will find NExpress and WorldCat, both access points for finding materials that would need to be ILL-ed. It didn’t get its own tab, because tabs are for quick access to different searches. (At least that’s what users expect.)

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