Usability test for Hunt Library touchscreens, Round Two

In June 2017 three students participated in a usability test of touchscreens at Hunt Library. These tests are Round Two; Round One took place before the screens were deployed. In April 2017 we deployed 16 touchscreens throughout Hunt Library. They offer directions, lists of available rooms, information about events, and an Explore section that shows highlights of the library.

Research questions

1. Does the touch interaction work well?
2. Do participants understand how to choose among the top-level categories: Directions, Rooms, Events, and Explore?
3. Does each section match participants’ expectations and work well?

   What worked well

4. As in the Round One tests, these functions all worked well:
   • touch interactions.
   • scrolling.
   • finding known-item events (all three participants did this easily). As in the Round One tests, one participant revealed he did not understand the categories within Events (Today at Hunt, Events, Workshops, and Exhibits), but this did not prevent him from finding the events he was looking for.
   • participants ability to navigate into each section and back out to the Home screen.
   • speed of the navigational lines.
5. One task had the participants find the location of the Video Seminar Room on the 4th (a room that, by its nature, most patrons, including our three participants, have not been to before) and then walk there. All three found the room. (Note that one participant near the elevators used the overlook to get a wide visual of the 4th floor, and then walked to the Video Seminar Room.)
6. "Find a room that is available now" -- all three participants did this easily.
7. All three participants figured out that Rooms shows only available rooms, meaning they read the text on the screen.
8. The arrow buttons within Explore -- all three participants found and used them.
9. The clarity of purpose of the "Move buttons down" button. One participant clicked it, said "what is that?" and then quickly followed with "oh, if you were handicapped."

   Issues

10. All three participants went to Rooms (which shows reservable rooms) when the tasks were best served by Directions. A good sign is that they eventually found directions to the room they were looking for. A bad sign is that they repeatedly went to Rooms when the design intent was they go to Directions.
11. Inability to reserve rooms from the touchscreens. One participant simply remarked that he would have to use his laptop to reserve; another said she would like to be able to reserve from the touchscreens.
12. The meaning of Explore (one of the four section labels on the Home screen) is unclear, commented one participant (two of the four participants in the Round One tests said the same).
13. One participant said he was not sure what was happening / what floor the screen was showing when the navigational line moved from one floor to another.
14. While using Rooms, one participant said he wished there was a table of contents of rooms. There is one; he did not see it.

    Inconclusive

15. Visibility of the "elevators only" button. One participant saw it, while another did not (the third participant's test did did not shed light on this).

    Suggestions from participants

16. A search function to find rooms by name or number.
17. List all rooms and grey-out the unavailable ones.
18. Calendar layout for Events.
19. More picture in the sections within Explore that only have one picture.
20. 360° photos in the Explore section.

    Recommendations and Changes

21. Consider solutions for the confusion between Rooms and Directions.
22. Consider adding a search function for rooms. This came up in the Round One tests as well. This would enhance what Jakob Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design call “flexibility and efficiency of use.”
23. Consider how to address participants' expressed desire to reserve rooms from the touchscreens. As noted in the Round One report, this would be a serious development challenge.
24. Make sure events at the D. H. Hill Library are more clearly marked. For example, it was not clear that an event in the Fishbowl Forum, and another in the ITTC Lab, were at the D. H. Hill Library. This would enhance what Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design call "consistency and standards."

    Quotes

    "The design is nice and simple." "I saw the screens as soon as I walked in." The Explore section "... shows what Hunt Library is capable of." Because Rooms shows only available rooms "... people might be confused looking for a room they just reserved because it wouldn't be available." The screens "... look like a poster. It's not obvious it's interactible."