February 27, 2017

Rachael Winterling
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28262

Re: UNCC Technical Writing Student Team

Dear Rachael Winterling,

As students enrolled in UNCCs 4181 Writing User Documents Course, we have

been assigned a usability testing project in which five subjects were recorded and
assessed in efforts to improve the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library
webpage. We understand that you are busy, so attached is a condensed version
of our usability test to uphold specific issues found within the Library page, and
improvements suggested by the UNCC Technical Writing Student Team.

We have included a table of contents to ensure clarity throughout ones navigation

of the testing data, and multiple collections of suggested improvements at your
disposal. Your guidance and assistance is greatly appreciated throughout this
process, and we anticipate substantial overall improvement to the Universitys
Library Webpage.

Sincerely,

UNCC Technical Writing Student Team

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

 i.

Usability Report of the UNCC

Librarys Secondary Pages
February 27th, 2017

Submitted To:
Dr. Wickcliff, Associate
Professor of English
Rachael Winterling, Usability Coordinator

Submitted By:
Amanda Bissoonnauth, Undergraduate Student
Kayla Edmonds, Undergraduate Student
Jordan Boyd, Undergraduate Student

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

 ii.

Executive Summary
Overview: In order to evaluate the UNCC library website, tasks were
created and the usability participants attempted to achieve them in order
to measure the websites ease of use. The tests were conducted February
5th through February 19th. In total, there were five participants varying in
age, occupation, level of education, and other background demographics
(more information can be located in Appendix B).

Analysis Method: Tasks were created for test participants to view three
specific secondary pages of the UNCC librarys website. If they were able
to find the exact page, they had to answer a question found on the page
or on a hyperlink on the page.

Results: The participants identified problems with the UNCC secondary

pages, particularly not being able to differentiate between the general
search bar and research material search bar. Four out of the five
participants asserted that the main menu and sub topics needed to
be more organized. Also, three out of the five suggested making the
community borrowers hyperlink more obvious.

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

 Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal
Executive Summary
1 Introduction... 5
2 Usability Results ...... 6
2.1 Method.................... 6
2.2 Highlights............... 7
2.3 Details................. 9
2.4 Roadmap.............. 10
3 Conclusion10
4 Bibliography.11
5 Appendices12

List of Figures and Tables

Figure A - 2.2 Highlights.....7
Figure B - 2.2 Highlights.....8
Table - Questions........12
Table - Demographics........13
Appendix C - Web Page.........13

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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1 Introduction

In order to evaluate the usability and quality of the University of North Carolina
at Charlottes (UNCC) library, Rachael Winterling, the usability coordinator for
the library, has asked the ENGL 4181 Writing User Documents class to conduct
a series of usability tests to evaluate the ease of use for the UNCC librarys
secondary pages. Our primary research goals are to reduce the obstacles that
novice users encounter while navigating through the secondary pages, as well
as make the page layout as user-friendly as possible. The usability testing was
conducted by two members of our group who selected the candidates.

In this report, we will provide a detailed summary of the results.

Usability test results
- Method
- Highlights
- Details
- Roadmap

2 Usability Test Results:

The usability test reveals how people, with diverse backgrounds, navigate the
website and how they handle any obstacles they encounter. If users encountered
the same obstacles, the team recorded that as a defect in the UNCC Library
website.

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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2.1 Method

The usability test reveals how people of all ages and educational
backgrounds (can be viewed in Appendix B), under relaxed conditions,
performed three simple tasks on the librarys secondary webpages. The
participants behavior and vocality allows us to identify specific problems
within the Library website.

Two of the selected test users were familiar with the librarys secondary
webpages, while three of them were not.The three tasks asked the
participants to find specific pages that were accessible on the UNCC
librarys secondary pages. Participants were told that there was more than
one way to find the page, and that they were free to use any method they
choose. After finding the page, they were then asked to answer a question,
whose answer could be found on the page.

Task 1: Find the UNCC Government Documents Webpage

Question 1: What congressional district was the J. Murrey Atkins Library
created to serve?

Task 2: Find the Community Borrowers Webpage

Question 2: How much does a community borrower card cost?

Task 3: Find the Searching Historical Newspapers How To Video

What is the first suggested step?

