Usability Testing: A Practical Guide for Librarians

Citation

Philip Calvert (2015), "Usability Testing: A Practical Guide for Librarians", The Electronic Library, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 963-964. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-06-2015-0098

Usability testing is an important and yet often overlooked operation in modern libraries and this book is a very good introduction to the process. Testing can apply to many kinds of system and interface within the library, though “website” has been used throughout the book simply for convenience. It will, though, be the website that is the focus of much attention simply because it is the main channel through which customers of the service discover what is available to them. For most librarians, a significant problem is the lack of resources for this sort of testing. The author is aware of this and so does not assume that there are funds available for paying the participants.

One aspect of usability testing that struck this reviewer was how much of the knowledge is drawn from other areas, such as writing plans and objectives (management), “persona” development (marketing), investigating what the audience knows and needs to know (research methods) and so on. Blakiston brings it all together seamlessly and in “librarians’ language”, so that the reader sees the whole process clearly. In this way, she makes it seem like almost anyone could conduct a usability test, though there is, just so we know, a section on the skills and knowledge sets required for this activity. The whole book is clear and relevant, though perhaps Chapter 3 is the best part of all. In this, the author explains how to identify the audience for the testing, that is which part of the population is going to use the target system, how they are most likely to use it, what skill sets the people in the identified audience already have and what more they need to know.

Key matters easily overlooked in testing, such as writing the personas and the tasks to be completed, are given plenty of attention by the author: not everyone will find it easy to fine-tune the tasks so they are unambiguous without being leading, but the author has explained it all very well. Practical issues are dealt with clearly and without any fudge. The technology needed is described; here, perhaps, I felt I needed more, but one must acknowledge that technology change can date a book very quickly. More, for example, on Web analytics might have been good to read, but this is a minor criticism. The use of incentives is covered in some detail.

Throughout the book there are pieces of simple practical advice, such as beware of the “Hawthorne effect” on your test group, and how to make choices on the methods for recording and perhaps streaming a testing session. The necessity of debriefing and ongoing review is not overlooked. Almost every library will have staff who do some usability testing, and this book is recommended for all those who do.