Quick Searching at the Library: A Usability Study on Combining Web Scale Discovery Tools for the Ultimate Search Interface

Research was conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study the usability of two search interfaces – one tabbed interface similar to the current UNC-CH library homepage and one with a single search bar similar to Google. The UNC-CH Libraries also developed a combined search tool that pulls library resources from the Serials Solutions Summon service and from the Endeca-powered catalog. The usability test involved several tasks to determine interface preference, autosuggest’s utility, and the optimal location for the “best bets” recommendation box within the results. The usability testing also included having participants respond to a proposed library homepage to gather feedback for a redesign project. The resulting data showed users preferred the tabbed widget, but overall were not averse to the use of the simple widget on the proposed library homepage since the information they found most important was still available. Researchers observed the adaptability of users to search tools as long as those tools provided them with the results they needed to perform research