While completing the tasks, test users were asked to verbalize their
thoughts. It allowed the group to understand why they may be clicking in
a certain spot to find something. It was very helpful because if they were
not looking in the right area, they would verbalize the logic behind their
actions, which helped the group figure out what needed to change on the
web page to increase its usability.

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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2.2 Highlights

The screenshots below show the participants searching for general pages on the
library website, but they searched for the pages in the research section; which
yielded them confusing results.

Figure A shows a tester who was looking for the general government documents
page, and decided to use the database option on the research search bar. It ended
up confusing the participant because instead of a federal database as she expected,
different library databases were the results.

Figure A

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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Figure B show an issue the team found with the community borrowers
page. Though it is right on the main page, as the left side of the picture
illustrates, four out of five participants did not see it.

Figure B

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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2.3 Details

This is a collection of difficulties observed by all of the usability test participants.

The issues and recommendations are being reviewed and prioritized by the UNCC
Technical Writing Student Team, to be followed by improvement of the portal from
the beta version to the alpha and beyond. To view feedback in its entirety please
refer to the Appendices.

The page was unanimously considered cluttered and confusing to usability test
participants. Additionally, test subjects determined navigation to be troublesome.
Many basic tasks seemed unachievable because the multiple tabs and search bars
conflicted in visibility.
Usability test participants had no trouble determining what the Library Website was
used for, but consistently struggled to arrive at particular secondary web pages;
thereby struggling to complete the tasks.
The Community Borrowers task gave each participant issues based on its cryptic
presence on the librarys homepage. This issue lead the UNCC Technical Writing
Student Team to assess the font, size, boldness and placement of the Community
Borrowers tab to ensure ease of use for future visitors to the UNCC Library website.
The two search bars on the library homepage mislead the participants, often times
leading them external search engines rather than the intended page desired to
complete the task.

Layout/Design
The overall layout of the Library homepage, though cluttered, was not impossible to
maneuver. Test subjects excelled in particular tasks, such as Finding Government
Documents, and struggled with others like the How-To Videos task.
Overhead tabs were considered a viable resource for the usability test.
Participants agreed that the menu and some of the subtopics did not match up and

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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2.4 Roadmap
The problems and solutions from the participants have been reviewed and
discussed by the writing user documents group. The list below gives a summary of
the priorities that should be changed to improve the usability of the site.

Solutions
Make community borrowers page more obvious and/or put it in a different category
There are two search bars on the library webpage, which confuses people. Though
the research engine may change, if there is still two search bars, make their uses
more of obvious

3 Conclusion
In summation, the feedback given to the UNCC Technical Writing Student Team
by usability test participants has been collected in an effort to improve the overall
layout and design of the UNCC Library website. The primary components in need
of improvement based on the participants commentary are as follows: search bar
specificity, clearer access to Government Documents tab (secondary pages), and
better representation of tabs found on the websites primary page (Community
Borrowers tab).

This study also exposed additional issues regarding the overall visual display of the
UNCC Library website. Test participants felt as though the primary webpage could
be structured differently to better display all that the site has to offer. Priorities for
closer examination include:
- Increasing font size of primary page headers
- Reassociate drop-down box menu for more concise interpretation
- Relocate specific tabs found on the websites primary page
- Spacing between tabs for easier navigation.

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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4 Bibliography

Anonymous. Secondary Page Usability Test One Interview. 05 Feb. 2017. Conducted
in home

Anonymous. Secondary Page Usability Test Two Interview. 05 Feb. 2017. Conducted
in home

Anonymous. Secondary Page Usability Test Three Interview. 12 Feb. 2017.Conducted

in home

Anonymous. Secondary Page Usability Test Four Interview. 12 Feb. 2017. Conducted
in home

Anonymous. Secondary Page Usability Test Five Interview. 19 Feb. 2017. Conducted
in home

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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5 Appendices

APPENDIX A: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS

1 How old are you

2 What is your occupation?

3 Have you been a student/are you a current

student?
-Currently undergraduate, graduate, or potential
student?
-How many years did you attend/degree level?
4 How long do you spend on electronic devices?

5 Have you used your/any academic instituitions

library devices?
-If yes, is there a page that you use most often?
6 How long do you usually spend on the library
website?

7 What device do you typically use to view the

website?

8 On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, how

much do you enjoy using technology?

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group

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APPENDIX B: Participant Demographics

APPENDIX C: UNCC Main Library Webpage

March 2017 Writing User Documents Group