Rachael Winterling

J. Murrey Atkins Library

University of North Carolina at Charlotte 9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001

We would like to thank Rachael Winterling for visiting our class. She supplied us
with useful background information and helped us to do appropriate user tests. Our
task was assigned to us by Associate English Professor Dr. Gregory Wickliff as part of
our class ENGL 4181, Writing User Documents. Our goal was to analyze the usability of
the Atkins/ WorldCat Local interface by observing the successes and difficulties of
UNCC students searching the system for texts.
The findings presented in our report reveal that UNCC students did have success
in using the interface, but there are many areas that caused frustration that could be
approved upon. We suggest with certain modifications World Cat can make the
interface easier to maneuver in for new and non-frequent users. The following are the
issues that most users came upon while using the interface.
Filter function in navigation bar is cumbersome
Icon choice for source citation in ambiguous
Text overloading made finding information difficult
We feel that finding a solution for these obstacles will make a more simplistic
experience for users.
Sincerely,
Michael Berthold & Chris Huff
Authors

WorldCat Local Discovery: The User Experience

Understanding the User Experience Through Interface Testing

By:
Michael Berthold
&
Chris Huff
ENGL 4181
February 29, 2016

Submitted to:
Gregory Wickliff, Assoc. Professor of English

Executive Summary
Our class this semester English 4181 Writing User documents performed a series of user test
on the functionality of the WorldCat Discovery beta site.

This test was performed at the J. Murrey Atkins

Library located at the University of North

Carolina at Charlotte campus. The study is
a result of usability interacting with the
interface of the website. The issues that we
have cumulated are results of a series of
usability test performed by UNCC students.
1. Filtering search results.
Upon using the interface, many
testers brought up difficulty in filtering
individual subject matter types. These
would include e-book, paperback, hard copy.
Most testers also vocalized their frustration
of the interface in reference to it reloading
itself after unselecting a subject matter in the
filter. This issue led to a waste time for the
user because of the load time it took to
refresh the results.

ii

2. More distinction between the

different categories after results
have been found.
A problem arose while trying to
find the physical location of a book.
The testers complained that there was
such an abundance of information on
the screen that it was hard to navigate
through all the text.
3. Citation feature is difficult for new
users to locate.
If user was attempting to cite the
source they often had difficulty where
the particular feature was located on
the interface. The icon used to cite is
not intuitive for new users to locate.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary

ii

Introduction and Methodology

Key findings

1. Filter function in navigation bar is cumbersome

2. Icon choice for source citation ambiguous
3. Text overloading made finding information difficult.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Appendices
A: User Test Observations
B: User Test Comments
C: User Time Completion

6
6
7

Introduction
For a few semesters now, the J.
Murrey Atkins Library has been using a
unique search feature for finding scholastic
material called WorldCat Beta local. This
search engine is designed to allow students
and faculty to look up reference material,
much like a Google search engine interface,
but without erroneous information being
included. The librarys focus was to allow for
quick retrieval of information without the
cumbersome Google search query.
After the third party search feature
was introduced, a number of users, including
faculty and students, were conducting
usability tests to report and problems with
the interface. These problems included
anything from trying to find major bugs to
logical format errors introduced by the
system. According to our English 4181
professor, Dr. Gregory Wickliff, previous
usability test results were submitted to the
WorldCat Discovery creators, only to find
they were amazed how the tests resulted in
confusion or difficulty navigating parts of the
interface.
This semesters 4181 English class
provides a continuation of the usability tests
to either reaffirm previous findings, or even
find new problems that students and faculty
reveal with the additional testing. A total of
five students, four undergraduates and one
graduate student participated in our usability
study and provided beneficial feedback of
their experience. This test and its results
Once the tests were completed, each
tester was asked what they would do to
improve the navigation of the site, or any

will help to provide the library provide

with additional data that suggests
continuous improvement of the site
should be addressed.

Methodology
The users were recruited mainly
through word of mouth communication or
through email contact. The usability test
was conducted by two students: Chris
Huff and Michael Berthold. Since our
group was small, we had to take on dual
roles when performing the tests, usually
by being a reader and note taker at the
same time, as an example.
The test duration was designed to
last anywhere from five to seven minutes.
We concluded that our testing questions
should take anywhere from a minute or
less, with room forgiven extra time in
case the user was still deciding how to
complete the instructions. The testing
was performed on our own laptops that
used a webcam to record user facial
expressions and also to provide screen
capture for recording their interface
navigation. We also expressed, as a final
disclaimer, to each tester that we would
not provide any help for showing them
how to complete a task. Instead, we
provided clarity to the question or would
ask them their thought process along the
way if we discovered they looked
stumped.

for example. We asked the users to cite

a particular source and every tester
experienced a great deal of frustration
trying to complete that particular task.
1

enhancements to make searching references

easier. They were also given the opportunity
to provide general feedback about their own
navigational experience and what they liked
or didnt like about the interface. Once the
data was collected, we reviewed the
recordings and evaluated each user to
compare how the testers performed based
on our questions. The data was tabulated
based on key factors we felt deemed
important to the functionality of the site.

