USABILITY TESTING: A Practical Guide for Librarians

Practical guides for librarians

by Rebecca Blakiston

Do you want to improve the usability of your library website, but feel that it is too difficult, time-consuming, or expensive? In this book, you will learn that in-house usability testing on a budget is not only feasible, but it is practical, sustainable, and has the potential to lead to remarkable improvements of the content, design, and layout of your website.

Usability Testing: A Practical Guide for Librarians will teach you how to:

Step-by-step instructions, along with a myriad of examples, allow you to use this book as a practical guide, and adapt the techniques for your own context. Techniques are appropriate for libraries of all types, including academic, public, and special libraries.

Genres: Nonfiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Krysta]

A very informative overview of how to get started with conducting your own usability tests.

[Jim]

Over all this book would be a decent introduction to usability testing for any librarian with no prior experience. It is also a nice refresher (topic specific) for those that are familiar with usability work. That being said it is highly focused on web site testing, and only mentions real world testing in passing. I'd also recommend treating this book as a text book / reference book. By that I mean read parts that interest you, highlighted, bulleted, and italicized portions first. I hope that someday usability work becomes a required part of the library profession...this book is at least a small sign that we (librarians) are starting to pay attention to this important subject.

[Catie Carlson]

One of the better usability books I've read as it gives helpful advice for each step of the process. More often than not usability books seems to be either very theoretical and difficult to follow or are very practical for those already familiar with the process. Blakiston offers a refreshing in between for understanding the process.