Endeca Catalog Usability Study, Round 2

Six participants, three undergraduate students and three graduate students at NCSU, participated in a round of usability testing for the library catalog (Endeca) during late January and early February of 2008.

The participants' previous experience with the catalog varied. Three were regular users (two graduate students and one of the undergraduates) while the others were infrequent users or had used the catalog less than two times. The graduate students included one Ph.D. candidate and two Master's level students. The undergraduate participants included a sophomore, a junior, and a senior.

The goal was to test a catalog interface that includes recommended design changes from the NCSU Libraries Endeca Product Team. The test specifically looked at facet use, "Expand Your Search" (a.k.a. "Search TRLN"), the RSS button, Current Availability, and the Current Search box.

Team and Partners

• Angie Ballard, facilitator
• Tito Sierra, facilitator
• Sandra Littletree, findings report

Technical Details

Recordings were made in the NCSU Libraries Usability Research Lab using Morae usability testing software.

Project Links

• Script (.pdf file) - The test script with instructions and explanations for participants.

Reports and Presentations

• 2008 Endeca Usability Report (.pdf file)

Last updated: October 2009