Key Findings
1. Problematic Interface Issues: Filter
function in navigation bar is
cumbersome

One user even asked after a good

amount of time passed,
did you mean you wanted me to cite it
out loud?
Obviously, this part of the interface was
difficult to perform and once the user
discovered the right way to get to the
citation feature, they were able to finally
complete the task.

3. Problematic Interface Issues: Text

overloading made finding information
difficult.

Several users noted specifically that once

the referenced source was located, they
had difficulty finding an author or
publisher because the text seemed to
One particular user was frustrated with the
blend together as reported by one user.
filter option in the left hand navigation bar.
He noted it was hard to find the publisher
His video recording did show some
because there was too much information
frustration and lip tightening as he was
trying to filter out the option to find an e book to read in the results section once the title
was found. We found this to be an
we requested. He noted several times how
interesting complaint about the feature
the feature is slow to load the page and
why do I have to uncheck each filter option and we found other users experience the
same problem. Perhaps adding a filter
singly? He was upset that the filter option
reset option for the searches could be
keeps reloading the page after every unimplemented to make searching faster for
check is performed. This was a very
the user.
remarkable finding from our user and felt it
was an important flaw in the interface.
Based on our own experience using the filter
feature, we felt the searching was
cumbersome because all selected materials
are set to default.
2. Problematic Interface Issues: Icon
choice for source citation ambiguous
All of our users experienced difficulty
locating the option to cite sources using APA

Conclusions and Recommendations

Our conclusions find that the filter option along
with the citation feature should be a focal point for
improvement for the Worldcat local beta site.

Break up the information on the page into

categories
Research shows that often time information
on a page that is all the same format can be
overlooked. We recommend when the
search results are populated that the
information is divided up using a quadrant
style with separating the information with
whitespace. This will allow the benefit the
user in scanning the page and being able to
locate the information in a faster pace
Create a way to unselect all categories
We would recommend to create a link button
that would deselect all categories in the book
filter. Often times in our test users would
become frustrated because they would have
to deselect every single filter when it would
just be faster to deselect everything then
select the filter they desire
Create a link for citation on main page
Often times users who are using the
Worldcat site will be requiring some aspect of
citation. We recommend to have the link
more visible on the interface such as by the
search bar. That way users will easily find it
and not become frustrated in trying to find the
button that might appear hidden to them

Appendix A User Observations

Task Duration

User 1

User 2

User3

User 4

User 5

8 Min 5 Sec

8 Min 3 Sec

7 Min 25 Sec

6 min 15 sec

7 Min 5 Sec

Number of
Times user
asked for
assistance in
locating task

User
Demographic

Masters
Student
English

Expressions

Allot of
frustrated look in understanding
movement to
interface
lean in closer to
the screen

Number of
Times
moderator
asked if the
user needed
assistance

Undergraduate
Sophomore
Computer Science

Undergraduate
Senior
Computer Science

Undergraduate
Senior
Computer Science

Undergraduate
Junior
Biology

Confused look during

Task 3

Frustrated appearance
during task 3

emotionless

Appendix B User Comments

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Description Search for book and note the

availability at UNCC and the
physical location

Search for e-book and

note physical location

Search for e-book and find link to cite in APA format

User 1

User had no issues in attempting

task 1

User became frustrated User completed task but became frustrated in not being able to locate the
with deflecting each
citation function. User said the image on the button does not represent the
book category because functionality of it so it was confusing
the page website
wanted to load
overtime an item was
deselected

User 2

User said trying to find the physical

location of where the book was
located was not in the best location
because it was easy to overlook

User became frustrated User said that the location to cite the books was not in the best place. He
because when trying to stated that the button where the citation link was located had no visual
select a certain type of imagery of the functionality of it
book in the categories
list is was annoying that
there was not a deselect all button

User 3

User had no issues in completing

the first task. The user did complain
that the screen did appear to be
overloaded with information

User had no issue

User was able t complete task 3 but did no have issues in locating citation
performing task 2 but
link
did complain that the
load time to update the
page was annoying

User 4

User had no issues in completing

the first task.

User had trouble

User had difficulty in finding how to cite the book. When the user found
finding out how to
the link to cite he stated that the button was weird
categorize the selection
in an e-book format

User 5

User had no issues in completing

the first task but complained of all
the word vomit on the screen

User had issues in

User found the citation link but stated that the process was not intuitive
finding how to
categorize list into an ebook. Stated that the
process is not very
convenient

References:
Usability Test Participants:

English Graduate Student, UNC Charlotte, 2/7/2016

Computer Science Undergraduate, 2/10/2016
Computer Science Undergraduate, 2/10/2016
Computer Science Undergraduate, 2/10/2016
Biology Undergraduate, UNC Charlotte, 2/12/2016