Maximizing coverage, reducing time: a usability evaluation method for web-based library systems.

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Web Based Library Systems (WBLS) require high usability for user satisfaction.
• Existing evaluation checklists often neglect domain-specific usability aspects crucial for WBLS.
• There is a need for comprehensive usability evaluation tools tailored to WBLS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a usability evaluation checklist for WBLS.
• The checklist aims to cover both general and domain-specific usability attributes.
• To assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed checklist.

Main Methods:

• A controlled experiment with undergraduate students was conducted in phase one to develop the checklist.
• A second controlled experiment will compare the proposed checklist against an existing one (Academic Library Website Evaluation Checklist).
• Manual and statistical analyses were used to evaluate the checklist's performance.

Main Results:

• The developed usability evaluation checklist effectively covers both general and specific usability aspects of WBLS.
• The proposed checklist demonstrates high effectiveness in identifying usability errors.
• The checklist is equally efficient compared to existing evaluation methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed usability evaluation checklist offers a comprehensive approach to assessing WBLS.
• It provides significant benefits for both academic and industrial sectors in optimizing WBLS usability.
• This tool ensures a higher level of user satisfaction with Web Based Library Systems.